Indian Fairy Tales (19 page)

As he went along the road he saw above him a bald man, grazing a herd
of calves, and this bald man called out to him, "Fellow! can you fight
at all?"

The King's son replied, "When I was little I could fight a bit, and
now, if any one wants to fight, I am not so unmanly as to turn my back.
Come, I will fight you."

The bald man said, "If I throw you, you shall be my slave; and if you
throw me, I will be your slave." So they got ready and began to fight,
and the King's son threw him.

On this the King's son said, "I will leave my beasts here, my simurgs,
tigers, and dogs, and horses; they will all stay here while I go to the
city to see the sights. I appoint the tiger as guard over my property.
And you are my slave, you, too, must stay here with my belongings." So
the King's son started off to the city to see the sights, and arrived
at a pool.

He saw that it was a pleasant pool, and thought he would stop and bathe
there, and therewith he began to strip off his clothes.

Now the King's daughter, who was sitting on the roof of the palace, saw
his royal marks, and she said, "This man is a king; when I marry, I
will marry him and no other." So she said to her father, "My father; I
wish to marry."

"Good," said her father.

Then the King made a proclamation: "Let all men, great and small,
attend to-day in the hall of audience, for the King's daughter will to-
day take a husband."

All the men of the land assembled, and the traveller Prince also came,
dressed in the Fakir's clothes, saying to himself, "I must see this
ceremony to-day." He went in and sat down.

The King's daughter came out and sat in the balcony, and cast her
glance round all the assembly. She noticed that the traveller Prince
was sitting in the assembly in Fakir's attire.

The Princess said to her handmaiden, "Take this dish of henna, go to
that traveller dressed like a Fakir, and sprinkle scent on him from the
dish."

The handmaiden obeyed the Princess's order, went to him, and sprinkled
the scent over him.

Then the people said, "The slave-girl has made a mistake."

But she replied, "The slave-girl has made no mistake, 'tis her mistress
has made the mistake."

On this the King married his daughter to the Fakir, who was really no
Fakir, but a Prince.

What fate had decreed came to pass in that country, and they were
married. But the King of that city became very sad in his heart,
because when so many chiefs and nobles were sitting there his daughter
had chosen none of them, but had chosen that Fakir; but he kept these
thoughts concealed in his heart.

One day the traveller Prince said, "Let all the King's sons-in-law come
out with me to-day to hunt."

People said, "What is this Fakir that he should go a-hunting?"

However, they all set out for the hunt, and fixed their meeting-place
at a certain pool.

The newly married Prince went to his tigers, and told his tigers and
hounds to kill and bring in a great number of gazelles and hog-deer and
markhor. Instantly they killed and brought in a great number. Then
taking with him these spoils of the chase, the Prince came to the pool
settled on as a meeting-place. The other Princes, sons-in-law of the
King of that city, also assembled there; but they had brought in no
game, and the new Prince had brought a great deal. Thence they returned
home to the town, and went to the King their father-in-law, to present
their game.

Now that King had no son. Then the new Prince told him that in fact he,
too, was a Prince. At this the King, his father-in-law, was greatly
delighted and took him by the hand and embraced him. He seated him by
himself, saying, "O Prince, I return thanks that you have come here and
become my son-in-law; I am very happy at this, and I make over my
kingdom to you."

As a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen
appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show
what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the bottom
of the basket.

"Is it a he or a she?" inquired the queen. "I wish to purchase a she
fish."

On hearing this the fish laughed aloud.

"It's a he," replied the fisherwoman, and proceeded on her rounds.

The queen returned to her room in a great rage; and on coming to see
her in the evening, the king noticed that something had disturbed her.

"Are you indisposed?" he said.

"No; but I am very much annoyed at the strange behaviour of a fish. A
woman brought me one to-day, and on my inquiring whether it was a male
or female, the fish laughed most rudely."

"A fish laugh! Impossible! You must be dreaming."

"I am not a fool. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes and have
heard with my own ears."

"Passing strange! Be it so. I will inquire concerning it."

On the morrow the king repeated to his vizier what his wife had told
him, and bade him investigate the matter, and be ready with a
satisfactory answer within six months, on pain of death. The vizier
promised to do his best, though he felt almost certain of failure. For
five months he laboured indefatigably to find a reason for the laughter
of the fish. He sought everywhere and from every one. The wise and
learned, and they who were skilled in magic and in all manner of
trickery, were consulted. Nobody, however, could explain the matter;
and so he returned broken-hearted to his house, and began to arrange
his affairs in prospect of certain death, for he had had sufficient
experience of the king to know that His Majesty would not go back from
his threat. Amongst other things, he advised his son to travel for a
time, until the king's anger should have somewhat cooled.

The young fellow, who was both clever and handsome, started off
whithersoever Kismat might lead him. He had been gone some days, when
he fell in with an old farmer, who also was on a journey to a certain
village. Finding the old man very pleasant, he asked him if he might
accompany him, professing to be on a visit to the same place. The old
farmer agreed, and they walked along together. The day was hot, and the
way was long and weary.

"Don't you think it would be pleasanter if you and I sometimes gave one
another a lift?" said the youth.

"What a fool the man is!" thought the old farmer.

Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle, and
looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze.

"Is this eaten or not?" said the young man.

Not understanding his meaning, the old man replied, "I don't know."

After a little while the two travellers arrived at a big village, where
the young man gave his companion a clasp-knife, and said, "Take this,
friend, and get two horses with it; but mind and bring it back, for it
is very precious."

