Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 09 (3 page)

After a day and a night he saw the column rise in silent beauty
to the heavens. Everything was as the wise old man had said it
would be, and the prince, who was skilled in all tongues, read
the following Cufic inscription: 'O travellers! be it known to
you that this column has been set up with its tablet to give true
directions about these roads. If a man would pass his life in
ease and pleasantness, let him take the right-hand path. If he
take the left, he will have some trouble, but he will reach his
goal without much delay. Woe to him who chooses the middle path!
if he had a thousand lives he would not save one; it is very
hazardous; it leads to the Caucasus, and is an endless road.
Beware of it!'

The prince read and bared his head and lifted his hands in
supplication to Him who has no needs, and prayed, 'O Friend of
the traveller! I, Thy servant, come to Thee for succour. My
purpose lies in the land of Qaf and my road is full of peril.
Lead me by it.' Then he took a handful of earth and cast it on
his collar, and said: 'O earth! be thou my grave; and O vest! tee
thou my winding-sheet!' Then he took the middle road and went
along it, day after day, with many a silent prayer, till he saw
trees rise from the weary waste of sand. They grew in a garden,
and he went up to the gate and found it a slab of beautifully
worked marble, and that near it there lay sleeping, with his head
on a stone, a negro whose face was so black that it made darkness
round him. His upper lip, arched like an eyebrow, curved upwards
to his nostrils and his lower hung down like a camel's. Four
millstones formed his shield, and on a box- tree close by hung
his giant sword. His loin-cloth was fashioned of twelve skins of
beasts, and was bound round his waist by a chain of which each
link was as big as an elephant's thigh.

The prince approached and tied up his horse near the negro's
head. Then he let fall the Bismillah from his lips, entered the
garden and walked through it till he came to the private part,
delighting in the great trees, the lovely verdure, and the
flowery borders. In the inner garden there were very many deer.
These signed to him with eye and foot to go back, for that this
was enchanted ground; but he did not understand them, and thought
their pretty gestures were a welcome. After a while he reached a
palace which had a porch more splendid than Caesar's, and was
built of gold and silver bricks. In its midst was a high seat,
overlaid with fine carpets, and into it opened eight doors, each
having opposite to it a marble basin.

Banishing care, Prince Almas walked on through the garden, when
suddenly a window opened and a girl, who was lovely enough to
make the moon writhe with jealousy, put out her head. She lost
her heart to the good looks of the prince, and sent her nurse to
fetch him so that she might learn where he came from and how he
had got into her private garden where even lions and wolves did
not venture. The nurse went, and was struck with amazement at
the sun-like radiance of his face; she salaamed and said: 'O
youth! welcome! the lady of the garden calls you; come!' He went
with her and into a palace which was like a house in Paradise,
and saw seated on the royal carpets of the throne a girl whose
brilliance shamed the shining sun. He salaamed; she rose, took
him by the hand and placed him near her. 'O young man! who are
you? Where do you come from? How did you get into this garden?'
He told her his story from beginning to end, and Lady
Latifa
[9]
replied: 'This is folly! It will make you a
vagabond of the earth, and lead you to destruction. Come, cease
such talk! No one can go to the Caucasus. Stay with me and be
thankful, for here is a throne which you can share with me, and
in my society you can enjoy my wealth. I will do whatever you
wish; I will bring here King Qulmus and his daughter, and you can
deal with them as you will.'

'O Lady Latifa,' he said, 'I have made a compact with heaven not
to sit down off my feet till I have been to Waq of Qaf and have
cleared up this matter, and have taken Mihr- afruz from her
father, as brave men take, and have put her in prison. When I
have done all this I will come back to you in state and with a
great following, and I will marry you according to the law.'
Lady Latifa argued and urged her wishes, but in vain; the prince
was not to be moved. Then she called to the cupbearers for new
wine, for she thought that when his head was hot with it he might
consent to stay. The pure, clear wine was brought; she filled a
cup and gave to him. He said: 'O most enchanting sweetheart! it
is the rule for the host to drink first and then the guest.' So
to make him lose his head, she drained the cup; then filled it
again and gave him. He drank it off, and she took a lute from
one of the singers and played upon it with skill which witched
away the sense of all who heard. But it was all in vain; three
days passed in such festivities, and on the fourth the prince
said: 'O joy of my eyes! I beg now that you will bid me farewell,
for my way is long and the fire of your love darts flame into the
harvest of my heart. By heaven's grace I may accomplish my
purpose, and, if so, I will come back to you.'

