hopes of one day governing so powerful a kingdom as that of China, had a strange effect on an emir, already advanced in age, who was present at this council. As he was well skilled in magic, he offered to cure the king's daughter, and flattered himself he should succeed.
'I consent,' said the king, 'but I forgot to tell you one thing, and that is, that if you do not succeed you shall lose your head. It would not be reasonable that you should have so great a reward, and yet run no risk on your part; and what I say to you,' continued the king, 'I say to all others that shall come after you, that they may consider beforehand what they undertake.'
The emir, however, accepted the condition, and the king conducted him to where the princess was. She covered her face as soon as she saw them come in, and cried out, 'Your majesty surprises me by bringing with you a man whom I do not know, and by whom my religion forbids me to let myself be seen.
'Daughter,' replied the king, 'you need not be scandalised, it is only one of my emirs who is come to demand you in marriage.'
'It is not, I perceive, the person that you have already given me, and whose faith is plighted by the ring I wear,' replied the princess; 'be not offended that I will never marry any other.'
The emir expected the princess would have said or done some extravagant thing, and was not a little disappointed when he heard her talk so calmly and rationally; for then he understood what was really the matter. He dared not explain himself to the king, who would not have suffered the princess to give her hand to any other than the person to whom he wished to give her with his own hand. He therefore threw himself at his majesty's feet, and said, 'After what I have heard and observed, sir, it will be to no purpose for me to think of curing the princess, since I have no remedies suited to her malady, for which reason I humbly submit my life to your majesty's pleasure.' The king, enraged at his incapacity and the trouble he had given him, caused him immediately to be beheaded.
Some days afterwards, his majesty, unwilling to have it said that he had neglected his daughter's cure, put forth a proclamation in his capital, to the effect that if there were any physician, astro-
