PRINCE BEDER AND PRINCESS JEHAUN-ARA. 1¥3 done him. He related to him the whole matter, with all its cireum- stances, and, moreover, told him he could find no bridle fit for the mare. Abdallah bridled the mare himself, and as soon as King Beder had sent back the groom with the two horses, he said to him: ‘ Prince, you have no reason to stay any longer in this city ; mount the mare, and return to your kingdom. I have but one thing more to recommend to you; and that is, if you should ever happen to part with the mare, be sure not to give up the bridle.’ King Beder promised to remember this; and having taken leave of the good old man, he departed. The young King of Persia had no sooner got out of the city, than he began to reflect with joy on his deliverance, and that he had the sorceress in his power, who had given him so much cause to tremble. Three days after he arrived at a great city, where, entering the suburbs, he meta venerable old man. ‘Sir,’ said the old man, stopping him, ‘may I ask from what part of the world you come?’ The king halted to satisfy him; and as they were conversing together, an old woman came up, who, stopping likewise, wept and sighed heavily at the sight of the mare. King Beder and the old man left off discoursing to look at the old woman, whom the king asked what cause she had to be so much afflicted. ‘Alas! sir,’ she replied, ‘it is because your mare resembles so perfectly one my son had, and which I still mourn the loss of on his account. ‘Sell her to me, I beseech you; I will give you more than she is worth, and thank you too.’ ‘Good woman,’ replied King Beder, ‘I cannot comply with your request : my mare is not to be sold; but if it were, I believe you would hardly give a thousand pieces of gold for her, and I could not sell her for less.’ ‘Why should I not give you so much?’ replied the old woman: ‘if that be the lowest price, you need only say you will take it, and I will fetch you the money.’ King Beder, seeing the old woman so poorly dressed, could not imagine she could find such a sum ; and said, to try her, ‘Go, fetch me the money, and the mare is yours.’ The old woman immediately un- loosed a purse she carried fastened to her girdle; and desiring him to alight, bade him tell over the money; and in case he found it came short of the sum demanded, she said her house was not far off, and she could quickly fetch the rest. The surprise of King Beder, at the sight of the purse, was not small, ‘Good woman,’ said he, ‘do you not perceive I have bantered you all this while? I assure you my mare is not to be sold.’ The old man, who had been witness to all that had passed, now began to speak. ‘Son,’ said he to King Beder, ‘it is necessary you should know one thing, that in this city it is not permitted to anyone, on any account whatsoever,! to deceive another, on pain of death. You cannot 1 Gibbon relates the following story in proof of the Mahommedan regard of the sanctity of an oath : ‘The Persian complained of intolerable thirst, but dis- covered some apprehensions lest he should be killed while drinking a cup of water. 8