the sweetness of belief and devotion be stablished in thy heart!” Then he taught him somewhat of the biblical ordinances and scriptures of Al-Islam and said to him, “What is thy name?”; and he replied, “My name is Gharib.”  Asked the old man, “Whither art thou bound, O Gharib?” So he told him all his history, till he came to the mention of the Ghul of the Mountain whom he sought,—­And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say,

      When it was the Six Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Gharib became a Moslem and told the Shaykh his past, from first to last, till he came to the mention of the Mountain-Ghul whom he sought, the old man asked him, “O Gharib, art thou mad that thou goest forth against the Ghul of the Mountain single handed?”; and he answered, “O my lord, I have with me two hundred horse.”  “O Gharib,” rejoined the hermit, “hadst thou ten thousand riders yet shouldest thou not prevail against him, for his name is The-Ghul-who-eateth-men-we-pray-Allah-for-safety, and he is of the children of Ham.  His father’s name was Hindi who peopled Hind and named it, and he left this son after him, whom he called Sa’adan the Ghul.  Now the same was, O my son, even in his sire’s lifetime, a cruel tyrant and a rebellious devil and had no other food than flesh of the sons of Adam.  His father when about to die forbade him from this, but he would not be forbidden and he redoubled in his forwardness, till Hindi banished him and drove him forth the Land of Hind, after battles and sore travail.  Then he came to this country and fortifying himself herein, established his home in this place, whence he is wont to sally forth and cut the road of all that come and go, presently returning to the valley he haunteth.  Moreover, he hath begotten five sons, warlike warlocks, each one of whom will do battle with a thousand braves, and he hath flocked the valley with his booty of treasure and goods besides horses and camels and cattle and sheep.  Wherefore I fear for thee from him; so do thou implore Almighty Allah to further thee against him by the Tahlil, the formula of Unity, and when thou drivest at the Infidels, cry, ‘God is most Great!’ for, saying, ‘There is no god but the God’ confoundeth those who misbelieve.”  Then the Shaykh gave him a steel mace, an hundred pounds in weight, with ten rings which clashed like thunder whenas the wielder brandished it, and a sword forged of a thunderbolt,[FN#334] three ells long and three spans broad, wherewith if one smote a rock, the stroke would cleave it in sunder.  Moreover he gave him a hauberk and target and a book and said to him, “Return to thy tribe and expound unto them Al-Islam.”  So Gharib left him, rejoicing in his new Faith, and fared till he found his companions, who met him with salams, saying, “What made thee tarry thus?” Whereupon he related to them that which had befallen him and expounded to them Al-Islam, and they all islamised.  Early