Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/260

238 But they answered, ‘Thou knowest not their properties.’ ‘And what are their properties?’ asked Hassan. ‘Each of them hath a wonderful secret virtue,’ replied they, ‘wherefore the wand is worth the revenue of all the Wac Islands and their provinces and dependencies, and the cap the like.’ And Hassan said, ‘By Allah, O my sons, discover to me their secret virtues.’

‘O uncle,’ answered they, ‘they are extraordinary; for our father wrought at their contrivance a hundred and thirty and five years, till he brought them to perfection and informed them with secret properties and engraved them after the likeness of the revolving sphere, so that he made them serve him extraordinary services and by their aid he dissolved all enchantments; and when he had made an end of their fashion, death, which needs must all suffer, overtook him. Now the virtue of the cap is, that whoso sets it on his head is hidden from all folk’s eyes, nor can any see him, whilst it abideth on his head; and that of the wand is, that whoso possesseth it hath command and authority over seven tribes of the Jinn, who all serve the wand; and whenever he smiteth therewith on the ground, their kings [appear before him and] do him homage, and all the Jinn are at his service.’

When Hassan heard this, he bowed his head and said in himself, ‘By Allah, I have need of this wand and cap, and I am worthier of them than these boys. So I will go about to get them from them by craft, that I may use them to free myself and my wife and children from yonder tyrannical queen, and then will we depart from this dismal place, whence there is no deliverance nor flight for mortal man. Doubtless, God caused me not to fall in with these two boys, but that I might get the wand and cap from them.’ Then he raised his head and said to the boys, ‘If ye would have me decide the case, I will make trial of you and see what each of you deserveth. He who overcometh his