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Current Clinical Psychiatry

Series Editor
Jerrold F. Rosenbaum
Massachusetts General Hospital, Chief of Psychiatry, Boston, MA

For further volumes:

http://www.springer.com/series/7634
Nhi-Ha Trinh l
Yanni Chun Rho l

Francis G. Lu l
Kathy Marie Sanders
Editors

Handbook of Mental
Health and Acculturation
in Asian American Families
Editors
Nhi-Ha Trinh Yanni Chun Rho
Harvard Medical School Family, Youth, and Children’s Services
Department of Psychiatry Mental Health Division
Boston, MA City of Berkeley
[email protected] Berkeley, CA, USA
[email protected]

Francis G. Lu Kathy Marie Sanders

University of California Harvard Medical School
at San Francisco Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Department of Psychiatry Boston, MA
San Francisco, CA [email protected]
[email protected]

ISBN 978-1-60327-436-4 e-ISBN 978-1-60327-437-1

DOI 10.1007/978-1-60327-437-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008942151

# Humana Press, a part of Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC 2009

All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written
permission of the publisher (Humana Press, c/o Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC, 233 Spring
Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or
scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or
hereafter developed is forbidden.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they
are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are
subject to proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
going to press, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal
responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty,
express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Printed on acid-free paper

springer.com
Preface

This volume represents a culmination of a project begun in 2004, planning a

nationwide symposium sponsored by the Massachusetts General Hospital
(MGH)/McLean Hospital Adult Psychiatry Training Program and the
American Psychiatric Association (APA)/SAMHSA (Substance Abuse
Mental Health Services Administration) Minority Fellowship Program.
Interested in the impact of acculturation on Asian American individuals and
their families, we brought together a group of national experts to explore this
topic. In the first half of the symposium, researchers discussed the development
of acculturation scales, reviewed research on the impact of acculturation on
mental health, and presented current research regarding acculturation. In the
second half of the symposium, clinicians discussed how to incorporate
acculturation in clinical practice, including working with families and special
populations such as Southeast Asian Americans. What emerged in November
2005 was a day filled with thoughtful, lively exchange and discussion. The
momentum generated from the symposium inspired the conception of this
book, a synthesis of the work that was presented that day.
We are fortunate to have this opportunity and would like to thank those who
made this symposium and book possible. We are grateful for the support of the
APA/SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program, the MGH Department of
Psychiatry, MGH/McLean Hospital Adult Psychiatry Training Program, and
the MGH Psychiatry Academy. We were fortunate to have MGH Psychiatry
Academy document the symposium and archive it as a webcast on their web
site: http://www.mghcme.org (search ‘‘Asian’’ to find our webcasts). We would
also like to thank all of our authors for their hard work, generous gift of time,
and gracious spirit with which they contributed to this project; our book project
sponsor, Dr. Jerrold Rosenbaum, the Chair of the MGH Department of
Psychiatry; our editor Mr. Richard Lansing and Humana Press; and Ms. Sara
Nadelman, our symposium organizer.
Special thanks go to our co-editors Drs. Francis Lu and Kathy Sanders who
provided oversight and editorial support from conceptualization to finalization
of the symposium and book projects. In particular, Dr. Kathy Sanders, the
MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Director, supported the
creative use of the APA/SAMHSA Minority Fellowship and instilled a respect

v
vi Preface

and acceptance of diversity throughout our training experiences. We hope that

this book, like that day in November 2005, will foster interest in exploring the
role acculturation plays in the mental health of Asian Americans.

Boston, MA Nhi-Ha Trinh

Berkeley, CA Yanni C. Rho
San Francisco, CA Francis G. Lu
Boston, MA Kathy M. Sanders
Contents

Part I Research on Acculturation in Asian American Mental Health

Acculturation: Measurements and Review of Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Richard M. Suinn

Theories and Research on Acculturation and Enculturation

Experiences among Asian American Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Bryan S.K. Kim, Annie J. Ahn, and N. Alexandra Lam

Strengthening Intergenerational/Intercultural Ties in Immigrant

Families (SITIF): A Parenting Intervention to Bridge the Chinese
American Intergenerational Acculturation Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Yu-Wen Ying

Acculturation: Recommendations for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Richard M. Suinn

Part II Clinical Insights on Acculturation in Asian American

Mental Health

The Impact of Immigration and Acculturation on the Mental

Health of Asian Americans: Overview of Epidemiology
and Clinical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Siyon Rhee

Assessing Asian American Family Acculturation in Clinical Settings:

Guidelines and Recommendations for Mental Health Professionals. . . . . . 99
K.M. Chun and P.D. Akutsu

The A-B-C in Clinical Practice with Southeast Asians: Basic

Understanding of Migration and Resettlement History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Khanh T. Dinh

vii
viii Contents

Clinical Considerations When Working with Asian American Children

and Adolescents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Yanni Rho and Kathy Rho

Acculturation and Asian American Elderly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Nhi-Ha Trinh and Iqbal Ahmed

Clinical Insights from Working with Immigrant Asian Americans

and Their Families: Focus on Acculturation Stressors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Nalini V. Juthani and A.S. Mishra

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Nhi-Ha Trinh and Yanni Rho

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Contributors

Iqbal Ahmed John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai’i at Manoa,

