"More Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dixons Version)

There Prince Firouz Schah saw his lovely princess sitting carelessly, singing a song with tears in her eyes, deploring her unhappy fate, which deprived her, perhaps for ever, of the prince she loved so tenderly.
The prince was so much affected at the melancholy condition in which he found his dear princess, that he at once comprehended that her illness was feigned. When he came away he told the sultan that he had discovered the nature of the princess's illness, and that she was not incurable, but added that he must speak to her in private, and by himself; and, notwithstanding her violent fits at the sight of physicians, he hoped she would hear and receive him favourably.
The sultan ordered the princess's door to be opened, and Prince Firouz Schah went in. As soon as the princess saw him (taking him by his appearance to be a physician), she rose up in a rage, threatening and giving way to the most abusive language. He made directly towards her, and when he was near enough for her to hear him, for he did not wish to be heard by anyone else, he said to her, in a low voice, and in a most respectful manner, to make her believe him, 'Princess, I am not a physician, but the Prince of Persia, and am come to set you at liberty'
The princess, who immediately knew the sound of the voice, and the upper features of his face, notwithstanding his beard, grew calm at once, and a secret joy and pleasure overspread her face. Her agreeable surprise deprived her for some time of speech, and gave Prince Firouz Schah time to tell her as briefly as possible how despair seized him when he saw the Indian carry her away; the resolution he took afterwards to leave nothing undone to find out where she was, and never to return home till he had found her, and forced her out of the hands of the perfidious wretch; and by what good fortune at last, after a long and fatiguing journey, he had the satisfaction of finding her in the palace of the Sultan of Cashmire. He then desired the princess to inform him of all that happened to her from the time she was taken away till that moment, telling her that it was of the greatest importance to know this, that he might take the proper measures to deliver her from the tyranny of the Sultan of Cashmire.
The Princess of Bengal told the prince how she was delivered from the Indian's violence by the Sultan of Cashmire, as he was returning home from hunting; but how ill she was treated by his overhasty design to marry her that very day, without even asking her consent; that this violent and tyrannical conduct put her into a swoon, after which she thought she had no other way to save herself for a prince to whom she had given her heart and faith, and would rather die than marry the sultan, whom she neither loved, nor ever could.
Then the Prince of Persia asked her if she knew what had become of the horse after the lndian's death. To which she answered that she knew not what orders the sultan had given about it, but believed he would take care of it.
As Prince Firouz Schah never doubted that the sultan had the horse, he communicated to the princess his design of making use of it to carry them both back to Persia, and after they had consulted together on the measures they were to take, they agreed that the princess should next day receive the sultan civilly, but without speaking to him.
The Sultan of Cashmire was overjoyed when the Prince of Persia told him the effect his first visit had had on the Princess of Bengal. And the next day, when the princess received him in such a manner as persuaded him that her cure was far advanced, he looked upon the prince as the greatest physician in the world, and contented himself with telling her how rejoiced he was to see her so likely to recover her health. He exhorted her to follow the directions of so thoughtful a physician, and to complete what he had so well begun, and then retired, without waiting for her answer.
The Prince of Persia, who went with the Sultan of Cashmire out of the princess's chamber, asked him if, without failing in due respect, he might enquire how the Princess of Bengal came into the dominions of Cashmire thus alone, since her own country lay so far off? This he said on purpose to introduce some remark about the enchanted horse, and to know what had become of it.
The Sultan of Cashmire, who could not penetrate the Prince of Persia's motive for asking this question, concealed nothing, but told him much the same story as the Princess of Bengal had done: adding that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be kept safe in his treasury as a great curiosity, though he knew not the use of it.
'Sir,' replied the pretended physician, 'the information which your majesty gives me affords me a means of curing the princess. As she was brought hither on this horse, and the horse is enchanted, she has contracted somewhat of the enchantment, which can be dissipated only by certain incense which I am acquainted with. If your majesty would be pleased to entertain yourself, your court, and the people of your capital with the most surprising sight that ever was seen, let the horse be brought into the great square before the palace, and leave the rest to me. I promise to show you, and all that assembly in a few moments' time, the Princess of Bengal as well in body and mind as ever she was in her life. But, the better to effect what I propose, it would be best that the princess should be dressed as magnificently as possible, and adorned with the best jewels your majesty has.' The sultan agreed.
