NOT A PIN TO CHOOSE

“In what have I done anything to offend my lord?”
said the Genie.

“In nothing,” said the emperor; “only I would have
thee enter the casket again as thou wert when I first
found thee.”

It was in vain that the Genie begged and implored
for mercy ; it was in vain that he reminded Abdallah of
all that he had done to benefit him. The great emperor
stood as hard as a rock—into the casket the Genie must
and should go. So at last into the casket the monster
went, bellowing most lamentably.

The Emperor Abdallah shut the lid of the casket, and
locked it and sealed it with his seal. Then, hiding it
under his cloak, he bore it out into the garden and to a
deep well, and, first making sure that nobody was by to
see, dropped casket and Genie and all into the water.

Now had that wise man been by—the wise man who
had laughed so when the poor young fagot-maker wept
and wailed at the ingratitude of his friend—the wise man
who had laughed still louder when the young fagot-maker
vowed that in another case he would not have been so
ungrateful to one who had benefited him—how that wise
man would have roared when he heard the casket plump
into the waters of the well! For, upon my word of
honour, betwixt Ali the fagot-maker and Abdallah the
Emperor of the World there was not a pin to choose,
except in degree.