Then Ciccu scratched his ear thoughtfully, and cried, ‘Idiot that I am!
I never took any measures. How am I to know if it is big enough? But now
I come to think of it, Ciccu was about your size. I wonder if you would
be so good as just to put yourself in the coffin, and see if there is
enough room.’
‘Oh, delighted!’ said the Man-eater, and laid himself at full length in
the coffin. Ciccu clapped on the lid, put a strong cord round it, tied
it fast on his horse, and rode back to the king. And when the king saw
that he really had brought back the Man-eater, he commanded a huge iron
chest to be brought, and locked the coffin up inside.
Just about this time the queen died, and soon after the king thought he
should like to marry again. He sought everywhere, but he could not hear
of any princess that took his fancy. Then the two envious brothers came
to him and said, ‘O king! there is but one woman that is worthy of being
your wife, and that is she who is the fairest in the whole world.’
‘But where can I find her?’ asked the king
‘Oh, Ciccu will know, and he will bring her to you.’
Now the king had got so used to depending on Ciccu, that he really
believed he could do everything. So he sent for him and said, ‘Ciccu,
unless within eight days you bring me the fairest in the whole world, I
will have you hewn into a thousand pieces.’ This mission seemed to Ciccu
a hundred times worse than either of the others, and with tears in his
eyes he took his way to the stables.
‘Cheer up,’ laughed the horse; ‘tell the king you must have some bread
and honey, and a purse of gold, and leave the rest to me.’
Ciccu did as he was bid, and they started at a gallop.
After they had ridden some way, they saw a swarm of bees lying on the
ground, so hungry and weak that they were unable to fly. ‘Get down, and
give the poor things some honey,’ said the horse, and Ciccu dismounted.
By-and-bye they came to a stream, on the bank of which was a fish,
flapping feebly about in its efforts to reach the water. ‘Jump down, and
throw the fish into the water; he will be useful to us,’ and Ciccu did
so. Farther along the hillside they saw an eagle whose leg was caught
in a snare. ‘Go and free that eagle from the snare; he will be useful to
us; ‘ and in a moment the eagle was soaring up into the sky.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account