Then he walked forward a couple of steps and stopped finding himself alone in a wild and perilous wold wherein was none to company with him，so he wept sore and recited the verses before mentioned.Then he walked on a few steps farther beside the river，till he came upon two little boys of the sons of the sorcerers，before whom lay a rod of copper graven with talismans；and beside it a skull-cap[162] of leather，made of three gores and wroughten in steel with names and characts.The cap and rod were upon the ground and the boys were disputing and beating each other，till the blood ran down between them；whilst each cried；'None shall take the wand but I.'So Hasan interposed and parted them，saying，'What is the cause of your contention？'and they replied，'O uncle，be thou judge of our case，for Allah the Most High hath surely sent thee to do justice between us.'Quoth Hasan，'Tell me your case，and I will judge between you；'and quoth one of them，'We twain are brothers-german and our sire was a mighty magician，who dwelt in a cave on yonder mountain.He died and left us this cap and rod；and my brother saith，'None shall have the rod but I，'whilst I say the like；so be thou judge between us and deliver us each from other.'Hasan asked；'What is the difference between the rod and the cap and what is their value？ The rod appears to be worth six coppers[163] and the cap three；'whereto they answered，'Thou knowest not their properties.''And what are their properties？''Each of them hath a wonderful secret virtue，wherefore the rod is worth the revenue of all the Islands of Wak and their provinces and dependencies；and the cap the like！''By Allah，O my sons，discover to me their secret virtues.'So they said，'O uncle，they are extraordinary；
for our father wrought an hundred and thirty and five years at their contrivance，till he brought them to perfection and ingrafted them with secret attributes which might serve him extraordinary services and engraved them after the likeness of the revolving sphere，and by their aid he dissolved all spells；