The Brown Fairy Book | Page 9

I will go with you. I
have wealth equal to the treasure of the miserly Qarun.' But the prince
only made answer like a man distraught, and told her nothing. He said
to himself, ' God forbid that the veil should be taken in vain from my
secret; that would indeed disgrace me.' So, with streaming eyes and
burning breast, Dil-aram arose and went to her house and lamented and
fretted.
Now whenever the princess commanded the prince's attendance,
Dil-aram, of all the girls, paid him attention and waited on him best.
The princess noticed this, and said: 'O Dil-aram! you must take my
madman into your charge and give him whatever he wants.' This was
the very thing Dil- aram had prayed for. A little later she took the
prince into a private place and she made him take an oath of secrecy,
and she herself took one and swore, ' By Heaven! I will not tell your
secret. Tell me all about yourself so that I may help you to get what you
want.' The prince now recognised in her words the perfume of true love,
and he made compact with her. 'O lovely girl! I want to know what the
rose did to the cypress. Your mistress cuts off men's heads because of
this riddle; what is at the bottom of it, and why does she do it?' Then
Dil-aram answered: ' If you will promise to marry me and to keep me
always amongst those you favour, I will tell you all I know, and I will
keep watch about the riddle.'
'O lovely girl,' rejoined he, 'if I accomplish my purpose, so that I need
no longer strive for it, I will keep my compact with you. When I have
this woman in my power and have avenged my brothers, I will make
you my solace.'
'O wealth of my life and source of my joy!' responded Dil-aram, 'I do

not know what the rose did to the cypress; but so much I know that the
person who told Mihr-afruz about it is a negro whom she hides under
her throne. He fled here from Waq of the Caucasus--it is there you must
make inquiry; there is no other way of getting at the truth.'On hearing
these words, the prince said to his heart, 'O my heart! your task will yet
wear away much of your life.'
He fell into long and far thought, and Dil-aram looked at him and said:
'O my life and my soul! do not be sad. If you would like this woman
killed, I will put poison into her cup so that she will never lift her head
from her drugged sleep again.'
'O Dil-aram! such a vengeance is not manly. I shall not rest till I have
gone to Waq of the Caucasus and have cleared up the matter.' Then
they repeated the agreement about their marriage, and bade one another
goodbye.
The prince now went back to the village, and told the old man that he
was setting out on a long journey, and begged him not to be anxious,
and to keep safe the goods which had been entrusted to him.
The prince had not the least knowledge of the way to Waq of the
Caucasus, and was cast down by the sense of his helplessness. He was
walking along by his horse's side when there appeared before him an
old man of serene countenance, dressed in green and carrying a staff,
who resembled Khizr.[FN#8] The prince thanked heaven, laid the
hands of reverence on his breast and salaamed. The old man returned
the greeting graciously, and asked: 'How fare you? Whither are you
bound? You look like a traveller.'
'O revered saint! I am in this difficulty: I do not know the way to Waq
of the Caucasus.' The old man of good counsel looked at the young
prince and said: 'Turn back from this dangerous undertaking. Do not go;
choose some other task! If you had a hundred lives you would not bring
one out safe from this journey.' But his words had no effect on the
prince's resolve. 'What object have you,' the old man asked, 'in thus
consuming your life?'
'I have an important piece of business to do, and only this journey
makes it possible. I must go; I pray you, ill God's name, tell me the
way.'
When the saint saw that the prince was not to be moved, he said: '
Learn and know, O youth! that Waq of Qaf is in the Caucasus and is a

dependency of it. In it there are jins, demons, and peris. You must go
on along this road till it forks into three; take neither the right hand nor
the left, but the middle path.