Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales -- Arab countries; Tales -- Arab countries
When the daughter of the steward made her appearance, I asked her if
she could restore him to his former shape. “Yes,” replied she,
“I can.”--“Ah,” exclaimed I, “if you can perform such a
miracle, I will make you the mistress of all I possess.”--She
then answered with a smile, “You are our master, and I know how
much we are bound to you; but I must mention, that I can restore
your son to his own form, only on two conditions; first, that you
bestow him upon me for my husband; and secondly, that I may be
permitted to punish her who changed him into a calf.”--“To the
first,” I replied, “I agree with all my heart; I will do still
more, I will give you, for your own separate use, a considerable sum
of money, independant of what I destine for my son. In short, you
shall perceive how I can acknowledge the important service you do
me. I agree also to that which regards my wife; a person, who has
been capable of so criminal an action, is worthy of punishment. I
abandon her to you, do what you please with her; I only entreat you
to spare her life.”--“I will treat her then,” she said, “in
the same manner as she has treated your son.”--To this I gave my
consent, provided she first restored my son to me.
The damsel then took a vessel full of water, and pronouncing over it
some words I did not understand, she thus addressed herself to the
calf: “O calf, if thou hast been created by the all-powerful
Sovereign of the world, as thou now appearest, retain that form; but
if thou art a man, and hast been changed by enchantment into a calf,
reassume, by permission of thy divine Creator, thy natural
figure!”--In saying this she threw the water over him, and he
instantly regained his own form.
“My child! my dear child,” I immediately exclaimed, and embraced
him with a transport I could not restrain; “it is the Almighty,
who hath sent this damsel to us, to destroy the horrible charm with
which you were surrounded, and to avenge the evil that has been done
to you and your mother. I am sure gratitude will induce you to
accept her for a wife, as I have already promised for you.”--He
joyfully consented; but before they were united the damsel changed
my wife into this hind, which you see here. I wished her to have
this form in preference to any other more unpleasant, that we might
see her, without repugnance, in our family.
Since this, my son is become a widower, and is now travelling. Many
years have passed since I have heard any thing of him; I have
therefore now set out with a view to gain some information; and as I
did not like to trust my wife to the care of any one during my
search, I thought proper to carry her along with me. This is the
history of myself and this hind; can any thing be more wonderful?”
--“I agree with you,” said the Genius, “and in consequence I
grant a third of my pardon to this merchant.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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