Messengers were forthwith despatched to the garden-house, and after awhile they returned bringing a negro whom they had discovered in a secret chamber underneath the throne of Mihr-afruz, dressed in a dress of honour, and surrounded with luxury. The king was overwhelmed with astonishment, but the girl had taken heart again. She had had time to think that perhaps the prince had heard of the presence of the negro, and knew no more. So she said haughtily: "Prince! you have not answered my riddle."
"O most amazingly impudent person," cried he, "do you not yet repent?"
Then he turned to the people, and told them the whole story of the rose and the cypress, of King Sinaubar and Queen Gul. When he came to the killing of the negroes, he said to the one who stood before them: "You, too, were present."
"That is so; all happened as you have told it!"
There was great rejoicing in the court and all through the country over the solving of the riddle, and because now no more kings and princes would be killed. King Quimus made over his daughter to Prince Almas, but the latter refused to marry her, and took her as his captive. He then asked that the heads should be removed from the battlements and given decent burial. This was done. He received from the king everything that belonged to Mihr-afruz; her treasure of gold and silver; her costly stuffs and carpets; her household plenishing; her horses and camels; her servants and slaves.
Then he returned to his camp and sent for Dil-aram, who came bringing her goods and chattels, her gold and her jewels. When all was ready, Prince Almas set out for home, taking with him Jamila, and Dil-aram and Gul, daughter of Taram-taq, and the wicked Mihr-afruz, and all the belongings of the four, packed on horses and camels, and in carts without number.
As he approached the borders of his father"s country word of his coming went before him, and all the city came forth to give him welcome. King Saman-lal-posh--Jessamine, wearer of rubies--had so bewept the loss of his sons that he was now blind. When the prince had kissed his feet and received his blessing, he took from a casket a little collyrium of Solomon, which the Simurgh had given him, and which reveals the hidden things of earth, and rubbed it on his father"s eyes. Light came, and the king saw his son.
Mihr-afruz was brought before the king, and the prince said: "This is the murderer of your sons; do with her as you will." The king fancied that the prince might care for the girl"s beauty, and replied: "You have humbled her; do with her as you will."
Upon this the prince sent for four swift and strong horses, and had the negro bound to each one of them; then each was driven to one of the four quarters, and he tore in pieces like muslin.
This frightened Mihr-afruz horribly, for she thought the same thing might be done to herself. She cried out to the prince: "O Prince Almas! what is hardest to get is most valued. Up till now I have been subject to no man, and no man had had my love. The many kings and kings" sons who have died at my hands have died because it was their fate to die like this. In this matter I have not sinned. That was their fate from eternity; and from the beginning it was predestined that my fate should be bound up with yours."
The prince gave ear to the argument from preordainment, and as she was a very lovely maiden he took her too in lawful marriage. She and Jamila set up house together, and Dil-aram and Gul set up theirs; and the prince pa.s.sed the rest of his life with the four in perfect happiness, and in pleasant and sociable entertainment.
Now has been told what the rose did to the cypress.
Finished, finished, finished!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Translated from two Persian MSS. in the possession of the British Museum and the India Office, and adapted, with some reservations, by Annette S. Beveridge.
[2] Jessamine, ruby-decked.
[3] Life-giving diamond.
[4] World-gripper.
[5] Love-enkindler.
[6] Rose-cheek.
[7] Heartsease.
[8] Elias.
[9] Pleasure.
[10] Thirty-birds.
[11] Pomp and Pride.
[12] Of happy omen.
_BALL-CARRIER AND THE BAD ONE_
Far, far in the forest there were two little huts, and in each of them lived a man who was a famous hunter, his wife, and three or four children. Now the children were forbidden to play more than a short distance from the door, as it was known that, away on the other side of the wood near the great river, there dwelt a witch who had a magic ball that she used as a means of stealing children.
Her plan was a very simple one, and had never yet failed. When she wanted a child she just flung her ball in the direction of the child"s home, and however far off it might be, the ball was sure to reach it.
Then, as soon as the child saw it, the ball would begin rolling slowly back to the witch, just keeping a little ahead of the child, so that he always thought that he could catch it the next minute. But he never did, and, what was more, his parents never saw him again.
Of course you must not suppose that all the fathers and mothers who had lost children made no attempts to find them, but the forest was so large, and the witch was so cunning in knowing exactly where they were going to search, that it was very easy for her to keep out of the way.
Besides, there was always the chance that the children might have been eaten by wolves, of which large herds roamed about in winter.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BOY IN THE WITCH"S HUT]
One day the old witch happened to want a little boy, so she threw her ball in the direction of the hunters" huts. A child was standing outside, shooting at a mark with his bow and arrows, but the moment he saw the ball, which was made of gla.s.s whose blues and greens and whites, all frosted over, kept changing one into the other, he flung down his bow, and stooped to pick the ball up. But as he did so it began to roll very gently downhill. The boy could not let it roll away, when it was so close to him, so he gave chase. The ball seemed always within his grasp, yet he could never catch it; it went quicker and quicker, and the boy grew more and more excited. That time he almost touched it--no, he missed it by a hair"s breadth! Now, surely, if he gave a spring he could get in front of it! He sprang forward, tripped and fell, and found himself in the witch"s house!
"Welcome! welcome! grandson!" said she; "get up and rest yourself, for you have had a long walk, and I am sure you must be tired!" So the boy sat down, and ate some food which she gave him in a bowl. It was quite different from anything he had tasted before, and he thought it was delicious. When he had eaten up every bit, the witch asked him if he had ever fasted.
"No," replied the boy, "at least I have been obliged to sometimes, but never if there was any food to be had."
"You will have to fast if you want the spirits to make you strong and wise, and the sooner you begin the better."
"Very well," said the boy, "what do I do first?"
"Lie down on those buffalo skins by the door of the hut," answered she; and the boy lay down, and the squirrels and little bears and the birds came and talked to him.
At the end of ten days the old woman came to him with a bowl of the same food that he had eaten before.
"Get up, my grandson, you have fasted long enough. Have the good spirits visited you, and granted you the strength and wisdom that you desire?"
"Some of them have come, and have given me a portion of both,"
answered the boy, "but many have stayed away from me."
"Then," said she, "you must fast ten days more."
So the boy lay down again on the buffalo skins, and fasted for ten days, and at the end of that time he turned his face to the wall, and fasted for twenty days longer. At length the witch called to him, and said:
"Come and eat something, my grandson." At the sound of her voice the boy got up and ate the food she gave him. When he had finished every sc.r.a.p she spoke as before: "Tell me, my grandson, have not the good spirits visited you all these many days that you have fasted?"
"Not all, grandmother," answered he; "there are still some who keep away from me and say that I have not fasted long enough."
"Then you must fast again," replied the old woman, "and go on fasting till you receive the gifts of _all_ the good spirits. Not one must be missing."