[figure description] Page 186.[end figure description]

ABOU BEN ADHEM, the Sage, was reposing in
his tent early in the beautiful month of September.
The frosts had tinted the maples, showering
their summits with glory; the green of the pines,
intensified by the touch of the forerunner of the
winter king, made a gorgeous contrast with the
purple and scarlet and gold in which the other trees
were robed; and the air, crisp as well as balmy, with
skies clear and beautiful, made a combination sufficiently
satisfying to make a well-balanced person glad
that he lived, and that he lived on this much maligned
earth.

While resting on his divan and enjoying his chibouque,
a stranger raised the cloth of his tent, and
without ceremony, entered.

“Why this intrusion?” demanded Abou, angrily.
“By the bones of the Prophet, shall not the true believer
have his rest? Shall a man be disturbed in his
reveries without a why or a wherefore? Who art
thou, unmannered man?”

“Mighty Abou,” replied the unabashed stranger,

[figure description] Page 187.[end figure description]

“I come for advice. Advice is what I want and
what I will have. If I get it no other way, I shall
pump it out of you. I shall hold you here by the
button-hole till what I want you can give. You cannot
escape me.”

Abou resigned himself to his fate. It was a leading
principle in the philosophy of that great man
that —


“What can't be cured, love,
Must be endured, love,”
And he carried it out religiously.

“State your case, my pod-anger, state your case.
I will beam on the pathway of your troubles. State
your case.”

“Mighty Abou,” said the stranger, “I have a lady
friend who has ducats. She is the possessor of great
stores of gold and silver, and has lands and tenements
without number. We have been engaged to be married
for a year, and when that marriage is consummated
I shall have something to say about those
effects, which my soul yearns for. She is sixty-three,
and as ugly as original sin, but I love her —”

“Estate,” interpolated Abou, softly.

“As never man loved,” continued the stranger.

“Why don't you marry her?”

“She is whimsical. Whenever I urge her to name
the day, she says love is a hollow dream, and remarks
that she longs to be an angel and with the angels
stand. In brief, she threatens to commit suicide
and leave a heartless world, and I think she means
to do it. Twice have I held her when she threatened

[figure description] Page 188.[end figure description]

to throw herself out of the window; thrice have I
wrenched from her grasp the deadly laudanum; and
times without number have I saved her from self-destruction
by other means. I am compelled to watch
her perpetually, and I am, as you see, worn to a
shadow by anxiety. If she would marry me I should
not be so particular as to her notions of self-destruction,
for she could not take with her lands and personal
property; but to have her kill herself before
that property passes to me! It is too sad to think
of.”

Abou sat for a moment in deep reverie. Then he
spoke: —

“Listen to a tale of ancient Persia.

“Zodiac, the queen, had reached the mature age
of sixty-three. She was not as beautiful as an houri;
on the contrary, she was as ugly as a red barn in my
native State of Ma — that is, my native province of
Koamud. At that age she got into her head the
idea that it would be better for her and her people,
more especially for herself, — for in Persia, as in other
countries, the potentates count themselves more carefully
than they do their people, — that she should go
into the great silent Hereafter, which she prepared to
do by throwing herself from the top of the east tower
of the royal palace. As that structure was nine
hundred and sixty-three feet high, the chances were
that if she ever took that leap she would be injured
fatally, and she would cease being queen with great
suddenness.

“Now, Nadir-el-din, the grand vizier, did not

[figure description] Page 189.[end figure description]

like this whim of the venerable queen, for her
nephew, who would succeed to the throne, hated him,
and would inevitably depose him and chop off his
head immediately thereafter, — a procedure which
grand viziers especially object to. But how to
prevent it was the question. He had restrained her
by various pretexts for a year, until finally Zodiac
informed him one day, that on the next morning, at
precisely nine, she should hurl herself from the tower
positively without reserve; there was no use of
further talk about it, and there should be no postponement
on account of weather. It had to be done.

“A happy thought struck Nadir-el-din, — a very
happy thought. He had twenty-four hours, and
nations and grand viziers have been frequently saved
in that time. He summoned the court dressmaker,
and ordered her to make for the queen a dress of
unparalleled magnificence.

