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

When the Princess Parizade had in her hand the three things which the religious woman had told her of, and for which she had felt so great a desire, she said to the bird, 'Bird, all you have done for me as yet is not enough. You have been the cause of the death of my two brothers, who must be among the black stones which I saw as I came up the hill. I wish to take them home with me.'
The bird seemed reluctant to satisfy the princess on this point, and indeed made some difficulty about it. 'Bird,' said the princess, 'remember you told me that you were my slave. You are; and your life is at my disposal.'
'I cannot deny it,' answered the bird; 'but although what you now ask of me is more difficult than all the rest, yet I will do it for you. Cast your eyes around,' added he, 'and look if you can see a little pitcher.'
'I see it already,' said the princess.
'Take it then,' said he, 'and as you go down the hill, spill a little of the water that is in it upon every black stone, and that will be the way to find your brothers again.'
The Princess Parizade took up the pitcher, and carried with her the cage and bird, the flagon of golden water, and the branch of the singing tree; and, as she went down the hill, she spilt a little of the water on every black stone, which was changed immediately into a man; and as she did not miss one stone, all the horses, both of the princes her brothers, and of the other gentlemen, resumed their former shape. She presently recognised Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz, as they did her, and ran to embrace her. She returned their embraces, and expressed her amazement. 'What are you doing here, my dear brothers?' said she. They told her they had been asleep. 'Yes,' replied she, 'and if it had not been for me you might have slept till the day of judgment. Don't you remember that you came here to fetch the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the yellow water? and didn't you see, as you came along, the place covered with black stones? The gentlemen you see here, and their horses which surround us, and you yourselves, were these black stones. If you desire to know how this wonder was performed,' continued she, showing the pitcher, which she set down at the foot of the mountain, having no further use for it, 'it was done by virtue of the water which was in this pitcher, with which I sprinkled every stone. After I had made the speaking bird (which you see in this cage) my slave, by his directions I found out the singing tree, a branch of which I now have in my hand; and the yellow water, with which this flagon is filled; but being unwilling to return home without you, I constrained the bird to show me the means.'
Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz perceived how greatly they were indebted to the princess their sister, as did all the other gentlemen, who had collected round, and heard all that was said. They all declared themselves her slaves, and said they were ready to obey her in whatever she should command.
' Gentlemen,' replied the princess, 'I rejoice with you for the happiness which has come to you by my means. Let us, however, stay no longer in a place where we have nothing to detain us; but mount our horses, and return to our respective homes.'
The Princess Parizade led the way. She went and took her horse, which stood in the place where she had left him. Before she mounted, Prince Bahman desired her to give him the cage to carry. 'Brother,' replied the princess, 'the bird is my slave, and I will carry him myself; if you will be so kind as to carry the branch of the singing tree, there it is; only hold the cage while I get on horseback.' When she had mounted her horse, and Prince Bahman had given her the cage, she turned round and said to Prince Perviz, I leave the flagon of golden water to your care, if it will not be too much trouble for you to carry it.' Prince Perviz took charge of it with pleasure.
When Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz and all the gentlemen had mounted their horses, the Princess Parizade waited for some of them to lead the way. The two princes waited for the gentlemen, and they again for the princess, who, finding that none of them would accept the honour, but that it was reserved for her, said, 'Gentlemen, I do not deserve the honour you do me, and accept it only because you desire it.' So she led the way, and the two princes and the gentlemen followed her all together.
This illustrious company called upon the dervish, as they passed by, to thank him for his kindness and wholesome advice, which they had all found to be sincere. But he was dead; whether from old age, or because he was no longer necessary to show the way to the three curiosities, did not appear. They pursued their way, but lessened in number every day, for the gentlemen who had come from different countries, after repeating their obligations to the princess and her brothers, took leave of them one after another.
As soon as the princess reached home, she placed the cage in the garden, just by the hall; and tile bird no sooner began to sing than he was surrounded by nightingales, chaffinches, larks, linnets, goldfinches, and a great many other birds of the country. As for the branch of the singing tree, it was no sooner set in tile midst of the garden, a little distance from the house, than it took root, and in a short time became a large tree, the leaves of which gave as harmonious a concert as those of the tree from which it was gathered. As to the flagon of golden water, a large basin of beautiful marble was made in the midst of the garden; and when it was finished, the princess poured into it all the yellow water that was in the flagon; and it increased and swelled so much that it soon reached up to the edges of the basin, and afterwards formed in the middle a fountain twenty feet high, which fell again into the basin perpetually, without running ever.