Honolulu, HI, USA, [email protected]
Annie J. Ahn Psychological and Counseling Services, University of San Diego,
San Diego, CA, USA
Phillip D. Akutsu Department of Psychology, California State University,
Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA, [email protected]
Kevin M. Chun Department of Psychology, University of San Francisco, San
Francisco, CA, USA, [email protected]
Khanh T. Dinh Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts
Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA, [email protected]
Nalini V. Juthani Scarsdale, NY, USA, [email protected]
Bryan S. K. Kim Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Hilo,
Hilo, HI, USA, [email protected]
N. Alexandra Lam Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School
Psychology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara,
CA, USA, [email protected]
Francis G. Lu University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA,
USA, [email protected]
Asha S. Mishra Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth School
of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA, [email protected]
Siyon Rhee School of Social Work, California State University, Los Angeles,
Los Angeles, CA, USA, [email protected]
Kathy Rho Educational Consultant, Boston, MA, USA
Yanni C. Rho Family, Youth, and Children’s Services and Adult Services,
Mental Health Division at the City of Berkeley; and private practice.
Berkeley, CA, USA, [email protected]

ix
x Contributors

Kathy M. Sanders MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Training

Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA, USA; McLean
Hospital, Belmont MA, USA, [email protected]
Richard M. Suinn Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort
Collins, CO, USA, [email protected]
Nhi-Ha Trinh Depression Clinical Research Program, Department of Psychiatry,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA, [email protected]
Yu-Wen Ying School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley,
Berkeley, CA, USA, [email protected]
Introduction

Yanni Rho and Nhi-Ha Trinh

Why are we devoting an entire volume to the topic of acculturation? Mental

health clinicians are becoming increasingly more equipped to perform
culturally relevant assessments and provide culturally sensitive treatment
recommendations. But as we know, the lives of our clients and patients are
complex. Cultural assessment and formulation is the very necessary foundation
for the creation of a narrative for our patients; building further awareness of
how the patient experiences his or her own world may include a discussion
about certain aspects of acculturative change, such as ethnic/racial identity,
immigration, acculturation stress, and intergenerational conflict.
Acculturation is both a process and an outcome. As a process, acculturation
occurs when two or more cultures meet. Information from the new culture is
integrated into an existing cultural schema, and decisions are made regarding
what information is valuable and consistent with whom someone believes they
are as an individual. As the authors will demonstrate, there is still much work to
be done to standardize the concept and definition, to determine what the
process entails as well as to understand how it shapes the individual’s
experience. In this book, there will be several compelling reasons presented
for the inclusion of these concepts in our work with Asian Americans. Although
some commonalities in the ‘‘Asian’’ experience exist, how each individual
processes these experiences and makes it their own is unique and far from
predictable.
The process of acculturation has a direct influence on Asian American
mental health. We shall explore in depth some of the current research in
acculturation as well as how to incorporate these concepts in our clinical
work. This volume may be used as a reference, and each chapter will provide
a brief outline of what is to be discussed. The first section, Research on
Acculturation in Asian American Mental Health, describes past and current
research as well as future directions for research in acculturation, whereas the
second section, Clinical Insights on Acculturation in Asian American Mental
Health, presents clinical concepts, dilemmas, and recommendations. Several
seminal studies and clinical themes are revisited throughout, as each chapter
builds upon the last. Read straight through, this book will provide the reader
with some of the historical context of acculturation research and the importance

xi
xii Introduction

of acculturation in clinical practice with Asian Americans. Read by chapter, the

book will provide the reader with information on specific topics of interest.
We realize that Asian Americans represent a population with tremendous
diversity. It is difficult to generalize the ‘‘Asian American’’ experience as Asian
Americans encompass over 30 different subgroups and Pacific Islanders add an
additional 21 groups to our discussion. Consideration of all the differences
seems a daunting task, as each group and its individuals have their own
particular historical and cultural background, not to mention tremendous
diversity in migration history, socioeconomic status, educational background,
and family structure. Nevertheless, what we plan to convey through these
chapters is a conceptual framework to help guide researchers and clinicians
and provide a deepened understanding of acculturation in Asian Americans.
The editors and authors are very aware that to discuss all of the many
differences among the different ethnicities that fall under the umbrella of
‘‘Asian’’ would take much more than this book will offer. Still, recognizing
common themes that are generally relevant to the Asian experience is valuable.
These theories or concepts may be incorporated into all clinical work, be it an
initial clinical evaluation, ongoing therapy, consultation, or medication
management. Each author will highlight some common issues as well as
contribute further thoughts and observations specific to certain populations;
in addition, some will include original hypotheses and research. And many will
further consider the challenges relevant to psychiatric research and clinical
practice for Asian American mental health.
Resiliency and strength-based assessment will be referred to throughout this
volume. The ability to stand strong and healthy in the face of obstacles and
misfortunes is something that we tend to overlook in our clinical worlds. Not all
Asian Americans will struggle with mental health issues; not all falter in the face
of adverse conditions. There is value in recognizing the particular strengths
present in the Asian American population and its individuals, especially given
the stigma and shame that is associated with seeking help. Recognizing and
reinforcing strengths, such as commitment to family and the ability to
successfully navigate between two disparate cultures, may also help build
trust and provide affirmation to those with whom we work. Much still needs
to be done with regard to formal research on resiliency in Asian populations,
but many of the authors do provide suggestions and cite literature that will help
guide clinicians and researchers alike in thinking about how to incorporate
more strength-focused work into their work with immigrant populations.
Finally, we want to acknowledge that much of the language we use when
discussing ethnicity and race is imperfect and imprecise. We use ‘‘European
American’’ throughout this publication to represent the ethnic history of those
we typically consider ‘‘White’’ while acknowledging that it may inaccurately
describe some who are from non-European descent. In addition, some authors
have chosen to use words such as ‘‘Native country,’’ ‘‘Home country,’’ or
‘‘Country of origin’’ to describe the country and culture with which people
feel most familiar and connected or to describe the country from which their
Introduction xiii