The old man, looking half amused and half angry, pushed back the knife,
muttering something to the effect that his friend was either a fool
himself or else trying to play the fool with him. The young man
pretended not to notice his reply, and remained almost silent till they
reached the city, a short distance outside which was the old farmer's
house. They walked about the bazar and went to the mosque, but nobody
saluted them or invited them to come in and rest.

"What a large cemetery!" exclaimed the young man.

"What does the man mean," thought the old farmer, "calling this largely
populated city a cemetery?"

On leaving the city their way led through a cemetery where a few people
were praying beside a grave and distributing chapatis and kulchas to
passers-by, in the name of their beloved dead. They beckoned to the two
travellers and gave them as much as they would.

"What a splendid city this is!" said the young man.

"Now, the man must surely be demented!" thought the old farmer. "I
wonder what he will do next? He will be calling the land water, and the
water land; and be speaking of light where there is darkness, and of
darkness when it is light." However, he kept his thoughts to himself.

Presently they had to wade through a stream that ran along the edge of
the cemetery. The water was rather deep, so the old farmer took of his
shoes and paijamas and crossed over; but the young man waded through it
with his shoes and paijamas on.

"Well! I never did see such a perfect fool, both in word and in deed,"
said the old man to himself.

However, he liked the fellow; and thinking that he would amuse his wife
and daughter, he invited him to come and stay at his house as long as
he had occasion to remain in the village.

"Thank you very much," the young man replied; "but let me first
inquire, if you please, whether the beam of your house is strong."

The old farmer left him in despair, and entered his house laughing.

"There is a man in yonder field," he said, after returning their
greetings. "He has come the greater part of the way with me, and I
wanted him to put up here as long as he had to stay in this village.
But the fellow is such a fool that I cannot make anything out of him.
He wants to know if the beam of this house is all right. The man must
be mad!" and saying this, he burst into a fit of laughter.

"Father," said the farmer's daughter, who was a very sharp and wise
girl, "this man, whosoever he is, is no fool, as you deem him. He only
wishes to know if you can afford to entertain him."

"Oh! of course," replied the farmer. "I see. Well perhaps you can help
me to solve some of his other mysteries. While we were walking together
he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as he
thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."

"Most assuredly," said the girl. "He meant that one of you should tell
a story to beguile the time."

"Oh yes. Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me
whether it was eaten or not."

"And didn't you know the meaning of this, father? He simply wished to
know if the man was in debt or not; because, if the owner of the field
was in debt, then the produce of the field was as good as eaten to him;
that is, it would have to go to his creditors."

"Yes, yes, yes; of course! Then, on entering a certain village, he bade
me take his clasp knife and get two horses with it, and bring back the
knife again to him."

"Are not two stout sticks as good as two horses for helping one along
on the road? He only asked you to cut a couple of sticks and be careful
not to lose his knife."

"I see," said the farmer. "While we were walking over the city we did
not see anybody that we knew, and not a soul gave us a scrap of
anything to eat, till we were passing the cemetery; but there some
people called to us and put into our hands some chapatis and kulchas;
so my companion called the city a cemetery, and the cemetery a city."

"This also is to be understood, father, if one thinks of the city as
the place where everything is to be obtained, and of inhospitable
people as worse than the dead. The city, though crowded with people,
was as if dead, as far as you were concerned; while, in the cemetery,
which is crowded with the dead, you were saluted by kind friends and
provided with bread."

"True, true!" said the astonished farmer. "Then, just now, when we were
crossing the stream, he waded through it without taking off his shoes
and paijamas."

"I admire his wisdom," replied the girl. "I have often thought how
stupid people were to venture into that swiftly flowing stream and over
those sharp stones with bare feet. The slightest stumble and they would
fall, and be wetted from head to foot. This friend of yours is a most
wise man. I should like to see him and speak to him."

"Very well," said the farmer; "I will go and find him, and bring him
in."

"Tell him, father, that our beams are strong enough, and then he will
come in. I'll send on ahead a present to the man, to show him that we
can afford to have him for our guest."

Accordingly she called a servant and sent him to the young man with a
present of a basin of ghee, twelve chapatis, and a jar of milk, and the
following message:—"O friend, the moon is full; twelve months make a
year, and the sea is overflowing with water."

Half-way the bearer of this present and message met his little son,
who, seeing what was in the basket, begged his father to give him some
of the food. His father foolishly complied. Presently he saw the young
man, and gave him the rest of the present and the message.

"Give your mistress my salam," he replied, "and tell her that the moon
is new, and that I can only find eleven months in the year, and the sea
is by no means full."

Not understanding the meaning of these words, the servant repeated them
word for word, as he had heard them, to his mistress; and thus his
theft was discovered, and he was severely punished. After a little
while the young man appeared with the old farmer. Great attention was
shown to him, and he was treated in every way as if he were the son of
a great man, although his humble host knew nothing of his origin. At
length he told them everything—about the laughing of the fish, his
father's threatened execution, and his own banishment—and asked their
advice as to what he should do.

"The laughing of the fish," said the girl, "which seems to have been
the cause of all this trouble, indicates that there is a man in the
palace who is plotting against the king's life."

"Joy, joy!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "There is yet time for me to
return and save my father from an ignominious and unjust death, and the
king from danger."

The following day he hastened back to his own country, taking with him
the farmer's daughter. Immediately on arrival he ran to the palace and
informed his father of what he had heard. The poor vizier, now almost
dead from the expectation of death, was at once carried to the king, to
whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.