The report of these wonders was presently spread abroad in the neighbourhood, and as the doors of the house and those of the gardens were shut to nobody, a great many people came to admire them.
Some days afterwards, when the Princes Bahman and Perviz had recovered from the fatigue of their journey, they resumed their former way of living; and as their usual diversion was hunting they mounted their horses, and went for the first time since their return, not in their own park, but two or three leagues from the house. As they pursued their sport, the Sultan of Persia came up hunting on the same spot of ground. When they perceived by the number of horsemen in different places that he would soon reach them, they resolved to leave off, and retire to avoid meeting him; but they chanced to meet him in so narrow a path that they could not turn away nor retreat without being seen. In their surprise they had only time to alight and prostrate themselves before the sultan without lifting up their heads to look at him. The sultan, who saw they were as well mounted and dressed as if they had belonged to his court, had some curiosity to see their faces. He stopped, and commanded them to rise. The princes rose up, and stood before the sultan with an easy and graceful air, and respectful modest countenances. The sultan looked them all over from head to foot before he spoke. Then he asked them who they were, and where they lived.
'Sir,' said Prince Bahman, 'we arc the sons of the late keeper of your majesty's gardens, and we live in a house which he built, a little before he died, for us to live in, till we should be fit to serve your majesty when opportunity offered.'
'By what I perceive,' replied the sultan, 'you are fond of hunting.'
'Sir,' answered Prince Bahman, 'it is our common exercise; none of your majesty's subjects who intend to bear arms in your armies ought, according to the ancient custom of the kingdom to neglect it.'
The sultan, charmed with so prudent an answer, said, 'Since it is so, I should be glad to see you hunt game; make choice of what you like.'
The princes mounted their horses again, and followed the sultan, but had not gone far before they saw a great many wild beasts together. Prince Bahman chose a lion, and Prince Perviz a bear, and pursued them with so much valour that the sultan was surprised. They came up with their game, and darted their javelins with so much skill, that they pierced, the one the lion, and the other the bear, through and through: the sultan, with his own eyes, saw them fall one after the other. Immediately afterwards Prince Bahman pursued another bear, and Prince Perviz another lion, and killed them in a short time, and would have beaten out for fresh game, but the sultan would not let them, and sent for them. When they came he said, 'If I had given you leave, you would soon have destroyed all my game. I am sure your bravery will some time or other be serviceable to me.'
The sultan, in short, felt so kindly disposed towards the two princes, that he invited them immediately to pay him a visit; to which Prince Bahman replied, 'Your majesty does us an honour we do not deserve, and we beg you will excuse us.'
The sultan, who could not comprehend what reason the princes could have for refusing this token of his favour, asked and pressed them to tell him why they excused themselves. 'Sir,' said Prince Bahman, 'we have a younger sister, with whom we live in such perfect union that we undertake and do nothing before we consult her, nor she anything without asking our advice.'
'I commend your brotherly affection,' answered the sultan. 'Consult your sister, meet here me to-morrow hunting, and give me an answer.'
The princes went home, but forgot not only to speak of their adventure in meeting the sultan and hunting with him, but to tell the princess the honour he had done them by asking them to go home with him; yet they did not the next morning fail to meet him at the place appointed. 'Well,' said the sultan, 'have you spoken to your sister, and has she consented? '
The two princes looked at each other and blushed. 'Sir,' said Prince Bahman, 'we beg your majesty to excuse us, for both my brother and I forgot.'
'Then remember to-day,' replied the sultan, 'and be sure to bring me an answer to-morrow.'
The princes were guilty of the same fault a second time, and the sultan was so good-natured as to forgive their carelessness; but to prevent their forgetfulness the third time, he pulled three little golden balls out of a purse, and put them into Prince Bahman's breast. 'These balls,' said he, smiling, ' will prevent your forgetting a third time what I wish you to do for my sake, since the noise they will make by falling on the floor, when you undress yourself, will remind you. if you do not recollect it before.' The event happened just as the Sultan foresaw. For as Prince Bahman unloosed his girdle to go to bed, the balls dropped on the floor, and thereupon he ran into Prince Perviz's chamber, and both went into the Princess Parizade's apartment; and after they had asked her pardon for coming at so unseasonable a time, they told her all about their meeting the sultan.
