Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 09 (5 page)

Now the Simurgh had given the prince a diamond weighing thirty
misqals, and he ordered this to the king, who at once recognised
its value, and asked where it had been obtained. 'I, your slave,
once had riches and state and power; there are many such stones
in my country. On my way here I was plundered at the Castle of
Clashing Swords, and I saved this one thing only, hidden in my
bathing-cloth.' In return for the diamond, King Sinaubar
showered gifts of much greater value, for he remembered that it
was the last possession of the prince. He showed the utmost
kindness and hospitality, and gave his wazir orders to instal the
prince in the royal guest-house. He took much pleasure in his
visitor's society; they were together every day and spent the
time most pleasantly. Several times the king said: 'Ask me for
something, that I may give it you.'One day he so pressed to know
what would pleasure the prince, that the latter said: 'I have
only one wish, and that I will name to you in private.' The king
at once commanded every one to withdraw, and then Prince Almas
said: ' The desire of my life is to know what the rose did to the
cypress, and what meaning there is in the words.' The king was
astounded. 'In God's name! if anyone else had said that to me I
should have cut off his head instantly.' The prince heard this
in silence, and presently so beguiled the king with pleasant talk
that to kill him was impossible.

Time flew by, the king again and again begged the prince to ask
some gift of him, and always received this same reply: 'I wish
for your Majesty's welfare, what more can I desire?'One night
there was a banquet, and cupbearers carried round gold and silver
cups of sparkling wine, and singers with sweetest voices
contended for the prize. The prince drank from the king's own
cup, and when his head was hot with wine he took a lute from one
of the musicians and placed himself on the carpet border and sang
and sang till he witched away the sense of all who listened.
Applause and compliments rang from every side. The king filled
his cup and called the prince and gave it him and said: 'Name
your wish! it is yours.' The prince drained off the wine and
answered: 'O king of the world! learn and know that I have only
one aim in life, and this is to know what the rose did to the
cypress.'

'Never yet,' replied the king, 'has any man come out from that
question alive. If this is your only wish, so be it; I will tell
you. But I will do this on one condition only, namely, that when
you have heard you will submit yourself to death.' To this the
prince agreed, and said: ' I set my foot firmly on this compact.'

The king then gave an order to an attendant; a costly carpet
overlaid with European velvet was placed near him, and a dog was
led in by a golden and jewelled chain and set upon the splendid
stuffs. A band of fair girls came in and stood round it in
waiting.

Then, with ill words, twelve negroes dragged in a lovely woman,
fettered on hands and feet and meanly dressed, and they set her
down on the bare floor. She was extraordinarily beautiful, and
shamed the glorious sun. The king ordered a hundred stripes to
be laid on her tender body; she sighed a long sigh. Food was
called for and table-cloths were spread. Delicate meats were set
before the dog, and water given it in a royal cup of Chinese
crystal. When it had eaten its fill, its leavings were placed
before the lovely woman and she was made to eat of them. She
wept and her tears were pearls; she smiled and her lips shed
roses. Pearls and flowers were gathered up and taken to the
treasury.

'Now,' said the king, ' you have seen these things and your
purpose is fulfilled.' 'Truly,' said the prince, 'I have seen
things which I have not understood; what do they mean, and what
is the story of them? Tell me and kill me.'

Then said the king: 'The woman you see there in chains is my
wife; she is called Gul, the Rose, and I am Sinaubar, the
Cypress. One day I was hunting and became very thirsty. After
great search I discovered a well in a place so secret that
neither bird nor beast nor man could find it without labour. I
was alone, I took my turban for a rope and my cap for a bucket.
There was a good deal of water, but when I let down my rope,
something caught it, and I could not in any way draw it back. I
shouted down into the well: "O! servant of God! whoever you are,
why do you deal unfairly with me? I am dying of thirst, let go!
in God's name." A cry came up in answer, "O servant of God! we
have been in the well a long time; in God's name get us out!"
After trying a thousand schemes, I drew up two blind women. They
said they were peris, and that their king had blinded them in his
anger and had left them in the well alone.

