by abc
"We have been asleep," they said.
"Yes," returned the princess, "but without me your sleep would
probably have lasted till the day of judgment. Have you forgotten
that you came here in search of the Talking Bird, the Singing Tree,
and the Golden Water, and the black stones that were heaped
up along the road? Look round and see if there is one left.
These gentlemen, and yourselves, and all your horses were changed
into these stones, and I have delivered you by sprinkling you with
the water from this pitcher. As I could not return home without you,
even though I had gained the prizes on which I had set my heart,
I forced the Talking Bird to tell me how to break the spell."
On hearing these words Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz understood
all they owed their sister, and the knights who stood by declared
themselves her slaves and ready to carry out her wishes.
But the princess, while thanking them for their politeness,
explained that she wished for no company but that of her brothers,
and that the rest were free to go where they would.
So saying the princess mounted her horse, and, declining to allow
even Prince Bahman to carry the cage with the Talking Bird,
she entrusted him with the branch of the Singing Tree, while Prince
Perviz took care of the flask containing the Golden Water.
Then they rode away, followed by the knights and gentlemen,
who begged to be permitted to escort them.
It had been the intention of the party to stop and tell their
adventures to the dervish, but they found to their sorrow that he
was dead, whether from old age, or whether from the feeling
that his task was done, they never knew.
As they continued their road their numbers grew daily smaller,
for the knights turned off one by one to their own homes, and only
the brothers and sister finally drew up at the gate of the palace.
The princess carried the cage straight into the garden, and, as soon
as the bird began to sing, nightingales, larks, thrushes, finches,
and all sorts of other birds mingled their voices in chorus.
The branch she planted in a corner near the house, and in a few
days it had grown into a great tree. As for the Golden Water it
was poured into a great marble basin specially prepared for it,
and it swelled and bubbled and then shot up into the air in a fountain
twenty feet high.
The fame of these wonders soon spread abroad, and people came
from far and near to see and admire.
After a few days Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz fell back into
their ordinary way of life, and passed most of their time hunting.
One day it happened that the Sultan of Persia was also hunting
in the same direction, and, not wishing to interfere with his sport,
the young men, on hearing the noise of the hunt approaching,
prepared to retire, but, as luck would have it, they turned
into the very path down which the Sultan was coming. They threw
themselves from their horses and prostrated themselves to the earth,
but the Sultan was curious to see their faces, and commanded them
to rise.
The princes stood up respectfully, but quite at their ease,
and the Sultan looked at them for a few moments without speaking,
then he asked who they were and where they lived.
"Sire," replied Prince Bahman, "we are sons of your Highness's
late intendant of the gardens, and we live in a house that he
built a short time before his death, waiting till an occasion
should offer itself to serve your Highness."
"You seem fond of hunting," answered the Sultan.
"Sire," replied Prince Bahman, "it is our usual exercise,
and one that should be neglected by no man who expects to comply
with the ancient customs of the kingdom and bear arms."
The Sultan was delighted with this remark, and said at once,
"In that case I shall take great pleasure in watching you.
Come, choose what sort of beasts you would like to hunt."
The princes jumped on their horses and followed the Sultan
at a little distance. They had not gone very far before they
saw a number of wild animals appear at once, and Prince Bahman
started to give chase to a lion and Prince Perviz to a bear.
Both used their javelins with such skill that, directly they arrived
within striking range, the lion and the bear fell, pierced through
and through. Then Prince Perviz pursued a lion and Prince
Bahman a bear, and in a very few minutes they, too, lay dead.
As they were making ready for a third assault the Sultan interfered,
and, sending one of his officials to summon them, he said smiling,
"If I let you go on, there will soon be no beasts left to hunt.
Besides, your courage and manners have so won my heart that I will
not have you expose yourselves to further danger. I am convinced
that some day or other I shall find you useful as well as agreeable."
He then gave them a warm invitation to stay with him altogether,
but with many thanks for the honour done them, they begged to
be excused, and to be suffered to remain at home.
The Sultan who was not accustomed to see his offers rejected
inquired their reasons, and Prince Bahman explained that they did
not wish to leave their sister, and were accustomed to do nothing
without consulting all three together.