families originated. Fallible and evolving vocabulary aside, we hope our readers
will look past the terms used and find value in the information presented. Our
expectation is that this volume will further the increasingly sophisticated
discussion of how to best care for our patients and their families and provide
a ‘‘next step’’ to the never-ending journey toward clinical and research
excellence.
 Part I
Research on Acculturation in Asian
American Mental Health
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
clutches of this demon, I know that we shall never be able to put thee
together again.”
But the youth was not content to do this, but said he would go seek his
consort a second time.
“Well, if thou art bent on going at any price,” counselled the Anka, “go
first to thy wife and ask her if she knows the Demon’s talisman. If only thou
canst get hold of that, even the Wind-Demon will be in thy power.”
So again the King’s son took horse, again he went right up to the
Demon’s palace, and as the Demon was dreaming dreams just then, the
youth was able to find and converse with his wife. After they had rejoiced
with a great joy at the sight of each other, the youth told the lady to discover
the secret of the Demon’s talisman, and win it by wheedling words and soft
caresses if she could get at it no other way. Meanwhile the youth hid
himself in the neighbouring mountain, and there awaited the good news.
When the Wind-Demon awoke from his forty days’ sleep he again
presented himself at the damsel’s door. “Depart from before my eyes,” cried
the girl. “Here hast thou been doing nothing but sleep these forty days, so
that life has been a loathsome thing to me all the while.”
The Demon rejoiced that he was allowed to be in the room along with
the damsel, and in his happiness asked her what he should give her to help
her to while away the time.
“What canst thou give me,” said the girl, “seeing that thou thyself art but
wind? Now if at least thou hadst a talisman, that, at any rate, would be
something to while away the time with.”
“Alas! my Sultana,” replied the Demon, “my talisman is far away, in the
uttermost ends of the earth, and one cannot fetch it hither in a little instant.
If only we had some such brave man as thy Mehmed was, he perhaps might
be able to go for it.”
The damsel was now more curious than ever about the talisman, and she
coaxed and coaxed till at last she persuaded the Demon to tell her about the
talisman, but not till she had granted his request that he might sit down
quite close to her. The damsel could not refuse him that happiness, so he sat
down beside her, and breathed into her ear the secret of the talisman.
“On the surface of the seventh layer of sea,” began the Demon, “there is
an island, on that island an ox is grazing, in the belly of that ox there is a
golden cage, and in that cage there is a white dove. That little dove is my
talisman.”
“But how can one get to that island?” inquired the Sultana.
“I’ll tell thee,” said the Demon. “Opposite to the palace of the emerald
Anka is a huge mountain, and on the top of that mountain is a spring. Every
morning forty sea-horses come to drink at that spring. If any one can be
found to catch one of these horses by the leg (but only while he is drinking
the water), bridle him, saddle him, and then leap on his back, he will be able
to go wherever he likes. The sea-horse will say to him: ‘What dost thou
command, my sweet master?’ and will carry him whithersoever he bids
him.”
“What good will the talisman be to me if I cannot get near it?” said the
girl. With that she drove the Demon from the room, and when the time of
his slumber arrived, she hastened with the news to her lord. Then the King’s
son made great haste, leaped on his horse, hastened to the palace of his
youngest sister, and told the matter to the Anka.
Early next morning the Anka arose, called five birds, and said to them:
“Lead the King’s son to the spring on the mountain beyond, and wait there
till the sea-horses come up. Forty steeds will appear by the running water,
and when they begin to drink, seize one of them, bridle and saddle it, and
put the King’s son on its back.”
So the birds took the King’s son, carried him up to the mountain close by
the spring, and as soon as the horses came up, they did to one of them what
the Anka had said. The King’s son sat on the horse’s back forthwith, and the
first thing the good steed said was: “What dost thou command, my sweet
master?”
“There is an island on the surface of the seventh ocean,” cried the King’s
son, “there should I like to be!” And the King’s son had flown away before
you could shut your eyes; and before you could open them again, there he
was on the shore of that island.
He dismounted from his horse, took off the bridle, stuck it in his pocket,
and went off to seek the ox. As he was walking up and down the shore a
Jew met him, and asked him what had brought him there.
“I have suffered shipwreck,” replied the youth. “My ship and everything
I possess have perished, and only with difficulty did I swim ashore.”
 “As for me,” said the Jew, “I am in the service of the Wind-Demon.
Thou must know that there is an ox on this island, and I must watch it night
and day. Wouldst thou like to enter the service? Thou wilt have nothing else
to do all day but watch this beast.”
The King’s son took advantage of the opportunity, and could scarce
await the moment when he was to see the ox. At watering-time the Jew
brought it along, and no sooner did he find himself alone with the beast than
he cut open its belly, took out the golden cage, and hastened with it to the
sea-shore. Then he drew the bridle from his pocket, and when he had struck
the sea with it, the steed immediately appeared and cried: “What dost thou
command, sweet master?”—“I desire to be taken to the palace of the Wind-
Demon,” cried the youth.
Shut your eyes, open your eyes—and there they were before the palace.
Then he took his wife, made her sit down beside him, and when the steed
said: “What dost thou command, sweet master?” he bade it fly straight to
the emerald Anka.
Away with them flew the steed. It flew right up to the very clouds, and
as they were approaching the Anka’s palace the Demon awoke from his
sleep. He saw that his wife had again disappeared, and immediately set off
in pursuit. Already the Sultana felt the breath of the Demon, and he had all
but overtaken them when the steed hastily bade them twist the neck of the
white dove in the cage. They had barely time to do so, when the Wind died
away and the Demon was destroyed.
With great joy they arrived at the Anka’s palace, let the horse go his way,
and rested themselves awhile. On the next day they went to their second
brother, and on the third day to their third brother, and it was only then that
the King’s son discovered that his lion brother-in-law was the King of the
Lions, and his tiger brother-in-law the King of the Tigers. At last they
reached their home which was the domain of the damsel’s. Here they made
a great banquet, and rejoiced their hearts for forty days and forty nights,
after which they arose and went to the prince’s own empire. There he
showed them the tongue of the dragon and its nose, and as he had thus
fulfilled the wishes of his father, they chose him to be their Padishah; and
their lives were full of joy till the day of their death, and their end was a
happy one.
 THE CROW-PERI
Once upon a time that was no time there was a man who had one son.
This man used to go out into the forest all day, and catch birds for sale to
the first comer. At last, however, the father died and the son was left all
alone. Now he did not know what had been his fathers profession, but while
he was searching all about the floor he came upon the fowling-snare. So he
took it, went out into the forest, and set the snare on a tree. At that moment
a crow flew down upon the tree, but as the snare was cunningly laid the
poor bird was caught. The youth climbed up after it, but when he had got
hold of the bird, the crow began begging him to let her go, promising to
give him in exchange something more beautiful and more precious than
herself. The crow begged and prayed till at last he let her go free, and again
he set the snare in the tree and sat down at the foot of it to wait. Presently
another bird came flying up, and flew right into the snare. The youth
climbed up the tree again to bring it down, but when he saw it he was full of
amazement, for such a beautiful thing he had never seen in the forest
before.
While he was still gazing at it and chuckling, the crow again appeared to
him and said: “Take that bird to the Padishah, and he will buy it from thee.”
So the youth took away the bird, put it in a cage, and carried it to the palace.