“`Spare no expense,' he said. `Let the material
be of the richest, and the work on it the most exquisite.
Let diamonds and pearls and amethysts
and emeralds blaze and shine and glitter all over it.
And have it done by to-morrow at seven, or off goes
your head! Now throw yourself!' he said, relapsing
into the imaginative style of the dreamy East.

“The dressmaker shuddered, for the time was short;
but when a head is at stake almost anything can be
done. She went at the dress, and the vizier went
to the Department of Finance, and levied a fresh tax
to meet the expense that he was aware his plan would
involve, making the tax twice as large as would be

[figure description] Page 190.[end figure description]

required (as was the custom of the country) that he
might have the balance for his private purse.

“The next morning he had the dress conveyed to
the apartments of the queen.

“`Your Royal Highness holds to your design of
becoming an angel this morning?'

“`I do.'

“`Very well. At least go out of the world in a
style becoming the sovereign of a great empire.
Array yourself in robes such as the Queen of Persia
ought to wear. Die in good style, madam.'

“`It is well,' replied the queen, languidly. `Do
with me as you will. In an hour or two I shall be
beyond the vanities of this world.'

“And her maids arrayed her in the gorgeous robe
and decorated her with the jewels. The work being
completed, the grand vizier came in.

“The queen was resplendent; she had got before
her grand mirror and was admiring herself. Her
eyes sparkled as she looked upon the reflection.
The artful dressmaker had so arranged the dress
that it made her look not a minute over forty, and
a tolerably good-looking woman she was for forty
years.

“`The time for your Majesty's sacrifice is at hand,'
said the grand vizier.

“`I rather think I will not take the fatal leap to-day,
' replied the queen. `I do not feel well enough.'

“And she stood before the mirror gazing upon herself
with undisguised delight.

“The grand vizier saw that he was on the right

[figure description] Page 191.[end figure description]

track, and seizing the dressmaker by the shoulder,
hurried her out of the room.

“`Go to now,' he said, `make a dress still more
gorgeous than this, and have it completed by the
morning after this. On your head be it!'

“The next morning the queen put on the dress
again, but towards evening, tiring of it, she intimated
a desire to go hence the next morning.

“`Very good,' replied the crafty man, `very good.'

“The next morning he waited upon her Majesty,
and with him the dressmaker with the new gown.

“`Put on this gown,' he said, `and die in it. It
becomes your Majesty to die in royal robes.'

“She put it on and stood entranced. So skilfully
had the modiste performed her work that she was
reduced in age ten years more; she looked not an
hour over thirty.

“`Shall I lead your Majesty to the fatal tower?'
said the grand vizier.

“The queen settled herself in her skirts and took
a long look at herself.

“`No,' said she, `I will not go to join the angel
throng this morning. Heavens! what a dress! I
feel in it as though I had been born again!'

“The grand vizier was now sure that he had hit
the right idea, and he followed it. He issued orders
to the court dressmaker that dresses, each different
in design, each more stunning than its predecessor,
should be made, and that a fresh one should always
be kept in reserve. And whenever the queen got a
yearning to go hence, he arrayed her for the sacrifice

[figure description] Page 192.[end figure description]

in a dress made for the purpose, which always took
her back to life.

“He did manage to keep her alive by this artifice
for three years, and kept his place; but alas! the plan
was open to the objection of being too expensive.
The people growled about the additional taxes, and
the grand vizier who levied them was deposed and
executed in obedience to the popular demand.”

“Well,” said the stranger inquiringly, “is that all?”

“All! Is it not enough? Have I not instructed
you as to your method? O stupid man! Don't
you see that to keep your ancient love on earth you
must occupy her mind? What has a rich woman of
sixty-three, with nothing on her mind, to do with life?
Life to such people is a burden, and they can hardly
be blamed for sacrificing it. Give your lady something
to do, and make yourself necessary to her in
the doing of it. Get her to start a Society for the
Conversion of the Apaches, for the Reforming of the
New Jersey Legislature, — for anything, no matter
how wild and impracticable, so that she believes in it
and gets an interest in it. Then she won't have time
to die, for her `duties' will keep her in life. And
then, when she is thoroughly employed, and you have
established yourself as a necessity, marry her, and be
as happy as you can in the knowledge that if her
mania has taken hold strong enough the worry of it
will kill her in a year.

“I have said.”

And the stranger departed, leaving Abou alone
with his thoughts.