"When Mustapha heard these words he was ready to die with fear, but his limbs refused to bear him away and he was forced to support himself by grasping a tree.
"'Oh King,' cried Yussef, 'Let him be brought to thee.'
"'Be it so!' said the Genie.
"At this two fearful-looking Afrites leaped into the air, and with one swoop of their clawed wings alighted beside Mustapha. Then they seized him and thrust him into the circle before the cloudy form of the King of the Genii who thus addressed him.
"'It is not given us to slay, but that thou shalt no more trouble us we order thee to become a gourd, and as we may not sentence any to an endless fate it shall be that when it pleaseth Allah to turn thee inside out thou shalt then only assume again the form of man.'
"'It is well,' cried Yussef. 'Thanks, oh King!'
"At these words Mustapha fainted. When he recovered he found himself hanging on a vine near by, and presently discovered that he was a huge green gourd.
"After this many days fled away, and Mustapha the gourd grew bigger and bigger, and at last began to ripen and turn yellow.
"Every night as he hung on the vine he saw the strange midnight meetings of the Genii and Ghouls and Afrites. All the wonderful things he heard and saw no one will ever know, for he saw their wild feasts and dances, and heard music such as before no mortal ears had ever listened to.
"At length one warm summer morning two farmers came by on the way to market.