Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Arab countries; Folklore -- Arab countries; Tales -- Arab countries
As soon as the princess reached home, she placed the cage in the garden,
and the Bird no sooner began to warble than he was surrounded by
nightingales, chaffinches, larks, linnets, goldfinches, and every
species of birds of the country. The branch of the Singing Tree was no
sooner set in the midst of the parterre, 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 parent from
which it was gathered. A large basin of beautiful marble was placed in
the garden, and when it was finished, the princess poured into it all
the Golden Water from the flagon, which instantly increased and swelled
so much that it soon reached up to the edges of the basin, and afterward
formed in the middle a fountain twenty feet high, which fell again into
the basin perpetually, without running over.
The report of these wonders was presently spread abroad, and as the
gates of the house and those of the gardens were shut to nobody, a great
number of people came to admire them.
Some days after, 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 to their own demesne,
but two or three leagues from their house. As they pursued their sport,
the emperor of Persia came in pursuit of game upon the same ground. When
they perceived, by the number of horsemen in different places, that he
would soon be up, they resolved to discontinue their chase, and retire
to avoid encountering him; but in the very road they took they chanced
to meet him in so narrow a way that they could not retreat without being
seen. In their surprise they had only time to alight and prostrate
themselves before the emperor, without lifting up their heads to look at
him. The emperor, who saw they were as well mounted and dressed as if
they had belonged to his court, had a curiosity to see their faces. He
stopped and commanded them to rise. The princes rose up and stood before
him with an easy and graceful air, accompanied with modest countenances.
The emperor took some time to view them before he spoke, and after he
had admired their good air and mien, asked them who they were and where
they lived.
"Sir," said Prince Bahman, "we are the sons of the late intendant of
your majesty's gardens, and live in a house which he built a little
before he died, till we should be fit to serve your majesty and ask of
you some employ when opportunity offered."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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