"O Sultan," replied Hemjunah, "your politeness cannot extenuate, though it may gloss over, my imprudence; and by delaying to unfold my little history to you, my crime may seem more black while hidden than when it shall be revealed."
As the Princess uttered these words, a dervish, worn with age and bowed down by infirmity, appeared among the thickets of the forest.
Horam immediately recollected the features of the good old saint, and said, "My royal master, yonder is Shemshelnar, the most pious worshipper of Allah among all the sons of Asia."
"I do not remember his features," answered Misnar: "came he not to the council of our divan?"
"No, my royal lord," said Horam, "the infirmities of age were upon him."
By this time Shemshelnar had reached the place where the transformed company wer