The Princess Parizade was somewhat surprised at this news. 'Your meeting with the sultan,' said she, 'is very happy and honourable, and may in the end be very advantageous to you, but it is very disagreeable and distressful to me. It was on my account, I know, that you refused the sultan, and I am infinitely obliged to you for it. I know by this that your friendship is as strong as mine, since you would rather be guilty of incivility towards the sultan than break the brotherly union we have sworn to each other. You judged right that if you had once gone, you would by degrees have decided to leave me, to devote yourselves to him. But do you think it an easy matter absolutely to refuse the sultan what he seems so earnestly to desire? Sultans will be obeyed, and it may be dangerous to oppose them; therefore, if I were to dissuade you from showing the assent he expects from you, it might expose you to his resentment, and might render myself and you miserable. This is what I think: but before we decide on anything, let us consult the speaking bird, and hear what he says; he is wise, and has promised his assistance in all difficulties.'
The Princess Parizade sent for the cage, and after she had related the fact to the bird in the presence of her brothers, she asked him what they should do in their perplexity. The bird answered, 'The princes, your brothers, must conform to the sultan's pleasure, and in their turn invite him to come and see your house.'
'But, bird,' replied the princess, 'my brothers and I love one another, and our friendship is unparalleled. Will not this step be injurious to that friendship?'
'Not at all,' replied the bird; 'it will become stronger.'
'Then,' answered the princess, 'the sultan will see me.' The bird told her it was necessary that he should see her, and that everything would go better afterwards.
Next morning the princes met the sultan hunting, who asked them if they had remembered to speak to their sister. Prince Bahman drew near, and answered, 'Sir, your majesty may dispose of us as you please; we are ready to obey you; for we have not only obtained our sister's consent with great ease, but she took it amiss that we should pay her such deference in a matter wherein our duty to your majesty was concerned. But she is so deserving of it that, if we have offended, we hope you will pardon us.'
'Do not be uneasy upon that account,' replied the sultan; 'so far from taking amiss what you have done, I approve of it, and hope you will feel the same deference and attachment to me, if I have ever so little share in your friendship.' The princes, confused at the sultan's goodness, returned no other answer than a low bow, to show their great respect.
The sultan, contrary to his usual custom, did not hunt long that day. Presuming that the princes possessed brains equal to their courage and bravery, he longed with impatience to converse with them more at liberty, and made them ride on each side of him. When the sultan entered his capital, the eyes of the people' who stood in crowds in the streets, were fixed only upon the two princes Bahman and Perviz; and they were anxious to know who they were, whether foreigners or natives.
All, however, agreed in wishing that the sultan had been blessed with two such handsome lovely princes, and said, 'He might have had children just their age, if he had been more fortunate.'
The first thing that the sultan did when he arrived was to show the princes over his palace. Afterwards a magnificent repast was served up, and the sultan made them sit at the same table with him, which they at first refused, but finding that it was his wish, they obeyed. The sultan was a clever and learned man; but in whatever direction he turned the conversation, they showed so much judgment and discernment, that he was struck with admiration. 'Were these my own children,' said he to himself, 'and I had improved their talents by suitable education, they could not have been better informed.' In fact, he took such pleasure in their conversation that, after having sat at table longer than usual, he went into his private room, where he talked a long time with them, a concert following, and then dancing. Seeing night drawing on apace, the two princes prostrated themselves at the sultan's feet; and having first thanked him for the favours and honours he had heaped on them, asked his leave to retire, which was granted them by the sultan, who, however, said 'Remember I brought you to the palace myself only to show you the way; you will always be welcome, and the oftener you come the greater pleasure you will do me.'
Before they went out of the sultan's presence, Prince Bahman said, 'Sir, may we presume to request that your majesty will do us and our sister the favour to pass by our house, and rest and refresh yourself, the first time you go hunting in our neighbourhood? It is not worthy of your presence; but monarchs sometimes have condescended to take shelter in a cottage.'
