XXIV.

"Allah is Allah!" cried the grateful sheik,
Holding the jewels in the vizier's face.
The vizier answered, “Sir, be pleased to take
The casket to the Sultan." "No, your Grace,"
The sheik replied, "the gems are here, you see;
Pray, tell the Sultan he may come to me!"

XXV.

The Sultan came, and, ravished to behold
The precious jewels to his hand restored,
He made the finder rich in thanks and gold,
And on the instant pledged his royal word,
And straight confirmed it in the Prophet's name,
To grant whatever he might choose to claim!

XXVI.

"Sire of the Faithful! publish a decree "
(The sheik made answer) “and proclaim to all
That none henceforth shall ever question me
Of any matter either great or small;

I ask no more. So shall my labors cease;
My waning life I fain would spend in peace."

XXVII.

The Sultan answered: "Be it even so;

And may your beard increase a thousand-fold; And may your house with children overflow!"

And so the sheik, o'erwhelmed with praise and gold, Returned unto the city whence he came,

Blessing Mohammed's and Fatima's name!

"So I will have a new one, Although I greatly fear, To build it just to suit me,

Will cost me rather dear;

And I'll choose, God wot, another spot,
Much finer than this here."

IV.

So he travelled o'er his kingdom
A proper site to find,

Where he might build a palace

Exactly to his mind,

All with a pleasant prospect

Before it, and behind.

V.

Not long with this endeavor
The King had travelled round,
Ere, to his royal pleasure,

A charming spot he found;
But an ancient widow's cabin
Was standing on the ground.

VI.

"Ah, here," exclaimed the monarch, "Is just the proper spot,

If this woman would allow me
To remove her little cot."

But the beldam answered plainly,
She had rather he would not!

Then all the courtiers mocked her,

With cruel words and jeers: "'T is plain her royal master She neither loves nor fears; We would knock her ugly hovel About her ugly ears!

IX.

"When ever was a subject

Who might the King withstand? Or deem his spoken pleasure

As less than his command?
Of course he'll rout the beldam,
And confiscate her land!"

X.

But, to their deep amazement,
His Majesty replied:

"Good woman, never heed them,

The King is on your side:

Your cottage is your castle,

And here you shall abide.

XI.

"To raze it in a moment,
The power is mine, I grant;
My absolute dominion

A hundred poets.chant;

For being Khan of Persia,

There's nothing that I can't!"

XII.

('T was in this pleasant fashion
The mighty monarch spoke;
For kings have merry fancies
Like other mortal folk:

And none so high and mighty
But loves his little joke.)

"That I have wronged the meanest

No honest tongue may say:

So bide you in your cottage,

Good woman, while you may; What's yours by deed and purchase No man may take away.

XV.

"And I will build beside it,
For though your cot may be

In such a lordly presence
No fitting thing to see,
If it honor not my castle,
It will surely honor me!

XVI.

"For so my loyal people,

Who gaze upon the sight,
Shall know that in oppression
I do not take delight;
Nor hold a king's convenience
Before a subject's right!"