"Your Majesty," said the magician, said the magician, "may yet have your wish. I will try my skill."

The magician shut himself up in his workshop, and began to think. For several weeks he did nothing but sit in deep thought. Then he sent men out all over the kingdom to get certain precious things.

When they had been brought together, he shut himself up again and set himself to work. Day and night he toiled. The north wind, the south wind, the west wind, and the east wind he kneaded up with dewdrops. To these he added rays of the sun, the juice of many potent herbs, and a flash of lightning.

Feathers from the swiftest birds, water from a magic well, a pinch of darkness, of moonlight, and of starlight were next put into the mixture. To all this he added gold and silver. Then pearls, rubies, diamonds, and other precious stones were ground up and mixed with the rest into a fine paste.

When this paste was ready, he rolled and rolled it, until it became as small as an olive. This he shaped into a figure with seven sides, all alike. Then he put it into an oven that was heated by magic fires. So hot they were that any but a magic oven would have been melted in a few minutes. From sunset till sunrise the magician kept the fires burning. Then he took from the oven the thing he had made.

It was a beautiful jewel, which sent out seven different lights from its seven different sides. The magician cooled

the jewel in seven magic waters. The lights were changed. Where there were seven before there were now seven times seven. It was wonderful, and so bright that it dazzled the eyes even of the magician.

"Ah, it is so bright that it will blind the sultan's eyes if he looks on it; but it has power, such as no other jewel in the world has."

Then the magician took a common cloth hat, covered the stone, and fastened it securely by magic, so that it looked like a button on the top.

"Now we will try its powers. I will set this hat upon my head and wish I were in the sultan's presence. Straightway I'll be there."

The sultan was sitting in his chamber alone. He was wondering how long it would be before the magician's work would be ended. Suddenly the magician stood before him.

"Great sultan," he said, "my task is done. You shall have your heart's desire. Wherever you wish to go this hat will take you. Behold! I am gone.

The sultan looked. There was no one before him. He thought he must have been dreaming. When he looked again the magician was there, speaking to him.

"I only desired to show you the power of the hat I have made for you. I simply wished to be here, and I found myself here. I wished myself away; and, behold, I was gone. Lo, I am here again."

"Dost thou mock me?" said the sultan.

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My master, no; place this hat on thy head, and wish to be somewhere else. Wherever it be, thou wilt find thyself there in a twinkling."

The sultan danced for joy, and could not wait, but must try the magic hat at once. As soon as the magician handed it to him he clapped it on his head.

"Where would I be first?" he said to himself. "My first journey should surely be my best. Shall I wish myself in Italy, or Greece; in some far isle beyond the seas, or in the palace of my enemy, the Mede? I think I'll first to Greece, and see the wonders of that realm."

He wished, and straightway he was there.

From that day forth the sultan lived in great happiness. He saw all the beauties and wonders of the world, and soon was looked upon as the greatest and wisest man of his time. His reign was prosperous, too, because he was able to be near his enemies at any time and learn their plans. Years passed, and the sultan grew old. He wished to be looked upon ever as the greatest sultan in the world.

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My death," he said, "must be as mysterious as my life. My people shall think of it and wonder."

When he was about to die, therefore, the sultan placed the wishing cap on his head and wished to be in the resting place of his fathers. In a twinkling he was there, and all the world wondered what had become of the great sultan.

That was centuries ago. The place where the sultan found rest crumbled to dust long since. The tombs have disappeared, and the place where they once stood is forsaken. The wishing hat was lost to the world for hundreds of years. It was at last found, however, by a boy, whom the natives called Prince Beautiful, although, really, he was no prince at all.

Such principles are most absurd,
I care not who first taught 'em;
There's nothing known to beast or bird
To make a solemn autumn.

A butterfly goes winging by;
A singing bird comes after;
And Nature all from earth to sky
Is bubbling o'er with laughter.

The ripples wimple on the rills,
Like sparkling little lasses;
The sunlight runs along the hills,
grasses.

And laughs among the

The earth is just so full of fun
It really can't contain it;
And streams of mirth so freely run
The heavens seem to rain it.

In solemn times, when grief holds way
With countenance distressing,
You'll note the more of black and gray
Will then be used in dressing.

Now purple tints are all around;
The sky is blue and mellow;
And e'en the grasses turn the ground
From modest green to yellow.

The seed burs all with laughter crack
On featherweed and jimson;

And leaves that should be dressed in black
Are all decked out in crimson.

Don't talk to me of solemn days
In autumn's time of splendor,
Because the sun shows fewer rays,
And these grow slant and slender.