by Andrew Lang
A great many officers came to attend the Prince while he dismounted his horse, and afterwards conducted him into the Sultan’s apartment, who was at that time surrounded with his favourites. He approached towards the throne, laid the bottle at the Sultan’s feet, and kissed the rich tapestry which covered his footstool, and then said: ‘ I have brought you, sir, the healthful water which your Majesty desired so much to keep among your other rarities in your treasury, but at the same time wish you such extraordinary health as never to have occasion to make use of it.’
After the Prince had made an end of his compliment the Sultan placed him on his right hand, and then said to him: ‘Son, I am very much obliged to you for this valuable present, as also for the great danger you have exposed yourself to upon my account (which I have been informed of by a magician who knows the Fountain of Lions); but do me the pleasure,’ continued he, ‘to inform me by what address, or, rather, by what incredible power, you have been secured.’
‘ Sir,’ replied Prince Ahmed, ‘ I have no share in the compliment your Majesty is pleased to make me; all the honour is due to the Fairy my spouse, whose good advice I followed.’ Then he informed the Sultan what those directions were, and by the relation of this his expedition let him know how well he had behaved himself. When he had done the Sultan, who showed outwardly all the demonstrations of great joy, but secretly became more jealous, retired into an inward apartment, where he sent for the magician.
The magician, at her arrival, saved the Sultan the trouble to tell her of the success of Prince Ahmed’s journey, which she had heard of before she came, and therefore was prepared with an infallible means, as she pretended. This means she communicated to the Sultan, who declared it the next day to the Prince, in the midst of all his courtiers, in these words: ‘ Son,’ said he, ‘ I have one thing more to ask of you, after which I shall expect nothing more from your obedience, nor your interest with your wife. This request is, to bring me a man not above a foot and a half high, and whose beard is thirty feet long, who carries a bar of iron upon his shoulders of five hundredweight, which he uses as a quarterstaff.’
Prince Ahmed, who did not believe that there was such a man in the world as his father described, would gladly have excused himself; but the Sultan persisted in his demand, and told him the Fairy could do more incredible things.
The next day the Prince returned to his dear Paribanou, to whom he told his father’s new demand, which, he said, he looked upon to be a thing more impossible than the two first; ‘for,’ added he, ‘ I cannot imagine there can be such a man in the world; without doubt, he has a mind to try whether or no I am so silly as to go about it, or he has a design on my ruin. In short, how can he suppose that I should lay hold on a man so well armed, though he is but little? What arms can I make use of to reduce him to my will? If there are any means, I beg you will tell them, and let me come off with honour this time.’
‘ Don’t affright yourself, Prince,’ replied the Fairy; ‘you ran a risk in fetching the Water of the Fountain of Lions for your father, but there’s no danger in finding out this man, who is my brother Schaibar, but is so far from being like me, though we both had the same father, that he is of so violent a nature that nothing can prevent his giving cruel marks of his resentment for a slight offence; yet, on the other hand, is so good as to oblige anyone in whatever they desire. He is made exactly as the Sultan your father has described him, and has no other arms than a bar of iron of five hundred pounds weight, without which he never stirs, and which makes him respected. I’ll send for him, and you shall judge of the truth of what I tell you; but be sure to prepare yourself against being frightened at his extraordinary figure when you see him.’ ‘What! my Queen,’ replied Prince Ahmed, ‘do you say Schaibar is your brother? Let him be never so ugly or deformed I shall be so far from being frightened at the sight of him that, as our brother, I shall honour and love him.’
The Fairy ordered a gold chafing-dish to be set with a fire in it under the porch of her palace, with a box of the same metal, which was a present to her, out of which taking a perfume, and throwing it into the fire, there arose a thick cloud of smoke.
Some moments after the Fairy said to Prince Ahmed: ‘See, there comes my brother.’ The Prince immediately perceived Schaibar coming gravely with his heavy bar on his shoulder, his long beard, which he held up before him, and a pair of thick moustachios, which he tucked behind his ears and almost covered his face; his eyes were very small, and deep-set in his head, which was far from being of the smallest size, and on his head he wore a grenadier’s cap: besides all this, he was very much hump-backed.
If Prince Ahmed had not known that Schaibar was Paribanou’s brother, he would not have been able to have looked at him without fear, but, knowing first who he was, he stood by the Fairy without the least concern
Schaibar, as he came forwards, looked at the Prince earnestly enough to have chilled his blood in his veins, and asked Paribanou, when he first accosted her, who that man was. To which she replied: ‘He is my husband, brother. His name is Ahmed; he is son to the Sultan of the Indies. The reason why I did not invite you to my wedding was I was unwilling to divert you from an expedition you were engaged in, and from which I heard with pleasure you returned victorious, and so took the liberty now to call for you.’
At these words Schaibar, looking on Prince Ahmed favourably, said: ‘ Is there anything, sister, wherein I can serve him? It is enough for me that he is your husband to engage me to do for him whatever he desires.’ ‘ The Sultan his father,’ replied Paribanou, ‘has a curiosity to see you, and I desire he may be your guide to the Sultan’s Court.’ ‘ He needs but lead me the way, I’ll follow him.’ ‘Brother,’ replied Paribanou, ‘it is too late to go to-day, therefore stay till to-morrow morning; and in the meantime I’ll inform you of all that has passed between the Sultan of the Indies and Prince Ahmed since our marriage.’
