After that all was clear sailing; the soldier hunted up the
three-legged stool and down he sat upon it, and by dint of no
more than just a little wishing, back flew palace and garden and
all through the air again to the place whence it came.

I do not know whether the old king ever believed again that his
son-in-law was the King of the Wind; anyhow, all was peace and
friendliness thereafter, for when a body can sit upon a
three-legged stool and wish to such good purpose as the soldier
wished, a body is just as good as a king, and a good deal better,
to my mind.


The Soldier who cheated the Devil looked into his pipe; it was
nearly out. He puffed and puffed and the coal glowed brighter,
and fresh clouds of smoke rolled up into the air. Little Brown
Betty came and refilled, from a crock of brown foaming ale, the
mug which he had emptied. The Soldier who had cheated the Devil
looked up at her and winked one eye.

"Now," said St. George, "it is the turn of yonder old man," and
he pointed, as he spoke, with the stem of his pipe towards old
Bidpai, who sat with closed eyes meditating inside of himself.

The old man opened his eyes, the whites of which were as yellow
as saffron, and wrinkled his face into innumerable cracks and
lines. Then he closed his eyes again; then he opened them again;
then he cleared his throat and began: "There was once upon a time
a man whom other men called Aben Hassen the Wise--"