"Ask her advice, then," replied the Sultan, "and to-morrow come
and hunt with me, and give me your answer."
The two princes returned home, but their adventure made so little
impression on them that they quite forgot to speak to their sister
on the subject. The next morning when they went to hunt they met
the Sultan in the same place, and he inquired what advice their
sister had given. The young men looked at each other and blushed.
At last Prince Bahman said, "Sire, we must throw ourselves on your
Highness's mercy. Neither my brother nor myself remembered anything
about it."
"Then be sure you do not forget to-day," answered the Sultan,
"and bring me back your reply to-morrow."
When, however, the same thing happened a second time, they feared
that the Sultan might be angry with them for their carelessness.
But he took it in good part, and, drawing three little golden
balls from his purse, he held them out to Prince Bahman, saying,
"Put these in your bosom and you will not forget a third time,
for when you remove your girdle to-night the noise they will make
in falling will remind you of my wishes."
It all happened as the Sultan had foreseen, and the two brothers
appeared in their sister's apartments just as she was in the act
of stepping into bed, and told their tale.
The Princess Parizade was much disturbed at the news, and did not
conceal her feelings. "Your meeting with the Sultan is very honourable
to you," she said, "and will, I dare say, be of service to you,
but it places me in a very awkward position. It is on my account,
I know, that you have resisted the Sultan's wishes, and I am
very grateful to you for it. But kings do not like to have their
offers refused, and in time
he would bear a grudge against you,
which would render me very unhappy. Consult the Talking Bird,
who is wise and far-seeing, and let me hear what he says."
So the bird was sent for and the case laid before him.
"The princes must on no account refuse the Sultan's proposal,"
said he, "and they must even invite him to come and see your house."
"But, bird," objected the princess, "you know how dearly we love
each other; will not all this spoil our friendship?"
"Not at all," replied the bird, "it will make it all the closer."
"Then the Sultan will have to see me," said the princess.
The bird answered that it was necessary that he should see her,
and everything would turn out for the best.
The following morning, when the Sultan inquired if they had spoken
to their sister and what advice she had given them, Prince Bahman
replied that they were ready to agree to his Highness's wishes,
and that their sister had reproved them for their hesitation about
the matter. The Sultan received their excuses with great kindness,
and told them that he was sure they would be equally faithful to him,
and kept them by his side for the rest of the day, to the vexation
of the grand-vizir and the rest of the court.
When the procession entered in this order the gates of the capital,
the eyes of the people who crowded the streets were fixed on the two
young men, strangers to every one.
"Oh, if only the Sultan had had sons like that!" they murmured,
"they look so distinguished and are about the same age that his sons
would have been!"
The Sultan commanded that splendid apartments should be prepared for the
two brothers, and even insisted that they should sit at table with him.
During dinner he led the conversation to various scientific subjects,
and also to history, of which he was especially fond, but whatever
topic they might be discussing he found that the views of the young
men were always worth listening to. "If they were my own sons,"
he said to himself, "they could not be better educated!" and aloud
he complimented them on their learning and taste for knowledge.
At the end of the evening the princes once more prostrated themselves
before the throne and asked leave to return home; and then,
encouraged by the gracious words of farewell uttered by the Sultan,
Prince Bahman said: "Sire, may we dare to take the liberty of asking
whether you would do us and our sister the honour of resting for
a few minutes at our house the first time the hunt passes that way?"
"With the utmost pleasure," replied the Sultan; "and as I am
all impatience to see the sister of such accomplished young men
you may expect me the day after to-morrow."
The princess was of course most anxious to entertain the Sultan
in a fitting way, but as she had no experience in court customs
she ran to the Talking Bird, and begged he would advise her
as to what dishes should be served.
"My dear mistress," replied the bird, "your cooks are very good
and you can safely leave all to them, except that you must be
careful to have a dish of cucumbers, stuffed with pearl sauce,
served with the first course."
"Cucumbers stuffed with pearls!" exclaimed the princess. "Why, bird,
who ever heard of such a dish? The Sultan will expect a dinner he
can eat, and not one he can only admire! Besides, if I were to use
all the pearls I possess, they would not be half enough."
