Page:Sinbad the sailor & other stories from the Arabian nights.djvu/253

 why we laugh, thou wouldst laugh louder than any of us. We crave thy Felicity to pardon us, but this writing was done, not by any son of Adam, but by an ape, which belongeth to the master of the ship." "What?" said the King, "this excellent work done by an ape?" "Yea, your Majesty, it is even so, on the head and the eye. This ape, which is at least a hundred years old, and proportionately ugly, wrote those quatrains in our presence." The King laughed heartily and said, "Make haste, and bring this ape before me in the manner I commanded, for I have never heard of anything so wonderful." And he gave them a written and sealed order to the master of the vessel.

O Prince of the Faithful, I learnt all this that I have told thee from their narration to the master on their arrival. On seeing the King's order the master handed me over to them, and they clothed me with the splendid robe, and placed me upon the King's horse. Great was the wonder of the people when the procession started for the palace. Seeing an ugly ape, dressed in a royal robe and mounted upon the King's most splendid steed, their laughter died a sudden death in their throats, and they gaped and wondered. The rumour of my progress went before, and the way was soon thronged with people of high degree and low, while from the windows of houses and palaces looked forth a multitude of citizens to witness this strangest of all spectacles. Then, gradually, arose a great cry of wonder and astonishment, which spread throughout the city: Had the King chosen an ape for his Grand Vizier? What marvellous thing was this? But the King was the King, and the people was the people, and none among them could doubt his doings. And so I rode on in dignified procession.

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