' "Now," they said, "if you will get us the cure for our
blindness we will devote ourselves to your service, and will do
whatever you wish."

' "What is the cure for your blindness?"

' "Not far from this place," they said, "a cow comes up from the
great sea to graze; a little of her dung would cure us. We
should be eternally your debtors. Do not let the cow see you, or
she will assuredly kill you."

'With renewed strength and spirit I went to the shore. There I
watched the cow come up from the sea, graze, and go back. Then I
came out of my hiding, took a little of her dung and conveyed it
to the peris. They rubbed it on their eyes, and by the Divine
might saw again.

'They thanked heaven and me, and then considered what they could
do to show their gratitude to me. "Our peri-king," they said,
"has a daughter whom he keeps under his own eye and thinks the
most lovely girl on earth. In good sooth, she has not her equal!
Now we will get you into her house and you must win her heart,
and if she has an inclination for another, you must drive it out
and win her for yourself. Her mother loves her so dearly that
she has no ease but in her presence, and she will give her to no
one in marriage. Teach her to love you so that she cannot exist
without you. But if the matter becomes known to her mother she
will have you burned in the fire. Then you must beg, as a last
favour, that your body may be anointed with oil so that you may
burn the more quickly and be spared torture. If the peri-king
allows this favour, we two will manage to be your anointers, and
we will put an oil on you such that if you were a thousand years
in the fire not a trace of burning would remain."

'In the end the two peris. took me to the girl's house. I saw
her sleeping daintily. She was most lovely, and I was so amazed
at the perfection of her beauty that I stood with senses lost,
and did not know if she were real or a dream. When at last I saw
that she was a real girl, I returned thanks that I, the runner,
had come to my goal, and that I, the seeker, had found my
treasure.

'When the peri opened her eyes she asked in affright: "Who are
you? Have you come to steal? How did you get here? Be quick!
save yourself from this whirlpool of destruction, for the demons
and peris. who guard me will wake and seize you."

'But love's arrow had struck me deep, and the girl, too, looked
kindly on me. I could not go away. For some months I remained
hidden in her house. 'We did not dare to let her mother know of
our love. Sometimes the girl was very sad and fearful lest her
mother should come to know. One day her father said to her:
"Sweetheart, for some time I have noticed that your beauty is not
what it was. How is this? Has sickness touched you? Tell me
that I may seek a cure." Alas! there was now no way of concealing
the mingled delight and anguish of our love; from secret it
became known. I was put in prison and the world grew dark to my
rose, bereft of her lover.

'The peri-king ordered me to be burnt, and said: "Why have you, a
man, done this perfidious thing in my house?" His demons and
peris. collected amber-wood and made a pile, and would have set
me on it, when I remembered the word of life which the two peris.
I had rescued had breathed into my ear, and I asked that my body
might be rubbed with oil to release me the sooner from torture.
This was allowed, and those two contrived to be the anointers. I
was put into the fire and it was kept up for seven days and
nights. By the will of the Great King it left no trace upon me.
At the end of a week the pert-king ordered the ashes to be cast
upon the dust-heap, and I was found alive and unharmed.

'Peris who had seen Gul consumed by her love for me now
interceded with the king, and said: "It is clear that your
daughter's fortunes are bound up with his, for the fire has not
hurt him. It is best to give him the girl, for they love one
another. He is King of Waq of Qaf, and you will find none
better."

'To this the king agreed, and made formal marriage between Gul
and me. You now know the price I paid for this faithless
creature. O prince! remember our compact.'

'I remember,' said the prince; ' but tell me what brought Queen
Gul to her present pass?'

