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Updated: May 21, 2025
A hearty pinch, and the magic word of the Caliph converted him into a stork. Chasid had him locked up in an iron cage, and hung in his garden.
Chasid and his companion went around through the corridor, to seek for themselves a dry resting-place; suddenly the stork Mansor paused. "Lord and master," he whispered softly, "were it not foolish for a Grand-Vizier, still more for a stork, to be alarmed at spectres, my mind is very uncomfortable; for here, close at hand, sighs and groans are very plainly perceptible."
Chasid, Caliph of Bagdad, which, by the way, is on the river Tigris, and was long, long ago the capital of the ancient Saracen Empire, was comfortably seated upon his sofa one beautiful afternoon. He had slept a little, for it was a very hot day, and he seemed cheerful after his nap.
Chasid listened with favour to his servant's suggestion, and perceiving in the valley beneath them a ruin which seemed to promise shelter they flew towards it. The building in which they proposed to pass the night had apparently been formerly a castle.
Chasid and his companion wandered through the passages to find a dry spot for themselves. Suddenly the stork Manzor stopped. "My Lord and master," he whispered softly, "if it were not folly in a Grand Vizier, and still more in a stork, to be afraid of spirits, I should feel much alarmed, for something near by us sighed and groaned very plainly."
The caliph Chasid lived long and happily with his wife, the princess; and sometimes, when the grand vizier came to see him of an afternoon, when he was in particularly good humor, he would condescend to imitate the appearance of the grand vizier in the character of the stork; walking gravely about, with feet extended, chattering, and waving with his arms; and showed how the grand vizier bowed in vain towards the East, and cried Mu Mu.
The magic word had vanished, and with all the caliph's bowing, and his vizier's crying Mu Mu , all recollections of it had disappeared from their memories, and the poor Chasid and his vizier still remained storks as before. The caliph and the grand vizier walked in a melancholy mood through the fields, not knowing what to do in their sad plight.
Chasid at once yielded to the prayer of the Vizier, and, as they at this moment perceived a ruin in the valley below, they flew thither. The place in which they had taken refuge for the night seemed formerly to have been a castle. Beautiful columns overtopped the ruins, and several chambers, which were still in a fair state of preservation, gave evidence of the former splendour of the building.
They turned to the east and fell to bowing till their bills touched the ground, but, oh horror the magic word was quite forgotten, and however often the Caliph bowed and however touchingly his Vizier cried 'Mu...mu... they could not recall it, and the unhappy Chasid and Mansor remained storks as they were. The two enchanted birds wandered sadly on through the meadows.
I am longing for the moment when I can become some animal. To-morrow morning I shall expect you early; we will go into the country, take some snuff from my box, and then hear what is being said in air, earth, and water. Next morning Caliph Chasid had barely finished dressing, and breakfasting, when the Grand Vizier arrived, according to orders, to accompany him in his expedition.
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