"One of the royal marids, the genies of water, came to free his brethren from captivity. Of all the genies, he

"One of the royal marids, the genies of water, came to free his brethren from captivity. Of all the genies, he was the wisest. For three days, Khiben-Sald competed with the genie in the art of poetry. At the end of the third night, Khiben-Sald was so exhausted that he was about to take a ceremonial dagger to open his own veins... The genie, however, was first to admit defeat, and entered a copper vessel which the wizard then sealed. It was thus that history came to know the maharajah as the great conqueror of the genies."