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enter, and desired him to be seated.

'Brahmin,' said a low

hollow voice, 'you once possessed a treasure.'

Donga Sette stared in mute astonishment, but nodded assent. 'You,' continued the stranger, 'used your riches properly: you fed the hungry, you instructed the ignorant.'

'I did all in my power,' replied the worthy Brahmin.

'You did. A villain robbed you of this key to wealth. Know you who it was?'

'The Jew Ismael, I suspect,' said the Brahmin.

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For him I basely robbed you of your keys at the Jatra, and possessed myself of the iron box. Ignorant of the contents, I gave it to the Jew.'

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'Heaven be praised!' said the Brahmin. Is it the rich and powerful Alnusur who speaks?'

It is indeed Alnusur,' replied the stranger, the once rich, once happy Alnusur, but now the most miserable of all mankind.' He here related every particular to the Brahmin, concluding by presenting him with the iron box, and both its keys, saying, 'Take it, worthy Brahmin; you alone know how to use the treasure when in your possession, and yours it shall be; for me, all the wealth of the world is now of no use. I deserve the misery I am suffering, for I neglected the rules of the Book of Knowledge. As a Fakir, as a religious mendicant, will I wander through Hindústan, and resign the world and all its allurements; for Zaide is dead, and I, alas! am the cause of her death; for had I obeyed the precepts of the book, and cherished, instead of expelling and aiming at the lives of beggars, woe would not have come on the house of Alnusur.'

Donga Sette endeavoured to dissuade Alnusur from his intention of becoming a Fakir, but to no purpose: he left the iron box and keys at the Brahmin's feet, and making a salaam, left the house.

The Brahmin, once more possessed of his Book of Knowledge, continued to live beloved and respected by all who knew him, assisting the poor, relieving the distressed, teaching the ignorant, and practising every moral virtue.

The Nuwab made no remark on this story of the Coppersmith, but arose, intimating his attention of being present next day to hear another tale; and in consequence Moye-ed-din summoned all the remaining persons to his palace, when the lot fell upon Kuzl-bashee, the Dyer, who on the following day appeared and commenced his narrative as follows.

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CHAPTER X.

THE DYER'S STORY.

IN the Hegira 1070, the mighty Aurungzebe reigned at Delhi; and notwithstanding the war with his brother Suja, which was carried on at the extremity of the empire, the indefatigable Emperor suffered not his attention to be diverted from the civil affairs of the state. Accustomed to business from his youth, he suffered nothing of the minutest kind to escape his observation. He was extremely particular in framing rules for the administration. of justice; and that he might be assured his orders were obeyed, and his regulations enforced, often condescended at night to wander, in company with his Vizier, through the city, both being closely disguised. By these means circumstances not unfrequently came to his notice which otherwise he would have been entirely ignorant of.

One moonlight night, as the Emperor and his Vizier were passing through an obscure lane in the city, they were met by three beggars in a most miserable condition, one of whom was evidently lame. The mendicants failed not to beg alms; and the Emperor, considering the lonely situation of the place, thought it prudent to present them with a few rupees, upon which, all falling

A.D. 1660.

to the earth, one of them exclaimed, 'Oh, generous strangers, suffer us each to prostrate ourselves to the ground thirty times for your generosity.'

The Emperor, anxious to return, would willingly have dispensed with so tedious a demonstration of their gratitude; but the beggars declaring, if they were not permitted thus to thank their donors, they must be under the necessity of returning the money, the Emperor thus addressed them:

'It is inconvenient for me this night, and in such a place, to receive your humble and tedious prostrations; but suffer us to accompany you to your lodgings, that we may know where to find you, and I promise faithfully to send for you early on the morrow, and then receive your thanks in any manner you may deem expedient; and, moreover, promise to double the sum now offered to you.'

The mendicants, acquiescing in the arrangement, insisted on the Emperor receiving back the money he had put into their hands, whatever might be his intention on the following day, as it was their invariable custom not to retain a pice1 given them as charity, unless the donor suffered them to prostrate themselves thirty times before him.

Aurungzebe was therefore compelled to take back his money, and follow the beggars to an obscure part of the city, where a miserable shed, he was informed, was the only habitation they enjoyed. The Emperor having taken leave of these singular beings, conversed with his Vizier on their extraordinary conduct, an expla

1 Small copper coin.

nation of which he was most anxious to hear. He therefore directed his Vizier to cause the beggars to be summoned to his palace the next day, but not to inform them who it was that demanded their attendance. The Vizier, bowing to the earth, swore to execute his orders, and when arrived at the palace took leave of his royal master for the night.

Early on the following day the beggars, who had purposely remained within their shed, beheld a messenger approach; and that he should not fail to understand to whom he ought to apply, stood at the front of their miserable dwelling. The messen ger delivered to them his orders, and they proposed to follow him. When brought before the Emperor how great was the astonishment of the mendicants at beholding in him their charitable friend of the preceding night! Aurungzebe beheld their surprise, and thus addressed them :

'Persians—for I see you are of that country—I have summoned you according to my promise, to double the sum I offered you last night, on condition that you faithfully inform me the reasons which compel you to prostrate yourselves thirty times at the feet of your charitable friends. I perceive one of you to be lame and the other to have lost an eye, and congratulate the third on his apparent perfect state of body.'

The beggars all made a salaam, but the third did so with his left hand, which failed not to attract the notice of the Emperor, who demanded the reason. 'Our friend,' said the lame man,

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can do no otherwise; he has lost his right hand.' The maimed man, in corroboration of his brother's statement, thrust from

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