"Good! good!" said the caliph, "Go on."

The poet bowed his head and obeyed: "But when the hour of death comes,
O my caliph, then alas! thou wilt learn that all thy delights were but
a shadow."

[Illustration]

The caliph's eyes were filled with tears. Emotion choked him. He
covered his face and wept.

Then one of the officers, who was sitting near the poet, cried out:
"Stop! The caliph wished you to amuse him with pleasant thoughts, and
you have filled his mind with melancholy."

"Let the poet alone," said Raschid. "He has seen me in my blindness,
and is trying to open my eyes."

Haroun-al-Raschid (Aaron the Just) was the greatest of all the caliphs
of Bagdad. In a wonderful book, called "The Arabian Nights," there are
many interesting stories about him.




THE MIDNIGHT RIDE