THE SULTANA AND THE WOOD-CUTTER. 251 You have taught me understanding and wisdom ; you have given me the wealth of kings. May Allah forget me, if I forget to give you, in return, gratitude and obedience.' ' Go, then,' continued Zubeydeh, ' mount this horse, and attended by twenty slaves on horseback, visit the coffee-house in the great bazaar. Take with thee a purse of three thousand pieces of gold, and as thou goest on thy way, scatter a handful occa sionally among the beggars. Take thy seat in the coffee-house, where thou wilt see the Vizier's son, who is a skilful player of chess. He will challenge the multitude to play with him, and when no one accepts, do thou engage him for a thousand pieces of gold. Thou wilt win ; but pay him the thousand pieces as if thou hadst lost, give two hundred pieces to the master of the coffee-house, divide two hundred pieces among the attendants, and scatter the remainder among the beggars.'

" The wood-cutter performed all that Zubeydeh commanded.

He accepted the challenge of the Vizier's son, won the game, yet paid him a thousand pieces of gold as if he had lost, and then rode back to the palace, followed by the acclamations of the multitude, who were loud in their praises of his beauty, the elegance of his speech, his unbounded munificence, and the splendor of his attendance. Every day he visited the coffeehouse, gave two hundred pieces of gold, to the master, two hundred to the servants, and distributed six hundred among the beggars. But the Vizier's son, overcome with chagrin at his defeat, remained at home, where, in a few days, he sickened and died. These things coming to the Vizier's ear, he felt a great desire to see the foreign prince, whose wealth and generosity were the talk of all Baghdad ; and as he believed himself to be the greatest chess-player in the world, he deter-