250 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

the best masters in teaching the wood-cutter all the accomplishments which his present condition required that he should possess. In a short time he was a very pattern of elegance in his manner ; his words were choice and spoken with dignity and propriety, and his demeanor was that of one born to command rather than to obey. When she had succeeded to the full extent of her wishes, she commenced teaching him to play chess, and spent several hours a day in this manner, until he finally played with a skill equal to her own. By this time, the palace was completed, and after having purchased horses and slaves, and every thing necessary to the maintenance of a princely household, Zubeydeh and the wood-cutter took possession of it during the night, in order that they might not be observed by the Caliph. Zubeydeh bade the wood-cutter remember the promise he had made her. She still retained her own apartments, with a number of female slaves to attend her, and she now presented to him, as a harem becoming a prince, twenty Circassian girls, each one fairer than the morning-star.

" The next morning she called the wood-cutter, and addressed him thus : ' You see, my lord ! what I have done for you. You remember in what misery I found you, and how, by your following my advice, every thing was changed. I intend to exalt you still higher, and in order that my plans may not be frustrated, I now ask you to promise that you will obey me in all things, for a month from this time.' Zubeydeh made this demand, for she knew how quickly a change of fortune may change a man's character, and how he will soon come to look upon that as a right which Allah granted him as a boon.

But the wood-cutter threw himself at her feet, and said : ' 0 Queen ! it is for you to command, and it is for me to obey.