of territory assigned to him. It was at the court of the Kundooz
ruler that he first became acquainted with Zebah, the lovely rose
of Cashmere, whom he eventually purchased from her father for
his wife.[*] He started with his bride to take possession of his
newly-acquired gift, an insulated fortress in the heart of a country
abounding in those extensive prairies for which Toorkisth[=a]n is
so justly celebrated. On these magnificent savannahs he reared the
Toorkman steed, and soon boasted an unrivalled stud.

[* Note: It is customary in this country as well as in other parts
of Asia to purchase the young women who may be selected for wives of
their relations, the purchase money varying according to the degrees
of beauty.] Towards the close of the first year he became a father, an
event which was hailed with extravagant joy by all his vassals, the
old retainers of his father foretelling the future achievements in the
foray of the young Abdoollah Reheem.

A few months had scarcely elapsed, when the anxious mother spied an
old crone moving about in the court-yard; their eyes happening to
meet, Zebah screamed and fell into a swoon. The young heir was
instantly hurried away, but not before the old hag had cast a
withering glance on the boy's beautiful face; every one was now fully
convinced that he had been struck by the "evil eye," which was but too
clearly proved by the event, for from that day he sickened and pined
away till reduced to a mere skeleton.

Large sums of money were expended by the fond parents in the endeavour
to discover a charm to counteract the effects of the "evil eye," till
at length in an auspicious moment it was proposed the boy should try
the efficacy of the celebrated water of the "Dragon's Mouth," which is