128
The Book of Wonder Voyages
Then the Persian said, "O Hasan, set the crucible and apply the bellows."
And when he had done so and lighted the charcoal, the Persian said, "Hast thou any copper?" And he replied, "I have a broken bowl." So he bade him cut
THE PERSIAN AND HASAN
it up with the shears and cast it into the crucible and blow up the fire with the bellows. And when the copper became liquid he put his hand to his turban and took from it a folded paper and sprinkled from it into the pot about half a drachm of what looked like yellow eye powder. And when Hasan had blown upon this for a time all the contents of the crucible became one lump of gold of finest quality. Then the Persian bade
