TWILIGHT LAND

princes and the nobles and the white horse, and Selim the
Fisherman got on his back and rode up to the dazzling
snow-white palace, and they put a crown on his head and
made a king of him, just as they had made a king of
Selim the Baker.

That night, at midnight, it happened just as it had
happened before. Suddenly, as the hour struck, the
lights all went out, and there was a moaning and a crying
enough to make the heart curdle. Then the door flew
open, and in came the six terrible black men with torches.
They led Selim the Fisherman through damp and dismal
entries and passage-ways until they came to the vaulted
room of black marble, and there stood the beautiful statue
on its black pedestal. Then came the voice from above—
“Selim! Selim! Selim!” it cried, “what art thow
doing? To-day is feasting and drinking and merry-
making, but beware of to-morrow!”

But Selim the Fisherman did not stand still and listen,
as Selim the Baker had done. He called out, ‘‘I hear the
words! 1 am listening! I will beware to-day for the
sake of to-morrow ! ”

I do not know what I should have done had I been
king of that island, and had I known that in a twelve-
month it would all come tumbling down about my ears
and sink into the sea, maybe carry me along with it.
This is what Selim the Fisherman did (but then he wore
the iron Ring of Wisdom on his finger, and I never had
that upon mine):

First of all, he called the wisest men of the island to
him, and found from them just where the other desert
island lay upon which the boat with Selim the Baker in it
had drifted.

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