And when the young man came for the third time to try to enter the bridal chamber, behold for the third time he saw that the way was blocked. And he said, "But this time I will remove the weight, or if I cannot I will try no more, for if I do not succeed this time I shall know that it is decreed that I should die single." And he bent his back and seized the ball with his two hands and pulled at it till he groaned with weariness, but in vain.

And the maiden within heard his groans, and she said to herself, "Shall I let this man who is my husband kill himself without striving to help him?" And she arose and laid aside her veil and her outer robe of gold and pushed herself through the half-open door. And she approached the young man who was wrestling with the heavy weight, and she said, "Let me help my Lord." And the two placed their hands together on the ball and pushed with all their force, and lo, it rolled on one side of the door, so that the entrance was free. And the young man looked on the fair face of her who had come to his aid, and saw that she in truth was the bride destined for him, and he embraced her and the two entered the chamber together.

4. BAY AND MYRTLE.

Or all shrubs myrtle and bay are the most worthy, pleasing to the Eye of the Almighty. They should be kept as precious, and used for no common purpose. Myrtle is good to lay on the grave of the beloved or of thy parents. Should a man eat of it, the flavour will remain in his stomach for twenty days. It is good to carry a staff of bay wood when going to prayer or to religious gatherings. Moreover, each time thou hittest on the ground with a bay-stick, thou puttest out the eyes of some devil.

5. THE JINNS.

As to Jinoon, it is wonderful how many they be, and what shapes they take. One very evil kind take the shape of women.

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Travelling at night alongside of a marsh, all mud and with little water, a man may sometimes hear a woman making that ay we call the Zachrhut. If he search, he will see her submerged to her breast in the mud. A fair woman, beautifully clothed, and apparently no whit different to others. If he be wise he will fee from her, but if foolish, he will stop and speak. And she will answer with soft words, and he will help her out of her muddy home, and take her to wife. Then will she bewitch him, and take all his senses from him, and make him do mad things, and perhaps finally kill him. Mostly will her power be on him when he approaches water, rivers, springs, or marshes. No other than the bewitched man can see her, but it is well known what has befallen him. He himself will declare that he is wed to her, and will describe her. Such a man lived in our village once, and I myself have seen him when a lad. Sometimes the "Tolba" are able to help to exorcise the witch, but over some evil spirits no one can wield power.

Once a man was sitting in a mosque and he heard the cry of a hedgehog, even as that of a young child. So he rose and searched for it, and finding it, caught and rolled it in a secure ball with his garment. He tied it in most firmly, but when he came to open the bundle, behold, though the knots were untouched, the hedgehog was gone. It was a Jinn.

Once another man was walking along a road when he saw a fine black goat, apparently straying. Said he: "I will take this beast to the Sook, and if no one claims it, I will sell it," so catching it, he flung it over his shoulders and went on. Scarcely had he gone a few steps when a wonder! the goat spoke! "Am I not heavy?" said he. The man nearly dropped his burden in his surprise, but he was truly courageous. "Am I not strong?" he answered, and clutched the tighter. Then he thought, "This most certainly is a Jinn. Now will I take him to Talib Faroosh, who is a holy man, and reported to have much power over all such evil things," and he went as fast as he could to the Talib's house. When Talib Faroosh saw the goat, he at once recognised him, and began to "beat him with his tongue" (abuse him soundly), "for," said he, "thy mother has been searching for thee, high and low. What evil

pranks hast thou been doing, oh Son of the Wicked One?" And the Jinn was very meek, answering that he had only been taking a walk when caught by the man. Then the man told how he had found, as he thought, a goat straying, but that when it had spoken he had perceived that it was a Jinn, and had brought it at once to the learned Talib. And then he demanded a reward. "It is just," said the Talib. "Name thy price," and the man asked for 120 mitzakel.1 Then said the Talib: "It shall be paid thee. But thou wast foolish not to ask more, for this Jinn is the one son of his mother, and very dear to her, and she would be able and willing to pay any sum you choose to ask. However, go now in peace," and the man returning to his own home, found the 120 mitzakel awaiting him.

Jinoon are exceedingly rich, as they are able to draw upon. the supplies of treasure hidden everywhere about this our country. The money paid by them is good, but of such ancient date, that it cannot pass, and must be melted by the jewellers back into lumps of gold and silver. Some of these coins are of a long shape, not round like our dollars.

Certain Talibs there are who are able to convert pieces of paper written on and cut into small rounds like coins, into money, but these are of a truth useless, for if thou trust to change them, they turn back into paper.

6. THE Tortoise.

A TORTOISE once took one hundred years to mount from one step to another. On the first day of the hundred and first year he stumbled and fell back.

"Now Allah curse all haste," said he.

7. THE SPRING.

TRULY the "Liely" (winter) is the sad time of the year. Her time of sorrow when she puts off her fine garments and 1 Mitzakela silver coin worth about a shilling.

mourns with tears and lamentations of wind. But after, when the former and latter rains have passed, and Yum R'baiza, "the Days of Grass," have come! Then are the winds soft, and the trees and fields are green and pink and white, and everywhere is laid a thick carpet of flowers. And the scents! The air is laden with them. Knowest thou why is all this? It is because in the days of "Yum R'baiza" are lit the censers of "Jinnat" paradise, and what we notice are the faint breathings thereof. What must it be like there, then? There, where the souls of the blessed disport themselves?

THE "DEVIL'S DOOR" IN WROXHALL ABBEY CHURCH. (PLATE XII.)

WROXHALL, according to Dugdale, was originally an outlying hamlet in the parish of Honily or Honeley, Warwickshire, where, in the time of Stephen, Hugh de Hatton of Hatton, a neighbouring parish, founded a house of Benedictine nuns, dedicating the church to St. Leonard, the woodland saint of Limoges, patron of prisoners. A legend, recorded in the fifteenth century in the Chartulary of the convent, told that Hugh de Hatton, having been taken captive in the Crusades, prayed to St. Leonard, and was then miraculously transported back to Warwickshire, where his wife failed to recognise him till he produced the half of the ring he had broken with her ere his departure, when the two halves were found to fit and were miraculously welded together. The Priory, erected on the spot on his estates in the forest of Arden where the meeting took place, was Hugh's thank offering for his deliverance, and he endowed it with the Church of Hatton and with all his lands in the parish of Honily. A century later, Honily itself was granted by Simon de Montfort to the Austin Canons of Kenilworth, and Wroxhall in course of time became a separate parish. The living is still a donative, in the gift of the proprietor of the estate. The lay owners after the Dissolution