Early the next day, the enchanted horse was, by his order, taken out of the treasury, and placed in the great square before the palace. A report was spread through the town that there was something extraordinary to be seen, and crowds of people flocked thither from all parts, insomuch that the sultan's guards were placed to prevent disorder, and to keep space enough round the horse.
The Sultan of Cashmire, surrounded by all his nobles and ministers of state, sat in state on a platform erected on purpose. The Princess of Bengal, attended by a vast number of ladies whom the sultan had assigned her, went up to the enchanted horse and the women helped her to get upon its back. When she was fixed in the saddle, and had the bridle in her hand, the pretended physician placed round the horse a great many vessels full of fire, which he had ordered to be brought, and going round it, he cast a strong and pleasant perfume into these pots; then, collected in himself, with downcast eyes, and his hands upon his breast, he ran three times about the horse, pretending to pronounce certain words. The moment the pots sent forth a dark cloud of pleasant scent, which so surrounded the princess that neither she nor the horse was to be discerned, the prince, watching his opportunity, jumped nimbly up behind her, and stretching out his hand to the peg, turned it; and just as the horse rose with them into the air, he pronounced these words, which the sultan heard distinctly--'Sultan of Cashmire, when you would marry princesses who implore your protection, learn first to obtain their consent.'
Thus the Prince of Persia recovered the Princess of Bengal, and carried her that same day to the capital of Persia, where he alighted in the midst of the palace, before the king his father's window. The king deferred the marriage no longer than until he could make the preparations necessary to render the ceremony pompous and magnificent.
After the days appointed for the rejoicing were over, the King of Persia's first care was to appoint an ambassador to go and give the King of Bengal an account of what had happened, and to demand his approval and ratification of the alliance. This the King of Bengal took as an honour, and granted with great pleasure and satisfaction.
THE STORY OF THE SPEAKING BIRD.


here were once two brothers named Bahman and Perviz, who lived in Persia in the closest and most pleasant friendship with their only sister Parizade. They had never known their father, the Sultan Khosroo Shah, nor he them, for they had been stolen away from the palace one after the other when they were but a day old. Now the Sultan had always been away from home at the time of his children's birth, and on each occasion, when he returned and asked to see the babes, two wicked aunts, who lived in the palace, and had a spite against their sister the Sultaness, told him that they were not children at all, only a dead dog, a cat, and a piece of wood. But the aunts had stolen the real babes, wrapped them in flannel, placed them each in a basket, and sent them, one after the other, adrift down the canal.
It so happened that, just after the first babe was sent adrift, the keeper of the Sultan's gardens, a powerful but kind-hearted officer, who lived on the canal bank some way below the palace, was walking along the path and saw something floating in the water. He called to the gardener, who came with his spade, reached out towards the floating object, and drew it to land. To their great surprise they found it to be a basket containing a beautiful little boy. The keeper, to his great grief, had no children of his own, so he immediately determined to adopt this foundling, and picking up the basket, carried the babe to his wife, and bade her take the greatest care of him. They named him Bahman.
After a time the keeper, while walking on the canal banks, saw another floating basket, containing another babe, whom he and his wife adopted in exactly the same way, and named Perviz. Later still there appeared a third basket containing the little princess, whom they called Parizade, and brought up with the two boys. The keeper and his wife grew so extremely fond of these children, whom they taught to call them father and mother, that they determined not to make any inquiries into the mystery of the children's origin, nor to tell them that they were not really their own. All of them were so quick and clever and good that the keeper had them taught by the very best masters he could procure, and although the sister was the youngest, she was soon as proficient in all learning, and in riding, running, and shooting the arrow or javelin as her brothers.
The keeper was so overjoyed to find his adopted children so accomplished in body and mind, and so well justifying the care and expense which he had bestowed upon their education, that he determined, before he died, to build them a country house at some distance from the city, surrounded by woods, meadows, and corn-land, and to furnish it most magnificently. He then asked permission of the Sultan to retire from his service, saying that he was growing old, and wished to end his days in peace and tranquillity. The Sultan granted his request, but only six months later the keeper died so suddenly that he was unable to give the princes and princess any account of the mystery which hung over their birth, as he had resolved to do.