When the Padishah saw the beautiful little creature he was filled with joy,
and gave the youth so much money for it that he did not know what to do
with it all. But the bird they placed in a golden cage, and the Padishah had
his joy of it day and night.
Now the Padishah had a favourite who was grievously jealous of the
good fortune of the youth who had brought the bird, and kept cudgelling his
brains how he could get him beneath his feet. At last he hit upon a plan, and
going in to the Padishah one day he said: “How happy that bird would be if
only he had an ivory palace to dwell in!”
“Yes,” replied the Padishah, “but whence could I get enough ivory to
make him a palace?”
“He who brought the bird hither,” said the favourite, “will certainly be
able to find the ivory.”
So the Padishah sent for the little fowler, and bade him make an ivory
palace for the bird there and then. “I know thou canst get the ivory,” said
the Padishah.
“Alas, my lord Padishah!” lamented the youth, “whence am I to get all
this ivory from?”
“That is thy business,” replied the Padishah. “Thou mayest search for it
for forty days, but if it is not here by that time thy head shall be where now
thy feet are.”
The youth was sore troubled, and while he was still pondering in his
mind which road he should take, the crow came flying up to him, and asked
him what he was grieving about so much. Then the youth told her what a
great trouble that one little bird had brought down upon his head.
“Why this is nothing at all to fret about,” said the crow; “but go to the
Padishah, and ask him for forty wagon-loads of wine!” So the youth
returned to the palace, got all that quantity of wine, and as he was coming
back with the cars, the crow flew up and said: “Hard by is a forest, on the
border of which are forty large trenches, and as many elephants as there are
in the wide world come to drink out of these trenches. Go now and fill them
with wine instead of water. The elephants will thus get drunk and tumble
down, and thou wilt be able to pull out their teeth and take them to the
Padishah.”
The youth did as the bird said, crammed his cars full of elephants’ tusks
instead of wine, and returned with them to the palace. The Padishah
rejoiced greatly at the sight of all the ivory, had the palace built, rewarded
the little fowler with rich gifts, and sent him home.
So there was the sparkling bird in his ivory palace, and right merrily did
he hop about from perch to perch, but he could never be got to sing. “Ah!”
said the evil counsellor, “if only his master were here he would sing of his
own accord.”
“Who knows who his master is, or where he is to be found?” asked the
Padishah sadly.
“He who fetched the elephants’ tusks could fetch the bird’s master also,”
replied the evil counsellor.
So the Padishah sent for the little fowler once more, and commanded
him to bring the bird’s master before him.
“How can I tell who his master is, when I caught him by chance in the
forest?” asked the fowler.
 “That is thy look-out,” said the Padishah; “but if thou find him not I will
slay thee. I give thee forty days for thy quest, and let that suffice thee.”
So the youth went home, and sobbed aloud in his despair, when lo! the
crow came flying up and asked him what he was crying for.
“Why should I not cry?” said the poor youth, and with that he began to
tell the crow of his new trouble.—“Nay, but ’tis a shame to weep for such a
trifle,” said the crow. “Go quickly now to the King and ask him for a large
ship, but it must be large enough to hold forty maidservants, a beautiful
garden also, and a bath-house.” So the youth returned to the King and told
him what he wanted for his journey.
The ship was prepared as he had desired it, the youth embarked, and was
just thinking whether he should go to the left or the right, when the crow
came flying up, and said to him: “Steer thy ship always to the right, and go
straight on until thou perceive a huge mountain. At the foot of this mountain
dwell forty Peris, and when they perceive thy ship they will feel a strong
desire to look at everything on board of it. But thou must allow only their
Queen to come on board, for she is the owner of the bird, and while thou art
showing her the ship, set sail and never stop till thou reach home.”
So the youth went on board the ship, steered steadily to the right, and
never stopped once till he came to the mountain. There the forty Peris were
walking on the sea-shore, and when they saw the ship they all came rushing
up that they might examine the beautiful thing. The Queen of the Peris
asked the little fowler whether he would not show her the ship, especially
the inside of it, and he took her off in a little skiff and brought her to the
vessel.
The Peri was monstrously delighted with the beautiful ship, walked in
the garden with the damsels on board the ship, and when she saw the bath-
room she said to the waiting-maids: “If I have come so far, I may as well
have a bath into the bargain.” With that she stepped into the bath-room, and
while she was bathing the ship went off.
They had gone a good distance across the sea before the Peri had
finished her bathing. The Peri made haste, for it was now growing late, but
when she stepped upon the deck she saw nothing but the sea around her. At
this she fell a-weeping bitterly. What would become of her? she said;
whither was she going? into whose hands was she about to fall? But the
youth comforted her with the assurance that she was going to a King’s
palace, and would be among good people.
Not very long afterwards they arrived in the city, and sent word to the
King that the ship had come back. Then he brought the Peri to the palace,
and as she passed by the ivory palace of the bird, it began to sing so
beautifully that all who heard it were beside themselves for joy. The Peri
was a little comforted when she heard it, but the King was filled with
rapture, and he loved the beautiful Peri so fondly that he could not be a
single moment without her. The wedding-banquet quickly followed, and
with the beauteous Peri on his right hand, and the sparkling bird on his left,
there was not a happier man in the world than that Padishah. But the poison
of envy devoured the soul of the evil counsellor.
One day, however, the Sultana suddenly fell ill, and took to her bed.
Every remedy was tried in vain, but the sages said that nothing could cure
her but the drug which she had left behind her in her own fairy palace.
Then, by the advice of the evil counsellor, the young fowler was again sent
for to the palace, and commanded to go and seek for the drug.
So the good youth embarked on his ship again, and was just about to sail
when the crow came to him and asked him whither he was going. The youth
told her that the Sultana was ill, and he had been sent to fetch the drug from
the fairy palace. “Well then, go!” said the crow, “and thou wilt find the
palace behind a mountain. Two lions stand in the gates, but take this feather
and touch their mouths with it, and they will not lift so much as a claw
against thee.”
The youth took the feather, arrived in front of the mountain,
disembarked, and quickly beheld the palace. He went straight up to the
gates, and there stood the two lions. He took out his feather, and no sooner
had he touched their mouths than they lay down one on each side and let
him go into the palace. The Peris about the palace also saw the youth, and
immediately guessed that their Queen was ill. So they gave him the drug,
and immediately he took ship again, and returned to the palace of the
Padishah. But the moment he entered the Peri’s chamber with the drug in
his hand, the crow alighted on his shoulder, and thus they went together to
the sick Sultana’s bed.
The Sultana was already in the throes of death, but no sooner had she
tasted of the healing drug than she seemed to return to life again at a single
bound. She opened her eyes, gazed upon the little fowler, and perceiving the
crow upon his shoulder thus addressed her: “Oh, thou sooty slave! art thou
not sorry for all that this good youth hath suffered for my sake?” Then the
Sultana told her lord that this same crow was her serving-maid, whom, for
negligence in her service, she had changed into a crow. “Nevertheless,” she
added, “I now forgive her, for I see that her intentions towards me were
good.”
At these words the crow trembled all over, and immediately a damsel so
lovely stood before the young fowler that there was really very little
difference between her and the Queen of the Peris. At the petition of the
Sultana, the Sultan married the youth to the Crow-Peri, the evil-minded
counsellor was banished, and the fowler became Vizier in his stead. And
their happiness lasted till death.

