The GREEN Fairy Book - online children's book

Illustrated classic fairy tales for children by Andrew Lang

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	34	THE GREEN FAIRY BOOK.
	a jeweled comb for the vizier's wife. Just as the peddler was about to close his box, the caliph noticed a small drawer and asked if there was anything else in it for sale. The peddler opened the drawer and showed them a box con­taining a black powder and a scroll written in strange char­acters, which neither the caliph nor Mansor could read. "I got these two articles from a merchant who had picked them up in the street at Mecca," said the peddler. "I do not know what they may contain, but us they are of no use to me you are welcome to have them for a trifle."
	The caliph, who liked to have old manuscripts in his library, even though he could not read them, purchased the scroll and the box and dismissed the peddler. Then, being anxious to know what might be the contents of the scroll, he asked the vizier if he did not know of any one who might be able to decipher it. ''Most gracious lord and master," replied the vizier, "near the great mosque lives a man called Selim the learued, who knows every language under the sun. Send