The Princes Bahman and Perviz, and the Princess Parizade, who knew no other father, regretted and bewailed him as such, and paid him all the honours at his funeral which their love and filial gratitude required of them. Content with the plentiful fortune he left them, they lived together in the same perfect union, free from any ambition for places of honour and dignity at Court, which they might easily have obtained.
One day when the two princes were hunting, and the Princess Parizade stayed at home, a religious old woman came to the gate, and desired leave to come in and say her prayers, it being then the hour. The servants went and asked the princess, who ordered them to show her into the chapel, which the keeper of the Sultan's gardens had taken care to fit up in his house, for want of a mosque in the neighbourhood. She bade them also, after the good woman had finished her prayers, show her the house and gardens, and then bring her to her.
The religious old woman went into the chapel and said her prayers, and when she came out again, two of the princess's women invited her to see the house and gardens; she accepted, and followed them from one apartment to another, and observed, as a person who understood what belonged to furniture, the nice arrangement of everything. They conducted her also into the garden, which she admired, observing that the person who planned it must have been an excellent master of his art. Afterwards she was brought before the princess, who waited for her in the great hall.
As soon as the princess saw the devout woman, she said to her, 'My good mother, come near and sit down by me. I am overjoyed at the happiness of having the opportunity of profiting for some moments by the good example and conversation of such a person as you, who have taken the right way, by dedicating yourself to the service of God. I wish everybody were as wise.'
The religious woman, instead of sitting upon a sofa, would only sit upon the edge of it. The princess would not permit her to do so, but rising from her seat, and taking her by the hand, obliged her to come and sit by her. The good woman said, 'Madam, I ought not to have so much respect shown me; but since you command me, and are mistress of your own house, I will obey you.' When she had sat down, before they entered into any conversation, one of the princess's women brought a little low table of mother-of-pearl and ebony, with a china dish full of cakes, and a great many others full of the fruits in season, and sweetmeats.
The princess took up one of the cakes and said, 'Eat, good mother, and make choice of what you like best; you had need to eat after coming so far.'
'Madam,' replied the good woman, ' I am not used to eat such nice things, but will not refuse what God has sent me by so liberal a hand as yours.'
While the religious woman was eating, the princess ate something too, to keep her company, and asked her a great many questions about the devotion which she practiced, and how she lived; all which questions she answered with great modesty. At last she asked her what she thought of the house and how she liked it.
'Madam,' answered the devout woman, 'I should certainly have very bad taste to disapprove of anything in it, since it is beautiful, regular, and magnificently furnished, and all its ornaments are in the best manner. Its situation is agreeable, and no garden can be more delightful; but yet, if you will give me leave to speak my mind freely, I will take the liberty of saying that this house would be incomparable, if it had three things which are lacking in it.'
'My good mother,' replied the Princess Parizade, 'what are those three things? I implore you to tell me what they are: I will spare no trouble to get them, if possible.'
' Madam,' replied the devout woman, 'the first of these three things is the speaking bird called Bulbulkezer, which is so singular a creature that it can draw round it all the singing birds of the neighbourhood to accompany its song. The second is the singing tree, the leaves of which form a harmonious concert of different voices, and never cease. The third is the yellow water of gold colour, a single drop of which being poured into a vessel properly prepared, in whatever part of the garden, increases so as to fill it immediately, and rises up in the middle like a fountain, which continually plays, and yet the basin never overflows.'
'Ah! my good mother,' cried the princess 'how much am I obliged to you for the knowledge of these things! I never before heard that there were such curious and wonderful things in the world; but as I am sure you know where they are, do me the favour to tell me.'
'Madam,' replied the good woman, 'I should be unworthy of your goodness if I refused to satisfy your curiosity on that point; and am glad to have the honour to tell you that these three things are to be met with in the same spot on the confines of this kingdom, towards India. The road to it lies before your house, and whoever you send need but follow it for twenty days, and on the twentieth let him but ask the first person he meets where the speaking bird, singing tree, and yellow water are, and he will be informed.' After these words, she rose, took leave, and went her way.
