The King of the Rats wore a golden crown on his head, and his consort marshalled the procession.  After the chariot followed a vast procession of rats, each of whom carried a torch, and the sparks which flew from the torches fell to the earth as jewels.  Some of the rats were shouting “Zurkielis” incessantly; and whenever a rat uttered this cry, a piece of gold fell from his mouth.  The procession was followed by a great number of fantastic forms, which collected the gold from the ground, and put it into large sacks.  When the farmer saw this he also gathered together as much of the gold and jewels as he could reach.  Presently a cock crew, and everything vanished.  The farmer returned to his house, but the gold and jewels gave him a very tangible proof that the adventure had not been a dream.

A year passed by, and on the next Valpurgis-night the farmer went back to the wood, and everything happened as on the year before.  The farmer became immensely rich from the gold and jewels which he collected; and on the third anniversary of the Valpurgis-night he did not go to the wood, but remained quietly at home.  He was quite rich enough, and he was afraid that some harm might happen to him in the wood.  But on the following morning a rat appeared, and addressed him as follows:  “You took the gold and jewels, but this year you did not think it needful to pay our king and his consort the honour due to them by appearing before them during the procession in the wood; and henceforward it will go ill with you.”

Having thus spoken, the rat disappeared; but shortly afterwards such a host of rats took up their abode in the farmer’s house that it was impossible for him to defend himself against them.  The rats gnawed everything in the house, and whatever was brought into it.  In time the farmer was reduced to beggary, and died in wretchedness.

Story of the Second Lunatic (pp. 49-55).

This is a variant of “Woman’s Craft” (No. 184 of our Table), or “Woman’s Wiles,” (Supp.  Nights, ii. pp. 99-107).  Mr. L. C. Smithers tells me that an English version of this story, based upon Langles’ translation (Cf.  Nights, x.  App., p. 440, sub “Sindbad the Sailor"), appeared in the Literary Souvenir for 1831, under the title of “Woman’s Wit.”

Pp. 51-56.—­Concerning the Shikk and the Nesnas, Lane writes (1001 Nights, i., Introd. note 21):  “The Shikk is another demoniacal creature, having the form of half a human being (like a man divided longitudinally); and it is believed that the Nesnas is the offspring of a Shikk and of a human being.  The Shikk appears to travellers; and it was a demon of this kind who killed, and was killed by, ’Alkamah, the son of Safwan, the son of Umeiyeh, of whom it is well known that he was killed by a Jinnee.  So says El-Kazweenee.