The next morning, after Schaibar had been informed of the affair, he and Prince Ahmed set out for the Sultan’s Court. when they arrived at the gates of the capital the people no sooner saw Schaibar but they ran and hid themselves ; and some shut up their shops and locked themselves up in their houses, while others flying communicated their fear to all they met, who stayed not to look behind them, but ran too; insomuch that Schaibar and Prince Ahmed, as they went along, found the streets all desolate till they came to the palace, where the porters, instead of keeping the gates, ran away too, so that the Prince and Schaibar advanced without any obstacle to the council-hall, where the Sultan was seated on his throne, and giving audience. Here likewise the ushers, at the approach of Schaibar, abandoned their posts, and gave them free admittance.
Schaibar went boldly and fiercely up to the throne, without waiting to be presented by Prince Ahmed, and accosted the Sultan of the Indies in these words: ‘Thou hast asked for me,’ said he; ‘see, here I am: what wouldst thou have with me?’
The Sultan, instead of answering him, clapped his hands before his eyes, to avoid the sight of so terrible an object; at which uncivil and rude reception Schaibar was so much provoked, after he had given him the trouble to come so far, that he instantly lifted up his iron bar and killed him, before Prince Ahmed could intercede in his behalf. All that he could do was to prevent his killing the grand vizier, who sat not far from him, representing to him that he had always given the Sultan his father good advice. ‘ These are they, then,’ said Schaibar, ‘who gave him bad,’ and as he pronounced these words he killed all the other viziers and flattering favourites of the Sultan who were Prince Ahmed’s enemies. Every time he struck he killed some one or other, and none escaped but they who were not so frightened as to stand staring and gaping, and who saved themselves by night.
When this terrible execution was over Schaibar came out of the council-hall into the midst of the courtyard with the iron bar upon his shoulder, and, looking hard at the grand vizier, who owed his life to Prince Ahmed, he said: ‘ I know here is a certain magician, who is a greater enem
y of my brother-in-law’s than all these base favourites I have chastised. Let the magician be brought to me presently.’ The grand vizier immediately sent for her, and as soon as she was brought Schaibar said, at the time he fetched a stroke at her with his iron bar: ‘Take the reward of thy pernicious counsel, and learn to feign sickness again.’
After this he said: ‘This is not yet enough; I will use the whole town after the same manner if they do not immediately acknowledge Prince Ahmed, my brother-in-law, for their Sultan and the Sultan of the Indies.’ Then all that were there present made the air echo again with the repeated acclamations of: ‘Long life to Sultan Ahmed’; and immediately after he was proclaimed through the whole town. Schaibar made him be clothed in the royal vestments, installed him on the throne, and after he had caused all to swear homage and fidelity to him went and fetched his sister Paribanou, whom he brought with all the pomp and grandeur imaginable, and made her to be owned Sultaness of the Indies.
As for Prince Ali and Princess Nouronnihar, as they had no hand in the conspiracy against Prince Ahmed, and knew nothing of any, Prince Ahmed assigned them a considerable province, with its capital, where they spent the rest of their lives. Afterwards he sent an officer to Prince Houssain to acquaint him with the change and make him an offer of which province he liked best; but that Prince thought himself so happy in his solitude that he bade the officer return the Sultan his brother thanks for the kindness he designed him, assuring him of his submission; and that the only favour he desired of him was to give him leave to live retired in the place he had made choice of for his retreat.29
THE HISTORY OF JACK THE GIANT-KILLER
IN the reign of the famous King Arthur there lived in Cornwall a lad named Jack, who was a boy of a bold temper, and took delight in hearing or reading of conjurers, giants, and fairies; and used to listen eagerly to the deeds of the knights of King Arthur’s Round Table.
In those days there lived on St. Michael’s Mount, off Cornwall, a huge giant, eighteen feet high and nine feet round; his fierce and savage looks were the terror of all who beheld him.
He dwelt in a gloomy cavern on the top of the mountain, and used to wade over to the mainland in search of prey; when he would throw half-a-dozen oxen upon his back, and tie three times as many sheep and hogs round his waist, and march back to his own abode.
The giant had done this for many years when Jack resolved to destroy him.
Jack took a horn, a shovel, a pickaxe, his armour, and a dark lantern, and one winter’s evening he went to the mount. There he dug a pit twenty-two feet deep and twenty broad. He covered the top over so as to make it look like solid ground. He then blew such a tantivy that the giant awoke and came out of his den, crying out: ‘You saucy villain! you shall pay for this. I’ll broil you for my breakfast!’
He had just finished, when, taking one step further, he tumbled headlong into the pit, and Jack struck him a blow on the head with his pickaxe which killed him. Jack then returned home to cheer his friends with the news.