The Princess Parizade's thoughts were so taken up with what the religious woman had told her of the speaking bird, singing tree, and yellow water, that she never perceived she was gone, till she wanted to ask her another question. However, she would not send after her to fetch her back, but tried to remember all she had told her, and took real pleasure in thinking of the satisfaction she would have, if she could get these wonderful things into her possession; but the difficulties she apprehended, and the fear of not succeeding, made her very uneasy.
She was lost in these thoughts, when her brothers returned from hunting; when they entered the great hall, instead of finding her lively and gay, as usual, were amazed to see her pensively hang down her head, as if something troubled her.
'Sister,' said Prince Bahman, 'are you not well? or has some misfortune befallen you? Has anybody given you reason to be so melancholy? Tell us, that we may know how to act, and give you relief. If anybody has affronted you, we will resent it.'
The Princess Parizade remained in the same posture for some time without answering, but at last lifted up her eyes to look at her brothers, and then dropped them again, saying that nothing disturbed her.
'Sister,' said Prince Bahman, 'you are concealing the truth from us; there must be something. It is impossible that during the short time we have been absent so sudden a change could take place if there was nothing the matter with you; do not conceal anything from us, unless you would have us believe that you renounce the friendship and union which have been between us from our infancy.'
The princess, who had not the smallest desire to quarrel with her brothers, would not suffer them to entertain such a thought, but said: 'When I told you nothing disturbed me, I meant nothing that was of any great importance to you. To me it is, and since you press me to tell you, I will. We always thought that this house, which our late father built for us, was complete in everything. But this day I have learned that it needs three things, which would render it so perfect that no country-seat in the world could be compared to it These three things are the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the yellow water.' Then she told them all about the visit of the religious woman. 'You,' she added, 'may think as you please, but I am persuaded that they are absolutely necessary, and I shall not be easy without them. Therefore, whether you value them or not, give me your opinion and consider what person I may send on this expedition.'
'Sister,' replied Prince Bahman, 'what concerns you concerns us also. It is enough that you have an earnest desire for the things you mention; but even if it were otherwise, we should be anxious to go and search for them on our own account. Only tell me where the place is, and I will set out to-morrow.'
'Brother,' said Prince Perviz, 'it is not fitting that you, who are the head of the family, should be absent so long. I beg you will abandon your design, and allow me to undertake it.'
'I am sure of your goodwill, brother,' replied Prince Bahman, 'but I have resolved on it, and shall do it. You shall stay at home with our sister, and I need not recommend her to your care.' He spent the remainder of that day in making preparations for his journey, and in learning from the princess the directions the devout woman left her, that he might not miss his way.
Early the next morning, Prince Bahman mounted his horse, and Prince Perviz and the Princess Parizade embraced him and wished him a pleasant journey. But in the midst of their farewells, the princess recollected one thing which she had not thought of before. 'Brother,' said she, 'I had quite forgotten the accidents which attend travellers. Who knows whether I shall ever see you again? Alight, I beseech you, and give up this journey. I would rather be deprived of the sight and possession of the speaking bird, the singing tree, and yellow water, than run the risk of never seeing you more.'
'Sister,' replied Prince Bahman, smiling at the sudden fears of the Princess Parizade, 'my resolution is fixed, and you must allow me to execute it. The accidents you speak of befall only those who are unfortunate. It is true I may be of that number; but there are more who are not than who are, and I may be of the former number. But as events are uncertain, and I may fail, all I can do is to leave you this knife.'
Then Prince Bahman pulled a knife out of his pocket, and presenting it in the sheath to the princess, said: 'Take this knife, sister, and sometimes pull it out of the sheath: while you see it clean as it is now, it shall be a sign that I am alive; but if you find it stained with blood, then you may believe me dead, and favour me with your prayers.'
The Princess Parizade could obtain nothing more from Prince Bahman. He bade farewell to her and Prince Perviz for the last time, and rode away well mounted, armed and equipped.
When he got into the road he never turned to the right nor to the left, but went straight forward towards India. On the twentieth day he perceived by the road-side a hideous old man, who sat under a tree some small distance from a thatched house, which was his retreat from the weather.
His eyebrows were white as snow, and so was the hair of his head; his whiskers and beard came up to his nose; his whiskers covered his mouth, and his beard and hair reached down his feet. The nails of his hands and feet were extremely long; a flat broad hat, like an umbrella, covered his head. He had no clothes, but only a mat thrown round his body.