Page:Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp.djvu/232

188 thou, O Vizier? Hast thou in all thy days seen aught like this? Are there found with the greatest of the kings of the world riches and gold and jewels such as these we see in this palace?” “O my lord the King,” answered the Vizier, “this is a thing beyond the competence of a king of the sons of Adam, nor might all the people of the earth together avail to build a palace like this; nay, there are no craftsmen living able to do work like this, except it be, as I said to Thy Grace, by might of magic.” The Sultan knew that the Vizier, in seeking to convince him that this was not by might of men, but all of it enchantment, still spoke not but of his envy of Alaeddin; so he said to him, “Enough, O Vizier; let us have no more of thy talk. I know the cause which maketh thee speak on this wise.”

Then Alaeddin forewent the Sultan till he brought him to the high pavilion and he looked at the belvedere and its oriels and lattices, all wroughten of emeralds and rubies and other precious stones, and was amazed and astonied; his wit was bewildered and he abode perplexed