weighing about a quintal, he fanned the flame that was beneath the crucible until the metal was fluid as water.  And while the Sultan was sitting and looking on and considering the operation, the Fakir brought out something from a casket and taking a pinch of it on the ear-picker besprinkled therewith the lead and copper and the tin which presently became virgin gold.  He repeated this feat once or twice before the King who after that fell to working as the Religious had wrought and turned out in his presence the purest gold.  So the Sultan rejoiced and was wont to sit before the Darwaysh whatever time his heart chose[FN#160] and there and then he gathered together ignoble metals and besprinkled them with the powder[FN#161] which had been given to him by the Fakir and all came out of the noblest gold.  Now one night of the nights, as the Sultan was sitting in his Harem and would have worked as he had wrought in the presence of the Darwaysh, nothing went right with him; whereat he was exceedingly sorrowful and said, “I have neither magnified nor minished aught, so how is this case?"[FN#162] As soon as it was morning he forgathered with the Fakir and worked in his presence and produced virgin gold; so in his surprise he said, “Wallahi, ’tis indeed most marvellous that whatso I work alone cometh not right and when I have wrought in presence of the Darwaysh it succeedeth and turneth to gold.”  After this the Sultan never transmuted metals save in the presence of the Fakir, until one day of the days when his breast was narrowed and he sought recreation in the gardens.  Accordingly he rode forth, he and the Lords of the land, taking also the Darwaysh with him and he went to the riverside, the Monarch preceding and the Mendicant following together with the suite.  And as the King rode along with a heavy hand upon the reins he grasped them strongly and his fist closed upon them; but suddenly he relaxed his grip when his seal-ring flew from his little finger and fell into the water, where it sank to the bottom.  Seeing this the Sultan drew bridle and halted and said, “We will on no wise remove from this place till such time as my seal-ring shall be restored to me.”  So the suite dismounted, one and all, and designed plunging into the stream, when behold, the Fakir finding the King standing alone and in woeful plight by cause of his signet asked him saying, “What is to do with thee, O King of the Age, that I find thee here halted?” He replied, “Verily my signet-ring of Kingship[FN#163] hath dropped from me into the river somewhere about this place.”  Quoth the Darwaysh, “Be not grieved, O our lord;” after which he brought out from his breast pocket a pencase, and having drawn from it a bit of bees’ wax, he fashioned it into the form of a man and cast it into the water.  Then he stood gazing thereat when, lo and behold! the Figure came forth the river with the seal-ring hanging to its neck and sprang upon the saddle-bow in front of the Sultan.  The King would have taken his signet when the Form jumped