TWILIGHT LAND

“Tam a great Genie,” answered the monster, “(and was
conjured thither by the great King Solomon, whose seal
it is that thou wearest upon thy finger. For a certain
fault that I committed I was confined in the box and
hidden in the cavern where thou didst find me to-day.
There I lay for thousands of years until one day three old
magicians discovered the secret of where I lay hidden.
It was they who only this morning compelled me to give
them that vast treasure which thou sawest them take
away from the cavern not long since.”

“But why did they not take you and the box and the
ring away also?” asked Abdallah.

“Because,” answered the Genie, “they are three
brothers, and neither two care to trust the other one with
such power as the ring has to give, so they made a solemn
compact among themselves that I should remain in the
cavern, and that no one of the three should visit it
without the other two in his company. Now, my lord,
if it is thy will that I shall enter the casket again I must
even obey thy command in that as in all things ; but, if it
please thee, I would fain rejoin my own kind again—they
from whom I have been parted for so long. Shouldst
thou permit me to do so I will still be thy slave, for thou
hast only to press the red stone in the ring and repeat
these words : ‘By the red Aldebaran, I command thee to
come,’ and I will be with thee instantly. But if I have
my freedom I shall serve thee from gratitude and love,
and not from compulsion and with fear.”

“So be it!” said Abdallah. “I have no choice in the
matter, and thou mayest go whither it pleases thee.”

No sooner had the words left his lips than the Genie
gave a great cry of rejoicing, so piercing that it made

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