THE FORTY PRINCES AND THE SEVEN-HEADED

DRAGON
There was once upon a time a Padishah, and this Padishah had forty
sons. All day long they disported themselves in the forest, snaring birds and
hunting beasts, but when the youngest of them was fourteen years old their
father wished to marry them. So he sent for them all and told them his
desire. “We will marry,” said the forty brothers, “but only when we find
forty sisters who are the daughters of the same father and the same mother.”
Then the Padishah searched the whole realm through to find forty such
sisters, but though he found families of thirty-nine sisters, families of forty
sisters he could never find.
“Let the fortieth of you take another wife,” said the Padishah to his sons.
But the forty brothers would not agree thereto, and they begged their father
to allow them to go and search if haply they might find what they wanted in
another empire. What could the Padishah do? He could not refuse them
their request, so he gave them his permission. But before they departed he
summoned them into his presence, and this is what their father the Padishah
said to them: “I have three things to say to you, which bear ye well in mind.
When ye come in your journey to a large spring, take heed not to pass the
night near it. Beyond the spring is a caravanserai; there also ye must not
abide. Beyond the caravanserai is a vast desert; and there also ye must not
take a moment’s rest.” The sons promised their father that they would keep
his words, and with baggage light of weight but exceedingly precious, they
took horse and set out on their journey.
They went on and on, they smoked their chibooks and drank forty cups
of coffee, and when evening descended the large spring was right before
them. “Verily,” began the elder brethren, “we will not go another step
further. We are weary, and the night is upon us, and what need forty men
fear?” And with that they dismounted from their horses, ate their suppers,
and laid them down to rest. Only the youngest brother, who was fourteen
years of age, remained awake.
It might have been near midnight when the youth heard a strange noise.
He caught up his arms, and turning in the direction of the sound saw before
him a seven-headed dragon. They rushed towards each other, and thrice the
dragon fell upon the prince, but could do him no harm. “Well, now it is my
turn,” cried the youth; “wilt thou be converted to the true faith?” and with
these words he struck the monster such a blow that six of his seven heads
came flying down.
“Strike me once more,” groaned the dragon.
“Not I,” replied the youth, “I myself only came into the world once.”
Immediately the dragon fell to pieces, but his one remaining head began to
roll and roll and roll till it stood on the brink of the well. “Whoever can take
my soul out of this well,” it said, “shall have my treasure also,” and with
these words the head bounded into the well.
The youth took a rope, fastened one end of it to a rock, and seizing the
other end himself, lowered himself into the well. At the bottom of the well
he found an iron door. He opened it, passed through, and there right before
him stood a palace compared with which his father’s palace was a hovel.
Into this palace he went, and in it were forty rooms, and in each room was a
damsel sitting by her embroidery frame with enormous treasures behind her.
“Art thou a man or a spirit?” cried the terrified damsels.—“A man am I, and
the son of a man,” replied the prince. “I have just slain a seven-headed
dragon, and have followed its rolling head hither.”
Oh, how the forty damsels rejoiced at hearing these words. They
embraced the youth, and begged and prayed him not to leave them there.
They were the children of one father and one mother they said. The dragon
had killed their parents and carried them off, and they had nobody to look to
in the whole wide world.
“We also are forty,” said the youth, “and we are seeking forty damsels.”
Then he told them that he would first of all ascend to his brethren, and then
he would come for them again. So he ascended out of the well, went to the
spring, lay down beside it and fell asleep.
Early in the morning the forty brothers arose and laughed at their father
for trying to frighten them with the well. Again they set out on their way,
and went on and on till evening overtook them, when they perceived a
caravanserai before them. “Not a step further will we go,” said the elder
brothers. The youngest brother indeed insisted that it would be well to
remember their father’s words, for his speech could surely not have been in
vain. But they laughed at their youngest brother, ate and drank, said their
prayers, and lay down to sleep. Only the youngest brother remained wide
awake.
About midnight he again heard a noise. The youth snatched up his arms,
and again he saw before him a seven-headed dragon, but much larger than
the former one. The dragon rushed at him first of all, but could not
overcome him, then the youth dealt him one blow and off went six of the
dragon’s heads. Then the dragon wished him to take one more blow but he
would not; the head rolled into a well, the youth went after it, and came
upon a palace larger than the former one, and with ever so much more
treasures and precious things in it. He marked the well so that he should
know it again, returned to his brothers, and wearied out with his great
combat slept so soundly that his brothers had to wake him up with blows
next morning.
Again they arose, took horse, went up hill and down dale, and just as the
sun was setting, behold! a vast desert stood before them. They fell to eating
straightway, drank their fill also, and were just going to lie down to sleep
when all at once such a roaring, such a bellowing arose that the very
mountains fell down from their places.
The princes were horribly afraid, especially when they saw coming
against them a gigantic seven-headed dragon. He vomited forth venomous
fire in his wrath, and roared furiously: “Who killed my two brothers? Hither
with him! I’ll try conclusions with him also!”
 The youngest brother saw that his brethren were more dead than alive
from fear, so he gave them the keys of the two wells, in one of which was
the vast heap of treasure, and in the other the forty damsels. Let them take
everything home, he said; as for himself he must first slay the dragon and
then he would follow after them. The thirty-nine brothers lost no time in
mounting their horses and galloping off. They drew the treasure out of one
well and the forty damsels out of the other, and so returned home to their
father. But now we will see what happened to the youngest brother.
