Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1905-05-18
ARCHITECT
tOriginal.]

AASAo AAo ~ SuC0 OcduLlLul DullQl0gS
as In India. The warm climate permits
architects to leave a great deal of open
space In structures, and this enables
them to make designs with that light
ness which causes the buildings to re-
semble the abodes Of fairyland.
There was once an Indian king who
was ambitious to excel all other kings
In the beauty Of his palace. He there
fore called upon all the architects Of his
kingdom for designs, Offering a prize so
desirable that it could not fail to slim
ulate some mighty effort of genius. The
King a but n child, a daughter. He
gave u that the successful competitor
should have his daughter to wife and
reign with her after his own death.
Now, there was a young architect at
the capitol, Abdul Kerim. He had been
employed to rebuild a wing Of the pal
ace containing the princess apart
ments, and the two had met and loved,
Abdul Kerim, on hearing Of the prize
offered, was overjoyed and set to work
with nigh hope to make a design that
would give him the girl he loved. Three
years were given in which to hand in
drawings, and during these three years
Abdul worked night and day designing,
throwing away his work, starting in
again, till at the expiration of half the
allotted time he had produced a plan
that satisfied him. Then he occupied
the remaining half in perfecting it.
Stimulated by love, he evolved a struc-
ture which when built would far ex-
coed anything Of its kind in India.
When the king saw the design he
was delighted. But he had never in
tended to keep his word by giving his
daughter to the successful competitor
and now trumped up a charge as an
excuse for not doing 50. He accused
Abdul Kerim of being in league with
a conspiracy against the government
discovered at the time and threw him
! into prison.
When the princess heard of this she
was inconsolable. She Sent one of the
women to the prison where her lover
was confined, who, by bribing the
guard, was permitted to enter and con-
sole him by assuring him Of her mis-
tress' unalterable love. Kerim told
the woman to tell the princess to be Of
good cheer; that the king would be
| forced to keep to his agreement, be-
cause an architect is the best person to
s~uperintend his own plans, and he
believed he would sooner or later be
called upon to build the palace.
There was in the kingdom a quarry
Of stone, tinted like the opal, which
when polished had a beautiful, rides
cent effect. 1t had long been reserved
by the king for the new palace. Great
care was to be taken in getting out the
stone and shaping it into the individ-
ual parts which were to make up the
palace, for there was but enough Of it
to make n such building, and if any
serious blunder were made by which it
should became necessary to use other
stone the kings hopes would be blast
ed. Among Kerim's plans were a de-
scription and diagram Of every stone to
be used in the construction, and the
king decided that it would be safer to
get out the material and shape each
stone in accordance with this descrip-
ton. After all had been hewn it would
be a simple matter to set them up in
| place. But the king was DESTROYS of
having the work superintendent by the
designer Of the building, and indeed
this was the only safe plan. He sent
a messenger to Abdul Kerim in prison
to say that if he would accept the posi-
ton and see that the building was
erected in accordance with his plans
he would pardon him for his alleged
part in the conspiracy and give him a
handsome sum besides.
Kerim could do nothing but consent
to the agreement. He was placed in
charge Of the work, and as every stone
came from the quarry and was shaped
it was marked in accordance with a
system devised by Kerim himself. Dur
ing this time he was at liberty and was
not even watched, for no n knew OF
any reason why he should wish to es-
cape or fail to do his work to the best
Of his ability. At last the stones which
Il were W cOllpOSc lue UulluluS Weie III
ished, the quarry meanwhile having
been exhausted. Then Kerim astonish-
ed the king by refusing to superintend
the erection Of the palace. His majes-
ty was about to order the architects
head stricken off when it occurred to
him that he must first get the marking
! Of the stones. So he sent to Kerim for
it. Kerim replied that he did not have
it. Then the king ordered him to pro-
duce it on pain Of instant death. Kerim
refused. The king was in a Quandary.
Unless he could get the marking from
the architect the palace could not be
built. He directed Kerim to be brought
to him and accused him Of bad faith
in breaking his agreement, whereupon
Kerim reminded the king that his maj
esty had first broken his agreement
and stoutly refused to go any further
with the work except on the original
terms. Then the king ordered him put
to the torture to extort what was nee
essary, but directed that his life should
not be risked. Kerlm was tortured till
it was plain he would die If the torture
were continued.
"a ,lo;o %hot tho king mylst