The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-08-10
fOO2nd TALE OF SHARAZAD
OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

-
When the beautiful Sharazad had
told her lord King Shahriyar the One
Thousand and First Tale. she kissed
the ground before him and begged him
70 exempt her from slaughter. This is
well known.
Concealing his love, Shahriyar
frowned on Sharazad and said: by
Allah What meanest thou? Have l
not resolved to behead all my wives
that thus l may be safe from their
wiles. since ii is written that Iblees
elected Adam by means of a woman?
I will accede to thy prayer on n
condition. Tell me a tale more Won
derful than the tale of the genii that
were imprisoned in the bottles of brass
by King Solomon. Tell me a tale so in
credible that | cannot believe it."
SharaZad turned to him serenely,
with her face that was beautiful as a
moon. 81 ill tell thee a tale. oh hub
band and King, that thy sacred gullet
(may it be blessed, forever!D shall re-
fuse to swallow" And Shahriyar the
heads of my kindred. if thou dost get
away with it, thou shalt sit at my
right hand for ever"
Sharazad bent to the ground before
him again and began the One Thous-
and and Second Tale thus:
know, oh Ruler of the Faithful,
that many days westward from thy
domain, in a place where the sun sets.
there is a Nation all of whose men
are Magicians. These Magicians per-
form wonders more supernatural than
even the people in the City of Brass.
Thus, they employ genii to do all their
daily work as Familiarity as we of
Bagdad employ porters and donkeys.
These genii sit everywhere, imprison-
ed in strange devices of many extra
ordinary shapes, in the houses, even
on the streets. and do all the laor,
so that only a few of the very poorest
in that land do any work with their
hands"
II believe that" said Shahriyar,
though it is a bit thick"
Sharazad proceeded undiscouraged
Even the most humble in that Nation
have such benefit of magic that they
can speak at will TO friends who are
hundreds of leagues away. oh. Shah
riyar, the very children do this
thingi"
The King opened his mouth, but
closed il again, and SharaZad contin-
ued her tale. 1.-THE land of these Magi-
clans is so huge that while some go
CARRIED in furs because they are dwell
ing in winter, others will be wander
ing with fans because they have sum-
mer. In this vast domain they have so
many sheiks, kadis, executioners. and
other officers that if they were all to-
gether in one place, oh King, they
would be more than all thy army,
soldiers and commanders. Yet their
Sultan is not suffered by them to re-
main on the throne more than four
years. Then they depose him and with
loud outcries and great dispute pro-
coed to place another Sultan in power
over themselves. When they have in
stalled him. they do not PROSTATE
themselves before him, but speak
plainly concerning him and call aloud
on each other to regard his faults.
Nor may he order them to be execut-
ed for this wickedness. Still, despite
this strange method of government
the Nation grows daily more rich and
powerful"
Shahriyar raised his hand. THAT
would be the most incredible tale that
you have ever told" he said. 'if it
were not all foolishness. How could
such a country rule itself or be
ruled?"
Sharazad smiled at the King. They
have an iron creature that attends To
it," she answered. "Oh, King. it is
more wonderful than any Arabian
Djinn. 1t is a creature with a multi
tude of iron arms and organs and ii
has a little fire in its bowels to melt
the lead on which it feeds. The Ma
gicians have bred this creature in
great numbers; and they sit down be-
fore 1t and conjure ii by pressing on
buttons that connect with its ribs.
When it is thus c~onjured, the creature
instantly transforms the words of hui
man speech into solid metal. Through
out the land, every day, all that men
say or do is thus enchanted into
metal. So all the people know all that
their Sultan and his ViZiers and the
sheiks and the rest are doing. and
these, in turn. know all that the peo-
pie desire. Lo, S~hahriyar, If one OF
these creatures were sitting by thy
couch now, my tale, even as l speak
1t unto thee, would drop into thy au-
gust hand In metal"
Say, girlie!" said Shahriyar fee
hlV "You win f0-Erom the Maroan.