The Brown Fairy Book | Page 6

Andrew Lang

good; and if not, I will ravage his kingdom and bring her away by
force." This plan did not please him; he said: "It is not right to lay a
kingdom waste and to destroy a palace so that I may attain my desire. I
will go alone; I will answer the riddle, and win her in this way." At last,
out of pity for him, I let him go. He reached the city of King Quimus.
He was asked the riddle and could not give the true answer; and his
head was cut off and hung upon the battlements. Then I mourned him
in black raiment for forty days.
After this another and another of my sons were seized by the same
desire, and in the end all my seven sons went, and all were killed. In
grief for their death I have abandoned my throne, and I abide here in
this desert, withholding my hand from all State business and wearing
myself away in sorrow.'
Prince Tahmasp listened to this tale, and then the arrow of love for that
unseen girl struck his heart also. Just at this moment of his ill-fate his
people came up, and gathered round him like moths round a light. They
brought him a horse, fleet as the breeze of the dawn; he set his willing
foot in the stirrup of safety and rode off. As the days went by the thorn
of love rankled in his heart, and he became the very example of lovers,
and grew faint and feeble. At last his confidants searched his heart and
lifted the veil from the face of his love, and then set the matter before
his father, King Saman-lal-posh. 'Your son, Prince Tahmasp, loves
distractedly the Princess Mihr-afruz, daughter of King Quimus, son of
Timus.' Then they told the king all about her and her doings. A mist of
sadness clouded the king's mind, and he said to his son: 'If this thing is
so, I will in the first place send a courier with friendly letters to King
Quimus, and will ask the hand of his daughter for you. I will send an
abundance of gifts, and a string of camels laden with flashing stones

and rubies of Badakhsham In this way I will bring her and her suite,
and I will give her to you to be your solace. But if King Quimus is
unwilling to give her to you, I will pour a whirlwind of soldiers upon
him, and I will bring to you, in this way, that most consequential of
girls.' But the prince said that this plan would not be right, and that he
would go himself, and would answer the riddle. Then the king's wise
men said: 'This is a very weighty matter; it would be best to allow the
prince to set out accompanied by some persons in whom you have
confidence. Maybe he will repent and come back.' So King Saman
ordered all preparations for the journey to be made, and then Prince
Tahmasp took his leave and set out, accompanied by some of the
courtiers, and taking with him a string of two-humped and raven-eyed
camels laden with jewels, and gold, and costly stuffs.
By stage after stage, and after many days' journeying, he arrived at the
city of King Quimus. What did he see? A towering citadel whose foot
kept firm the wrinkled earth, and whose battlements touched the blue
heaven. He saw hanging from its battlements many heads, but it had
not the least effect upon him that these were heads of men of rank; he
listened to no advice about laying aside his fancy, but rode up to the
gate and on into the heart of the city. The place was so splendid that the
eyes of the ages have never seen its like, and there, in an open square,
he found a tent of crimson satin set up, and beneath it two jewelled
drums with jewelled sticks. These drums were put there so that the
suitors of the princess might announce their arrival by beating on them,
after which some one would come and take them to the king's presence.
The sight of the drums stirred the fire of Prince Tahmasp's love. He
dismounted, and moved towards them; but his companions hurried after
and begged him first to let them go and announce him to the king, and
said that then, when they had put their possessions in a place of security,
they would enter into the all important matter of the princess. The
prince, however, replied that he was there for one thing only; that his
first duty was to beat the drums and announce himself as a suitor, when
he would be taken, as such, to the king, who would
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