Now she saw that she could not in any way change his resolve, she
told her nurse to bring a certain casket which contained, she
said, something exhilarating which would help the prince on his
journey. The box was brought, and she divided off a portion of
what was within and gave it to the prince to eat. Then, and
while he was all unaware, she put forth her hand to a stick
fashioned like a snake; she said some words over it and struck
him so sharply on the shoulder that he cried out; then he made a
pirouette and found that he was a deer.

When he knew what had been done to him he thought, 'All the
threads of affliction are gathered together; I have lost my last
chance!' He tried to escape, but the magician sent for her
goldsmith, who, coming, overlaid the deer-horns with gold and
jewels. The kerchief which that day she had had in her hand was
then tied round its neck, and this freed it from her attentions.

The prince-deer now bounded into the garden and at once sought
some way of escape. It found none, and it joined the other deer,
which soon made it their leader. Now, although the prince had
been transformed into the form of a deer, he kept his man's heart
and mind. He said to himself, 'Thank heaven that the Lady Latifa
has changed me into this shape, for at least deer are beautiful.'
He remained for some time living as a deer amongst the rest, but
at length resolved that an end to such a life must be put ill
some way. He looked again for some place by which he could get
out of the magic garden. Following round the wall he reached a
lower part; he remembered the Divine Names and flung himself
over, saying, 'Whatever happens is by the will of God.' When he
looked about he found that he was in the very same place he had
jumped from; there was the palace, there the garden and the deer!
Eight times he leaped over the wall and eight times found himself
where he had started from; but after the ninth leap there was a
change, there was a palace and there was a garden, but the deer
were gone.

Presently a girl of such moon-like beauty opened a window that
the prince lost to her a hundred hearts. She was delighted with
the beautiful deer, and cried to her nurse: 'Catch it! if you
will I will give you this necklace, every pearl of which is worth
a kingdom.' The nurse coveted the pearls, but as she was three
hundred years old she did not know how she could catch a deer.
However, she went down into the garden and held out some grass,
but when she went near the creature ran away. The girl watched
with great excitement from the palace window, and called: 'O
nurse, if you don't catch it, I will kill you!' 'I am killing
myself,' shouted back the old woman. The girl saw that nurse
tottering along and went down to help, marching with the gait of
a prancing peacock. When she saw the gilded horns and the
kerchief she said: 'It must be accustomed to the hand, and be
some royal pet!' The prince had it in mind that this might be
another magician who could give him some other shape, but still
it seemed best to allow himself to be caught. So he played about
the girl and let her catch him by the neck. A leash was brought,
fruits were given, and it was caressed with delight. It was
taken to the palace and tied at the foot of the Lady Jamila's
raised seat, but she ordered a longer cord to be brought so that
it might be able to jump up beside her.

When the nurse went to fix the cord she saw tears falling from
its eyes, and that it was dejected and sorrowful 'O Lady Jamila!
this is a wonderful deer, it is crying; I never saw a deer cry
before.' Jamila darted down like a flash of lightning, and saw
that it was so. It rubbed its head on her feet and then shook it
so sadly that the girl cried for sympathy. She patted it and
said: 'Why are you sad, my heart? Why do you cry, my soul? Is
it because I have caught you? I love you better than my own
life.' But, spite of her comforting, it cried the more. Then
Jamila said: 'Unless I am mistaken, this is the work of my wicked
sister Latifa, who by magic art turns servants of God into beasts
of the field.' At these words the deer uttered sounds, and laid
its head on her feet. Then Jamila was sure it was a man, and
said: ' Be comforted, I will restore you to your own shape.' She
bathed herself and ordered the deer to be bathed, put on clean
raiment, called for a box which stood in an alcove, opened it and
gave a portion of what was in it to the deer to eat. Then she
slipped her hand under her carpet and produced a stick to which
she said something. She struck the deer hard, it pirouetted and
became Prince Almas.

