The Brown Fairy Book | Page 5

came
before him, and after greeting his father with due respect, said: 'O my
royal father! I am tired of the town; if you will give me leave, I will
take my servants to-morrow and will go into the country and hunt on
the hill-skirts; and when I have taken some game I will come back, at
evening-prayer time.' His father consented, and sent with him some of
his own trusted servants, and also hawks, and falcons, hunting dogs,
cheetahs and leopards.
At the place where the prince intended to hunt he saw a most beautiful
deer. He ordered that it should not be killed, but trapped or captured
with a noose. The deer looked about for a place where he might escape
from the ring of the beaters, and spied one unwatched close to the
prince himself. It bounded high and leaped right over his head, got out
of the ring, and tore like the eastern wind into the waste. The prince put
spurs to his horse and pursued it; and was soon lost to the sight of his
followers. Until the world-lighting sun stood above his head in the
zenith he did not take his eyes off the deer; suddenly it disappeared
behind some rising ground, and with all his search he could not find
any further trace of it. He was now drenched in sweat, and he breathed

with pain; and his horse's tongue hung from its mouth with thirst. He
dismounted and toiled on, with bridle on arm, praying and casting
himself on the mercy of heaven. Then his horse fell and surrendered its
life to God. On and on he went across the sandy waste, weeping and
with burning breast, till at length a hill rose into sight. He mustered his
strength and climbed to the top, and there he found a giant tree whose
foot kept firm the wrinkled earth, and whose crest touched the very
heaven. Its branches had put forth a glory of leaves, and there were
grass and a spring underneath it, and flowers of many colours.
Gladdened by this sight, he dragged himself to the water's edge, drank
his fill, and returned thanks for his deliverance from thirst.
He looked about him and, to his amazement, saw close by a royal seat.
While he was pondering what could have brought this into the
merciless desert, a man drew near who was dressed like a faqir, and had
bare head and feet, but walked with the free carriage of a person of rank.
His face was kind, and wise and thoughtful, and he came on and spoke
to the prince.
'O good youth! how did you come here? Who are you? Where do you
come from?'
The prince told everything just as it had happened to him, and then
respectfully added: 'I have made known my own circumstances to you,
and now I venture to beg you to tell me your own. Who are you? How
did you come to make your dwelling in this wilderness?'
To this the faqir replied: 'O youth! it would be best for you to have
nothing to do with me and to know nothing of my fortunes, for my
story is fit neither for telling nor for hearing.' The prince, however,
pleaded so hard to be told, that at last there was nothing to be done but
to let him hear.
'Learn and know, O young man! that I am King Janangir[FN#4] of
Babylon, and that once I had army and servants, family and treasure;
untold wealth and belongings. The Most High God gave me seven sons
who grew up well versed in all princely arts. My eldest son heard from
travellers that in Turkistan, on the Chinese frontier, there is a king
named Quimus, the son of Timus, and that he has an only child, a
daughter named Mihr-afruz,[FN#5] who, under all the azure heaven, is
unrivalled for beauty. Princes come from all quarters to ask her hand,
and on one and all she imposes a condition. She says to them: "I know

a riddle; and I will marry anyone who answers it, and will bestow on
him all my possessions. But if a suitor cannot answer my question I cut
off his head and hang it on the battlements of the citadel." The riddle
she asks is, "What did the rose do to the cypress?"
'Now, when my son heard this tale, he fell in love with that unseen girl,
and he came to me lamenting and bewailing himself. Nothing that I
could say had the slightest effect on him. I said: "Oh my son! if there
must be fruit of this fancy of yours, I will lead forth a great army
against King Quimus. If he will give you his daughter freely, well and