He fought the dragon and the dragon fought him, but neither could get
the better of the other. The dragon perceived that it was vain to try and
vanquish the youth, so he said to him: “If thou wilt go to the Empire of
Chin-i-Machin[12] and fetch me thence the Padishah’s daughter, I will not
worry the life out of thee.” To this the prince readily agreed, for he could
not have sustained the conflict much longer.
Then Champalak, for that was the dragon’s name, gave the prince a
bridle and said to him: “A good steed comes hither to feed every day, seize
him, put this bridle in his mouth, and bid him take thee to the Empire of
Chin-i-Machin!” So the youth took the bridle and waited for the good
charger. Presently a golden-maned charger came flying through the air, and
the moment the prince had put the bridle in its mouth, the charger said:
“What dost thou command, little Sultan?” and before you could wink your
eyes, the Empire of Chin-i-Machin stood before him. Then he dismounted
from his horse, took off the bridle, and went into the town. There he entered
into an old woman’s hut and asked her whether she received guests.
“Willingly,” answered the old woman. Then she made ready a place for
him, and while he was sipping his coffee he asked her all about the talk of
the town. “Well,” said the old woman, “a seven-headed dragon is very
much in love with our Sultan’s daughter. A war has been raging between
them on that account these many years, and the monster presses us so
hardly that not even a bird can fly into our realm.”
“Then where is the Sultan’s daughter?” asked the youth.—“In a little
palace in the Padishah’s garden,” replied the old woman, “and the poor
thing dare not put her foot outside it.”
The next day the youth went to the Padishah’s garden, and asked the
gardener to take him as a servant, and he begged and prayed till the
gardener had not the heart to refuse him. “Very well, I will take thee,” said
he, “and thou wilt have nought to do but water the flowers of the garden.”
Now the Sultan’s daughter saw the youth, called him to her window, and
asked him how he had managed to reach that realm. Then the youth told her
that his father was a Padishah, that he had fought with the dragon
Champalak on his travels, and had promised to bring him the Sultan’s
daughter. “Yet fear thou nothing,” added the youth, “my love is stronger
than the love of the serpent, and if thou wilt only have the courage to come
with me, trust me to find a way of disposing of him.”
The damsel was so much in love with the prince, and so eager to escape
from her captivity, that she consented to trust herself to him, and one night
they escaped from her palace and went straight towards the desert where
dwelt the dragon Champalak. They agreed on the way that the girl should
find out what the dragon’s talisman was, that they might destroy him that
way if they could do it no other.
Imagine the joy of Champalak when he perceived the princess! “What
joy, what rapture, that thou hast come!” cried Champalak; but fondle her
and caress her as he might, the damsel did nothing but weep. Days passed
by, weeks passed by, and yet the tears never left the damsel’s eyes. “Tell me
at least what thy talisman is,” said the damsel to him one day, “if thou
wouldst see me happy and not wretched with thee all thy days.”
“Alas, my soul!” said the dragon, “my talisman is guarded in a place
whither it is impossible ever to come. It is in a large palace in a
neighbouring realm, and though one may venture thither for it, no one has
ever been able to get back again.”
The prince needed no more, that was quite good enough for him. He
took his bridle, went with it to the sea-shore, and summoned his golden-
maned steed. “What dost thou command me, little Sultan?” said the steed.
“I desire thee to convey me to the neighbouring realm, to the palace of the
talisman of the dragon Champalak,” cried the youth—and in no more time
than it takes to wink an eye, the palace stood before him.
Then the steed said to the youth: “When we reach the palace thou wilt tie
the bridle to two iron gates, and when I neigh once and strike my iron hoofs
together, a door will open. In this open door thou wilt see a lion’s throat,
and if thou canst not kill that lion at one stroke, escape, or thou art a dead
man.” With that they went up to the palace, he tied the horse to the two iron
gates by his bridle, and when he neighed the door flew open. The youth
struck with all his might at the gaping throat of the lion in the doorway and
split it right in two. Then he cut open the lion’s belly, and drew out of it a
little gold cage with three doves in it, so beautiful that the like of them is
not to be found in the wide world. He took one of them and began softly
stroking and caressing it, when all at once—pr-r-r-r!—away it flew out of
his hand. The steed galloped swiftly after it, and if he had not caught it and
wrung its neck it would have gone hard with the good youth.
Then he mounted his steed again, and in the twinkling of an eye he stood
once more before Champalak’s palace. In the gateway of the palace he
killed the second dove, so that when the youth entered the dragon’s room,
there the monster lay quite helpless, and there was no more spirit in him at
all. When he saw the dove in the youth’s hand he implored him to let him
stroke it for the last time before he died. The youth’s heart felt for him, and
he was just about to hand the bird to him when the princess rushed out,
snatched the dove from his hand, and killed it, whereupon the dragon
expired before their very eyes. “ ’Twas well for thee,” said the steed, “that
thou didst not give him the dove, for if he had got it, fresh life would have
flowed into him.” And with that the steed disappeared, bridle and all.
Then they got together the dragon’s treasures, and went with them to the
Empire of Chin-i-Machin. The Padishah was sick for grief at the loss of the
damsel, and after searching for her in all parts of the kingdom in vain, was
persuaded that she had fallen into the hands of the dragon. And lo! there she
stood before him now, hand in hand with the King’s son. Then there was
such a marriage-feast in that city that it seemed as if there was no end to it.
After the marriage they set out on their journey again, and travelled with a
great escort of soldiers to the prince’s father. There they had long held the
King’s son to be dead, and would not believe that it was he even now till he
had told them the tale of the three seven-headed dragons and the forty
damsels.
The fortieth damsel was waiting patiently for him there, and the prince
said to his wife: “Behold now my second bride!”—“Thou didst save my life
