THE VIZIR WHO WAS PUNISHED
47
'Sir,' answered the Sultan, 'I am sure you have a good reason for not doing so, and having heard your cry of distress, I am come to offer you my help. Whose is this palace, and why is it thus empty?'
Instead of answering the young man lifted up his robe, and showed the Sultan that, from the waist downwards, he was a block of black marble.
The Sultan was horrified, and begged the young man to tell him his story.
'Willingly I will tell you my sad history,' said the young man.
