ground. But, alas! The magic word had vanished, and with all the
caliph's bowing, and his vizier's crying Mu--Mu--, all recollections
of it had disappeared from their memories, and the poor Chasid and
his vizier still remained storks as before.

The caliph and the grand vizier walked in a melancholy mood through
the fields, not knowing what to do in their sad plight. They could
not get out of their stork-skins, and it would not do for them to go
back to the town to tell any one of their condition. for who would
believe a stork if he said that he was the caliph? And even if they
had believed him, would the inhabitants of Bagdad be willing to have
a stork for their caliph? So they sneaked about for several days,
feeding upon wild fruits, which, however, they could not manage very
well, on account of their long bills. For lizards and frogs, they
had no appetite. Their only satisfaction in this sad predicament was
that they could fly; and they often flew over on to the roofs in the
city of Bagdad, to see what was going on.

For the first few days they observed great uneasiness and mourning
in the streets. But, on the fourth day of their enchantment, as they
were sitting on the roof of the caliph's palace, they saw in the
street below a splendid procession. The drums and fifes sounded, and
a man in a scarlet robe, embroidered with gold, came riding along on
a richly caparisoned horse, surrounded by servants in glittering
garments. Half the town were at his heels, and all were shouting,
"Hail to Mizra! Caliph of Bagdad!" The two storks looked at each
other as they sat on the roof, and the Caliph Chasid said, "Do not
you begin to understand how I come to be enchanted, Grand Vizier?
This Mizra is the son of my mortal enemy, the powerful enchanter,
Kaschnur, who in an evil hour vowed vengeance against me. But I do