from the dragon,” replied the Princess of Chin-i-Machin, “I therefore give
her to thee, do as thou wilt with her!” So they made a marriage-feast for the
second bride also, and they spent half their days in the Empire of the
prince’s father, and the other half in the Empire of Chin-i-Machin, and their
lives flowed away in happiness.
 THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTEOUS DAMSEL
There was once upon a time a Padishah who had an only son. His father
guarded him as the apple of his eye, and there was not a desire of his heart
that was not instantly gratified.
One night a dervish appeared to the King’s son in a dream, and showed
him the World’s most beauteous Damsel, and there he drained with her the
cup of love. After that the prince became another man. He could neither eat
nor drink. Sleep brought him neither pleasure nor refreshment, and he all at
once grew sallow and withered. They sent for doctor after doctor, they sent
for wizard after wizard, but they could not tell the nature of the malady or
find a cure for it.
Then the sick prince said to his father: “My lord Padishah and father, no
leech, no wise man can help me, wherefore weary them in vain? The
World’s most beauteous Damsel is the cause of my complaint, and she will
be either the life or the death of me.”
The Padishah was frightened at the words of his son, and his chief care
was to drive the damsel out of the lad’s head. “ ’Tis dangerous to even think
of such a thing,” said he, “for her love will be thy death.” But his son
continued to pine away daily, and life had no joy for him. Again and again
the father begged his son to tell him his heart’s desire and it should be
instantly fulfilled, and the eternal reply of the son was: “Let me seek the
World’s most beauteous Damsel.” Then the Padishah thought to himself: “If
I do not let him go he will only perish, and he cannot therefore be worse off
if he goes.” Then said he: “Go, my son, after thy love, and may the
righteous Allah be merciful to thee.”
So the next day the prince set out on his journey. He went up hill and
down dale, he crossed vast deserts, he traversed rugged wildernesses in
search of his beloved, the World’s most beauteous Damsel. On and on he
went, till he came at last to the sea-shore, and there he saw a poor little fish
writhing in the sand, and the fish besought him to throw it back into the sea
again. The youth had compassion upon the fish, and threw it back into the
sea again. Then the little fish gave him three scales, and said to him: “If
ever thou dost get into any trouble, burn these scales.”
Again the youth went on his way till he came to a vast desert, and there
on the ground in front of him he saw a lame ant. The little creature told him
that he was going to a wedding, but could not overtake his comrades
because they hastened so quickly. Then the youth took up the ant and
carried him to his comrades. As they parted the ant gave him a little piece of
its wing and said: “If ever thou shouldst get into any trouble, burn this bit of
wing.”
Again the youth followed his road, full of weary woefulness, and
reaching the borders of a large forest he there saw a little bird struggling
with a large serpent. The little bird asked help of the youth, and with one
blow he cut the serpent in two. The bird then gave him three feathers. “If
ever thou shouldst get into trouble,” it said, “burn these little feathers.”
Again he took up his pilgrim’s staff and went beyond the mountains,
beyond the sea, till he came to a large city. It was the realm of the father of
the World’s most beauteous Damsel. He went straight into the palace to the
Padishah, and begged the hand of his daughter in the name of Allah. “Nay,”
said the Padishah, “thou must first of all accomplish three tasks for me.
Only after that canst thou make known thy wishes to my daughter.”
With that he took a ring, cast it into the sea, and said to the King’s son:
“If thou canst not find it for me in three days, thou art a dead man.” Then
the King’s son fell a-thinking till he bethought him of the three scales, and
he had no sooner burnt them than the little fish stood before him and said:
“What dost thou command, O my Sultan?”—“The ring of the World’s most
beauteous Damsel hath been cast into the sea, and I want it back again,”
said the prince. Then the fish sought for the ring but couldn’t find it; it
dived down a second time and still it couldn’t find it; a third time it
descended right down into the seventh ocean, drew up a fish, cut it open,
and there was the ring. So the youth gave the ring to the Padishah, and the
Padishah gave it to his daughter.
Now there was a cave near the palace full of gravel and grain. “My
second task,” said the Padishah, “is that thou dost separate the grain from
the gravel.” Then the youth entered the cave, took out the ant’s wing and
burned it, whereupon the whole cave was swarming with ants, and they set
to work upon the grain in hot haste. The day was now nearly over, and the
same evening the youth sent word to the Padishah that the second task also
was accomplished.
“The third task still remains,” said the Padishah, “and then thou mayest
have my daughter.” With that he sent for a maid-servant, had her head cut
off straightway, and then said to the youth: “Thus shall be done to thy head
also if thou restore not this damsel to life again.” The youth quitted the
palace in deep thought, and at last he bethought him that the bird’s feathers
might help him. So he took them out and burned them, and lo! the bird
stood before him ere yet his lips had commanded it to appear. And the youth
complained bitterly to the bird of the task that was set him.
Now the bird had friends among the Peris, and, flying up into the air, in
no very long time was back again with a cruse of water in its beak. “I have
brought thee heavenly water which can give life even to the dead,” said the
bird. So the prince entered the palace, and no sooner had he sprinkled the
damsel with the water than she sprang up as if she had never been dead at
all.
Now the rumour of all these things reached the ears of the World’s most
beauteous Damsel, and she ordered the prince to be brought before her. The
damsel dwelt in a little marble palace, and before the palace was a golden
basin which was fed by the water of four streams. The courtyard of this
palace also was a vast garden wherein were many great trees and fragrant
flowers and singing-birds, and to the youth it seemed like the gate of
Paradise.
Suddenly the door of the palace was opened, and the garden was so
flooded with light that the eyes of
 The World’s most Beauteous Damsel.—p. 159.

