spirits whose money never rusts in their possession, finding his habitation inadequate for the entertainment of his guests, built another, more spacious and magnificent, to which he invited the whole city, and placed the magic bowl in the middle of the grand saloon, and every time he made a dip pulled out whatever was wished for.  Though the views of his visitors were various, contentment was visibly inscribed on every forehead:  the hungry were filled with the bread of plenty; the aqueducts overflowed with the wine of Shiraz; the effeminate were satiated with musky odours, and the thirst of avarice was quenched by the bowl of abundance.  The wondering spectators exclaimed:  “This is no bowl, but a boundless ocean of mystery!  It is not what it appears to be, a piece of furniture, but an inexhaustible magazine of treasure!”

After the faggot-maker had thus paraded his good fortune and circulated the wine-cup with very great rapidity, he stood up and began to dance, and, to show his dexterity in the art, placed the brittle bowl on his left shoulder, which every time he turned round he struck with his hand, crying:  “O soul-exhilarating goblet, thou art the origin of my ease and affluence—­the spring of my pomp and equipage—­the engineer who has lifted me from the dust of indigence to the towering battlements of glory!  Thou art the nimble berid [running foot-man] of my winged wishes, and the regulator of all my actions!  To thee am I indebted for all the splendour that surrounds me!  Thou art the source of my currency, and art the author of our present festival!”

With these and similar foolish tales he entertained his company, as the genius of nonsense dictated, making the most ridiculous grimaces, rolling his eyes like a fakir in a fit of devotion, and capering like one distracted, till the bowl, by a sudden slip of his foot, fell from his shoulder on the pavement of ruin, and was broken into a hundred pieces.  At the same instant, all that he had in the house, and whatever he had circulated in the city, suddenly vanished;—­the banquet of exultation was quickly converted into mourning, and he who a little before danced for joy now beat his breast for sorrow, blamed to no purpose the rigour of his inauspicious fortune, and execrated the hour of his birth.  Thus a jewel fell into the hands of an unworthy person, who was unacquainted with its value; and an inestimable gem was entrusted to an indigent wretch, who, by his ignorance and ostentation, converted it to his own destruction.

* * * * *

“Melodious bulbul of the long-eared race,” continued the elk, “as the wood-cutter’s dancing was an unpardonable folly which met with the chastisement it deserved, so I fearfully anticipate that your unseasonable singing will become your exemplary punishment.”