'One night,' continued King Sinaubar,'I was aroused by feeling
Gul's hands and feet, deadly cold, against my body. I asked her
where she had been to get so cold, and she said she had had to go
out. Next morning, when I went to my stable I saw that two of my
horses, Windfoot and Tiger, were thin and worn out. I
reprimanded the groom and beat him. He asked where his fault
lay, and said that every night my wife took one or other of these
horses and rode away, and came back only just before dawn. A
flame kindled in my heart, and I asked myself where she could go
and what she could do. I told the groom to be silent, and when
next Gul took a horse from the stable to saddle another quickly
and bring it to me. That day I did not hunt, but stayed at home
to follow the matter up. I lay down as usual at night and
pretended to fall asleep. When I seemed safely off Gul got up
and went to the stable as her custom was. That night it was
Tiger's turn. She rode off on him, and I took Windfoot and
followed. With me went that dog you see, a faithful friend who
never left me.

'When I came to the foot of those hills which lie outside the
city I saw Gul dismount and go towards a house which some negroes
have built there. Over against the door was a high seat, and on
it lay a giant negro, before whom she salaamed. He got up and
beat her till she was marked with weals, but she uttered no
complaint. I was dumfounded, for once when I had struck her with
a rose stalk she had complained and fretted for three days! Then
the negro said to her: " How now, ugly one and shaven head! Why
are you so late, and why are you not wearing wedding garments?"
She answered him: "That person did not go to sleep quickly, and
he stayed at home all day, so that I was not able to adorn
myself. I came as soon as I could." In a little while he called
her to sit beside him; but this was more than I could bear. I
lost control of myself and rushed upon him. He clutched my
collar and we grappled in a death struggle. Suddenly she came
behind me, caught my feet and threw me. While he held me on the
ground, she drew out my own knife and gave it to him. I should
have been killed but for that faithful dog which seized his
throat and pulled him down and pinned him to the ground. Then I
got up and despatched the wretch. There were four other negroes
at the place; three I killed and the fourth got away, and has
taken refuge beneath the throne of Mihr-afruz, daughter of King
Quimus. I took Gul back to my palace, and from that time till
now I have treated her as a dog is treated, and I have cared for
my dog as though it were my wife. Now you know what the rose did
to the cypress; and now you must keep compact with me.'

'I shall keep my word,' said the prince; 'but may a little water
be taken to the roof so that I may make my last ablution?'

To this request the king consented. The prince mounted to the
roof, and, getting into a corner, struck his fire-steel and
burned one of the Sirurgh's feathers in the flame. Straightway
it appeared, and by the majesty of its presence made the city
quake. It took the prince on its back and soared away to the
zenith.

After a time King Sinaubar said: 'That young man is a long time
on the roof; go and bring him here.' But there was no sign of
the prince upon the roof; only, far away in the sky, the Simurgh
was seen carrying him off. When the king heard of his escape he
thanked heaven that his hands were clean of this blood.

Up and up flew the Simurgh, till earth looked like an egg resting
on an ocean. At length it dropped straight down to its own
place, where the kind prince was welcomed by the young birds and
most hospitably entertained. He told the whole story of the rose
and the cypress, and then, laden with gifts which the Simurgh had
gathered from cities far and near, he set his face for the Castle
of Clashing Swords. The king-lion came out to meet him; he took
the negro chief's daughter—whose name was also Gul—in lawful
marriage, and then marched with her and her possessions and her
attendants to the Place of Gifts. Here they halted for a night,
and at dawn said good-bye to the king-lion and set out for
Jamila's country.

When the Lady Jamila heard that Prince Almas was near, she went
out, with many a fair handmaid, to give him loving reception.
Their meeting was joyful, and they went together to the
garden-palace. Jamila summoned all her notables, and in their
presence her marriage with the prince was solemnised. A few days
later she entrusted her affairs to her wazir, and made
preparation to go with the prince to his own country. Before she
started she restored all the men whom her sister, Latifa, had
bewitched, to their own forms, and received their blessings, and
set them forward to their homes. The wicked Latifa herself she
left quite alone in her garden-house. When all was ready they
set out with all her servants and slaves, all her treasure and
goods, and journeyed at ease to the city of King Quimus.