TALE 1.

_A new Arabian Night's Entertainment._


At the foot of the great mountain Hirgonqúu was anciently situated the
kingdom of Larbidel. Geographers, who are not apt to make such just
comparisons, said, it resembled a football just going to be kicked away;
and so it happened; for the mountain kicked the kingdom into the ocean,
and it has never been heard of since.

One day a young princess had climbed up to the top of the mountain to
gather goat's eggs, the whites of which are excellent for taking off
freckles.--Goat's eggs!--Yes--naturalists hold that all Beings are
conceived in an egg. The goats of Hirgonqúu might be oviparous, and lay
their eggs to be hatched by the sun. This is my supposition; no matter
whether I believe it myself or not. I will write against and abuse any
man that opposes my hypothesis. It would be fine indeed if learned men
were obliged to believe what they assert.

The other side of the mountain was inhabited by a nation of whom the
Larbidellians knew no more than the French nobility do of Great Britain,
which they think is an island that some how or other may be approached
by land. The princess had strayed into the confines of Cucurucu, when
she suddenly found herself seized by the guards of the prince that
reigned in that country. They told her in few words that she must be
conveyed to the capital and married to the giant their lord and emperor.
The giant, it seems, was fond of having a new wife every night, who was
to tell him a story that would last till morning, and then have her head