"Mistress," replied the bird, "do what I tell you and nothing
but good will come of it. And as to the pearls, if you go at dawn
to-morrow and dig at the foot of the first tree in the park,
on the right hand, you will find as many as you want."
The princess had faith in the bird, who generally proved to be right,
and taking the gardener with her early next morning followed out
his directions carefully. After digging for some time they came
upon a golden box fastened with little clasps.
These were easily undone, and the box was found to be full of pearls,
not very large ones, but well-shaped and of a good colour.
So leaving the gardener to fill up the hole he had made under the tree,
the princess took up the box and returned to the house.
The two princes had seen her go out, and had wondered what could have
made her rise so early. Full of curiosity they got up and dressed,
and met their sister as she was returning with the box under her arm.
"What have you been doing?" they asked, "and did the gardener come
to tell you he had found a treasure?"
"On the contrary," replied the princess, "it is I who have found one,"
and opening the box she showed her astonished brothers the
pearls inside. Then, on the way back to the palace, she told them
of her consultation with the bird, and the advice it had given her.
All three tried to guess the meaning of the singular counsel,
but they were forced at last to admit the explanation was beyond them,
and they must be content blindly to obey.
The first thing the princess did on entering the palace was to send
for the head cook and to order the repast for the Sultan When she
had finished she suddenly added, "Besides the dishes I have mentioned
there is one that you must prepare expressly for the Sultan, and that
no one must touch but yourself. It consists of a stuffed cucumber,
and the stuffing is to be made of these pearls."
The head cook, who had never in all his experience heard of such
a dish, stepped back in amazement.
"You think I am mad," answered the princess, who perceived what was
in his mind. "But I know quite well what I am doing. Go, and do
your best, and take the pearls with you."
The next morning the princes started for the forest, and were soon
joined by the Sultan. The hunt began and continued till mid-day,
when the heat became so great that they were obliged to leave off.
Then, as arranged, they turned their horses' heads towards the palace,
and while Prince Bahman remained by the side of the Sultan,
Prince Perviz rode on to warn his sister of their approach.
The moment his Highness entered the courtyard, the princess flung
herself at his feet, but he bent and raised her, and gazed at her
for some time, struck with her grace and beauty, and also with the
indefinable air of courts that seemed to hang round this country girl.
"They are all worthy one of the other," he said to himself,
"and I am not surprised that they think so much of her opinions.
I must know more of them."
By this time the princess had recovered from the first embarrassment
of meeting, and proceeded to make her speech of welcome.
"This is only a simple country house, sire," she said,
"suitable to people like ourselves, who live a quiet life.
It cannot compare with the great city mansions, much less,
of course, with the smallest of the Sultan's palaces."
"I cannot quite agree with you," he replied; "even the little
that I have seen I admire greatly, and I will reserve my judgment
until you have shown me the whole."
The princess then led the way
from room to room, and the Sultan examined
everything carefully. "Do you call this a simple country house?"
he said at last. "Why, if every country house was like this,
the towns would soon be deserted. I am no longer astonished
that you do not wish to leave it. Let us go into the gardens,
which I am sure are no less beautiful than the rooms."
A small door opened straight into the garden, and the first object
that met the Sultan's eyes was the Golden Water.
"What lovely coloured water!" he exclaimed; "where is the spring,
and how do you make the fountain rise so high? I do not believe there
is anything like it in the world." He went forward to examine it,
and when he had satisfied his curiosity, the princess conducted him
towards the Singing Tree.
As they drew near, the Sultan was startled by the sound of
strange voices, but could see nothing. "Where have you hidden
your musicians?" he asked the princess; "are they up in the air,
or under the earth? Surely the owners of such charming voices
ought not to conceal themselves!"
"Sire," answered the princess, "the voices all come from the tree
which is straight in front of us; and if you will deign to advance
a few steps, you will see that they become clearer."
The Sultan did as he was told, and was so wrapt in delight
at what he heard that he stood some time in silence.
"Tell me, madam, I pray you," he said at last, "how this
marvellous tree came into your garden? It must have been brought
from a great distance, or else, fond as I am of all curiosities,