The broidered kerchief and the jewels lay upon the ground. The
prince prostrated himself in thanks to heaven and Jamila, and
said: 'O delicious person! O Chinese Venus! how shall I excuse
myself for giving you so much trouble? With what words can I
thank you?' Then she called for a clothes-wallet and chose out a
royal dress of honour. Her attendants dressed him in it, and
brought him again before the tender-hearted lady. She turned to
him a hundred hearts, took his hand and seated him beside her,
and said: 'O youth! tell me truly who you are and where you come
from, and how you fell into the power of my sister.'

Even when he was a deer the prince had much admired Jamila now he
thought her a thousand times more lovely than before. He judged
that in truth alone was safety, and so told her his whole story.
Then she asked: 'O Prince Almas-ruh-bakhsh, do you still wish so
much to make this journey to Waq of Qaf? What hope is there in
it? The road is dangerous even near here, and this is not yet
the borderland of the Caucasus. Come, give it up! It is a great
risk, and to go is not wise. It would be a pity for a man like
you to fall into the hands of jins and demons. Stay with me, and
I will do whatever you wish.'

'O most delicious person!' he answered, 'you are very generous,
and the choice of my life lies in truth in your hands; but I beg
one favour of you. If you love me, so do I too love you. If you
really love me, do not forbid me to make this journey, but help
me as far as you can. Then it may be that I shall succeed, and
if I return with my purpose fulfilled I will marry you according
to the law, and take you to my own country, and we will spend the
rest of our lives together in pleasure and good companionship.
Help me, if you can, and give me your counsel.'

'O very stuff of my life,' replied Jamila 'I will give you things
that are not in kings' treasuries, and which will be of the
greatest use to you. First, there are the bow and arrows of his
Reverence the Prophet Salih. Secondly, there is the Scorpion of
Solomon (on whom be peace), which is a sword such as no king has;
steel and stone are one to it; if you bring it down on a rock it
will not be injured, and it will cleave whatever you strike.
Thirdly, there is the dagger which the sage Timus himself made;
this is most useful, and the man who wears it would not bend
under seven camels' loads. What you have to do first is to get
to the home of the Simurgh,
[10]
and to make friends with him.
If he favours you, he will take you to Waq of Qaf; if not, you
will never get there, for seven seas are on the way, and they are
such seas that if all the kings of the earth, and all their
wazirs, and all their wise men considered for a thousand years,
they would not be able to cross them.'

'O most delicious person! where is the Simurgh's home? How shall
I get there?'

'O new fruit of life! you must just do what I tell you, and you
must use your eyes and your brains, for if you don't you will
find yourself at the place of the negroes, who are a bloodthirsty
set; and God forbid they should lay hands on your precious
person.'

Then she took the bow and quiver of arrows, the sword, and the
dagger out of a box, and the prince let fall a Bismillah, and
girt them all on. Then Jamila of the houri-face, produced two
saddle-bags of ruby-red silk, one filled with roasted fowl and
little cakes, and the other with stones of price. Next she gave
him a horse as swift as the breeze of the morning, and she said:
' Accept all these things from me; ride till you come to a rising
ground, at no great distance from here, where there is a spring.
It is called the Place of Gifts, and you must stay there one
night. There you will see many wild beasts—lions, tigers,
leopards, apes, and so on. Before you get there you must capture
some game. On the long road beyond there dwells a lion-king,
alla if other beasts did not fear him they would ravage the whole
country and let no one pass. The lion is a red transgressor, so
when he comes rise and do him reverence; take a cloth and rub the
dust and earth from his face, then set the game you have taken
before him, well cleansed, and lay the hands of respect on your
breast. When he wishes to eat, take your knife and cut pieces of
the meat and set them before him with a bow. In this way you
will enfold that lion-king in perfect friendship, and he will be
most useful to you, and you will be safe from molestation by the
negroes. When you go on from the Place of Gifts, be sure you do
not take the right-hand road; take the left, for the other leads
by the negro castle, which is known as the Place of Clashing
Swords, and where there are forty negro captains each over three
thousand or four thousand more. Their chief is Taramtaq.
[11]
Further on than this is the home of the Simurgh.'