Another giant, called Blunderbore, vowed to be revenged on Jack if ever he should have him in his power. This giant kept an enchanted castle in the midst of a lonely wood; and some time after the death of Cormoran Jack was passing through a wood, and being weary sat down and went to sleep.
The giant, passing by and seeing Jack, carried him to his castle, where he locked him up in a large room, the floor of which was covered with the bodies, skulls, and bones of men and women.
Soon after the giant went to fetch his brother, who was likewise a giant, to take a meal off his flesh; and Jack saw with terror through the bars of his prison the two giants approaching.
Jack, perceiving in one corner of the room a strong cord, took courage, and making a slip-knot at each end, he threw them over their heads, and tied it to the window-bars; he then pulled till he had choked them. When they were black in the face he slid down the rope and stabbed them to the heart.
Jack next took a great bunch of keys from the pocket of Blunderbore, and went into the castle again. He make a strict search through all the rooms, and in one of them found three ladies tied up by the hair of their heads, and almost starved to death. They told him that their husbands had been killed by the giants, who had then condemned them to be starved to death, because they would not eat the flesh of their own dead husbands.
‘Ladies,’ said Jack, ‘I have put an end to the monster and his wicked brother; and I give you this castle and all the riches it contains, to make some amends for the dreadful pains you have felt.’ He then very politely gave them the keys of the castle, and went further on his journey to Wales.
As Jack had but little money, he went on as fast as possible. At length he came to a handsome house. Jack knocked at the door, when there came forth a Welsh giant. Jack said he was a traveller who had lost his way, on which the giant made him welcome, and let him into a room where there there was a good bed to sleep in.
Jack took off his clothes quickly, but though he was weary he could not go to sleep. Soon after this he heard the giant walking backward and forward in the next room, and saying to himself:
‘Though here you lodge with me this night,
You shall not see the morning light;
My club shall dash your brains out quite.’
‘Say you so?’ thought Jack. ‘Are these your tricks upon travellers? But I hope to prove as cunning as you are.’ Then, getting out of bed, he groped about the room, and at last found a large thick billet of wood. He laid it in his own place in the bed, and then hid himself in a dark corner of the room.
The giant, about midnight, entered the apartment, and with his bludgeon struck a many blows on the bed, in the very place where Jack had laid the log; and then he went back to his own room, thinking he had broken all Jack’s bones.
Early in the morning Jack put a bold face upon the matter, and walked into the giant’s room to thank him for his lodging. The giant started when he saw him, and began to stammer out: ‘Oh! dear me; is it you? Pray how did you sleep last night? Did you hear or see anything in the dead of the night?’
‘Nothing worth speaking of,’ said Jack carelessly: ‘a rat, I believe, gave me three or four slaps with its tail, and disturbed me a little; but I soon went to sleep again.’
The giant wondered more and more at this: yet he did not answer a word, but went to bring two great bowls of hasty-pudding for their breakfast. Jack wanted to make the giant believe that he could eat as much as himself, so he contrived to button a leathern bag inside his coat, and slip the hasty-pudding into this bag, while he seemed to put it into his mouth.
When breakfast was over he said to the giant: ‘Now I will show you a fine trick. I can cure all wounds with a touch: I could cut off my head in one minute, and the next put it sound again on my shoulders. You shall see an example.’ He then took hold of the knife, ripped up the leathern bag, and all the hasty-pudding tumbled out upon the floor.
‘Ods splutter hur nails!’ cried the Welsh giant, who was ashamed to be outdone by such a little fellow as Jack, ‘hur can do that hurself;’ so he snatched up the knife, plunged it into his own stomach, and in a moment dropped down dead.
Jack, having hitherto been successful in all his undertakings, resolved not to be idle in future; he therefore furnished himself with a horse, a cap of knowledge, a sword of sharpness, shoes of swiftness, and an invisible coat, the better to perform the wonder-fuil enterprises that lay before him.
He travelled over high hills, and on the third day he came to a large and spacious forest through which his road lay. Scarcely had he entered the forest when he beheld a monstrous giant dragging along by the hair of their heads a handsome knight and his lady. Jack alighted from his horse, and tying him to an oak tree, put on his invisible coat, under which he carried his sword of sharpness.
When he came up to the giant he made several strokes at him, but could not reach his body, but wounded his thighs in several places; and at length putting both hands to his sword and aiming wi
th all his might, he cut off both his legs. Then Jack, setting his foot upon his neck, plunged his sword into the giant’s body, when the monster gave a groan and expired.
The knight and his lady thanked Jack for their deliverance, and invited him to their house, to receive a proper reward for his services. ‘ No,’ said Jack, ‘I cannot be easy till I find out this monster’s habitation.’ So taking the knight’s directions, he mounted his horse, and soon after came in sight of another giant, who was sitting on a block of timber waiting for his brother’s return.
Jack alighted from his horse, and, putting on his invisible coat, approached and aimed a blow at the giant’s head, but missing his aim he only cut off his nose. On this the giant seized his club and laid about him most unmercifully.
‘ Nay,’ said Jack, if this be the case I’d better dispatch you!’ so jumping upon the block, he stabbed him in the back, when he dropped down dead.