As he approached the borders of his father’s country word of his coming went before him, and all the city came forth to give him welcome. King Saman-lal-posh—Jessamine, wearer of rubies—had so bewept the loss of his sons that he was now blind. When the prince had kissed his feet and received his blessing, he took from a casket a little collyrium of Solomon, which the Simurgh had given him, and which reveals the hidden things of earth, and rubbed it on his father’s eyes. Light came, and the king saw his son. Mihr-afruz was brought before the king, and the prince said: “This is the murderer of your sons; do with her as you will.” The king fancied that the prince might care for the girl’s beauty, and replied: “You have humbled her; do with her as you will.” Upon this the prince sent for four swift and strong horses, and had the negro bound to each one of them; then each was driven to one of the four quarters, and he tore in pieces like muslin. This frightened Mihr-afruz horribly, for she thought the same thing might be done to herself. She cried out to the prince: “O Prince Almas! what is hardest to get is most valued. Up till now I have been subject to no man, and no man had had my love. The many kings and kings sons who have died at my hands have died because it was their fate to die like this. In this matter I have not sinned. That was their fate from eternity; and from the beginning it was predestined that my fate should be bound up with yours.” The prince gave ear to the argument from pre-ordainment, and as she was a very lovely maiden he took her too in lawful marriage. She and Jamila, set up house together, and Dil-aram and Gul set up theirs; and the prince passed the rest of his life with the four in perfect happiness, and in pleasant and sociable entertainment. Now has been told what the rose did to the cypress. Finished, finished, finished! Footnotes: 1 (return) [Translated from two Persian MSS. in the possession of the British Museum and the India Office, and adapted, with some reservations, by Annette S. Beveridge.] 2 (return) [Jessamine, ruby-decked.] 3 (return) [Life-giving diamond.] 4 (return) [World-gripper.] 5 (return) [Love-enkindler.] 6 (return) [Rose-cheek.] 7 (return) [Heartsease.] 8 (return) [Elias.] 9 (return) [Pleasure.] 10 (return) [Thirty-birds.] 11 (return) [Pomp and Pride.] 12 (return) [Of happy omen.] Ball-carrier and the Bad One Far, far in the forest there were two little huts, and in each of them lived a man who was a famous hunter, his wife, and three or four children. Now the children were forbidden to play more than a short distance from the door, as it was known that, away on the other side of the wood near the great river, there dwelt a witch who had a magic ball that she used as a means of stealing children.