'Gentlemen,' replied the sultan, 'your house cannot be otherwise than beautiful, and worthy of you. I will call and see it with pleasure; you and your sister are already dear to me. I will be there early to- morrow morning, at the place where I shall never forget that I first saw you. Meet me, and you shall be my guides.'
When the Princes Bahman and Perviz went home, they gave the Princess Parizade an account of the honourable reception the sultan had given them, and told her that they had invited him to do them the honour to call at their house, and that he had appointed the next day.
'Then,' replied the princess, 'we must think at once of preparing a repast fit for his majesty; I think we should consult the speaking bird: he will tell us, perhaps, what dishes the sultan likes best.' The princes approved of her thought, and after they retired she consulted the bird alone. 'Bird,' said she, 'the sultan will do us the honour to-morrow to come and see our house, and we are to entertain him; tell us what we shall do to please him.'
' Good mistress,' replied the bird, 'you have excellent cooks, let them do the best they can; but, above all, let them prepare a dish of cucumbers stuffed with pearls, which must be set before the sultan in the first course.'
'Cucumbers with pearls!' cried Princess Parizade, in amazement. 'Surely, bird, you do not know what you say; it is an unheard-of dish. The sultan may admire it as a piece of magnificence, but he will sit down to table to eat, and not to admire pearls; besides, the pearls I am worth are not enough for such a dish.'
'Mistress,' said the bird, 'do what I say, and be not uneasy. Nothing but good will follow. As to the pearls, go early to-morrow morning to the foot of the first tree on your right in the park, and dig under it, and you will find more than you want.'
That night the princess ordered a gardener to be ready, and early the next morning took him with her to the tree the bird told her of, and bade him dig at its foot. When the gardener came to a certain depth, he found some resistance to the spade, and presently discovered a gold box about a foot square, which he showed the princess. 'This,' said she, 'is what I brought you for; take care not to hurt it with the spade.'
When the gardener took up the box, he gave it into the princess's hands, who, as it was only fastened with neat little hasps, soon opened it, and found it full of pearls of moderate size, but fit for the use that was to be made of them. Very well satisfied with having found this treasure, she shut the box again, put it under her arm, and went back to the house, while the gardener threw the earth into the hole at the foot of the tree as before.
Princes Bahman and Perviz saw the princess their sister in the garden earlier than usual, as they were dressing in their own apartments; as soon as they could get out, they went to meet her as she was coming back, with a gold box under her arm, which very much surprised them. 'Sister,' said Bahman, 'you carried nothing with you when we saw you before with the gardener, and now we see you have got a golden box; is this some treasure found by the gardener, and did he come and tell you of it? '
'No, brother,' answered the princess, ' I conducted the gardener to the place where this coffer was hid, and showed him where to dig: but you will be more amazed when you see what it holds.'
The princess opened the box, and when the princes saw that it was full of pearls, which, though small, were of great value, they asked her how she came to the knowledge of this treasure. 'Brothers,' said she, 'come with me and I will tell you.' As they returned to the house, the princess gave them an account of her consulting the bird, as they had agreed she should, and the answer he gave her; the objection she raised to preparing a dish of cucumbers stuffed with pearls, and how he had told her where to find this box. The princes and princess wondered greatly what the bird could mean by ordering them to prepare such a dish; and though they could not by any means guess at his reason, they agreed to follow his advice exactly.
As soon as the princess got into the house, she called for the head cook; and after she had given him directions about the entertainment for the sultan, she said, 'besides all this you must prepare an extraordinary dish for the sultan's own eating, which nobody else must have anything to do with besides yourself. This dish must be of cucumbers stuffed with these pearls ;' and she opened the box, and showed him the pearls.
The chief cook, who had never heard of such a dish, started back, and showed his thoughts by his looks. The princess said, 'I see you take me to be mad to order such a dish, which you never heard of, and which one may say with certainty was never made. I know this as well as you; but I am not mad, and give you these orders with the most perfect sincerity. You must go and invent and do the best you can, and bring me back what pearls are left. The cook could make no reply, but took the box and went away with it; and afterwards the princess gave directions to all the servants to have everything in order, both in the house and gardens to receive the sultan.