the youth were dazzled even to blindness. It was the World’s most
beauteous Damsel who had appeared in the door of the palace, and the great
light was the rosiness of her two radiant cheeks. She approached the prince
and spoke to him, but scarcely did the youth perceive her than he fainted
away before her eyes. When he came to himself again they brought him into
the damsel’s palace, and there he rejoiced exceedingly in the World’s most
beauteous Damsel, for her face was as the face of a Houri, and her presence
was as a vision of Peris.
“Oh, prince!” began the damsel, “thou that art the son of Shah Suleiman,
canst aid me in my deep distress. In the vast garden of the Demon of
Autumn there is a bunch of singing-pomegranates: if thou canst get them
for me I will be thine for ever and ever.”
Then the youth gave her his hand upon it, the hand of loyal friendship,
and departed far far away. He went on and on without stopping, he went on,
and for months and months he crossed deserts where man had never trod,
and mountains over which there was no path. “Oh, my Creator,” he sighed,
“wilt thou not show me the right way?” and he rose up again each morning
from the place where he had sunk down exhausted the night before, and so
he went on and on from day to day till the path led him right down to the
roots of the mountains. There it seemed to him as if it were the Day of
Judgment. Such a noise, such a hubbub, such a hurly-burly of sounds arose
that all the hills and rocks around him trembled. The youth knew not
whether it was friend or foe, man or spirit, and as he went on further,
trembling with fear, the noise grew louder and the dust rose up round about
him like smoke. He knew not where he was going, but he might have
known from what he heard that the smaller garden of the Demon of Autumn
was now but a six-months’ journey off, and all this great hubbub and
clamour was the talisman of the gate of the garden.
And now he drew still nearer and could see the gate of the smaller
garden, and could hear the roaring of the talismans in the gate, and could
perceive the guardian of the gate also. Then he went up to him and told him
of his trouble. “But art thou not afraid of this great commotion?” asked the
guardian of the gate. “Is it not because of thee that all the talismans are so
impatient? even I am afraid thereat!”
 But the youth did nothing but inquire continually about the cluster of
singing-pomegranates.
“ ’Tis a hard task to reach that,” said the guardian, “yet if thou art not
afraid, perhaps thou mayest get it after all. Three-months’ journey from
hence thou wilt come to such another place of talismans, there also there is
a garden, and the guardian of that garden is my own mother. But whatever
thou dost, take care not to draw nigh to her, nor let her draw nigh to thee.
Give her my salaams, but tell her nothing of thy trouble unless she ask
thee.”
So the youth went on towards the second garden, and after a three-
months’ journey such a monstrous din and racket arose around him as to
make the former noise seem nothing. This was the greater garden of the
Demon of Autumn, and the great din proceeded from the talismans of the
garden. The youth lay down beside a rock, and when he had waited a little
he saw something like a man approaching him, but as it came nearer he
perceived that it was an old woman, a little beldame of thrice thirty winters.
The hairs of her head were as white as snow, red circles were round her
eyes, her eyebrows were like pointed darts, the fire of hell was in her eyes,
her nails were two ells long, her teeth were like faggots, her two lips had
only one jaw, she shuffled along leaning on a stick, drew in her breath
through her nose, and coughed and sneezed at every step she took. “Oh-oh!
oh-oh!” she groaned, shuffling painfully along in her large slippers, till it
seemed as if she would never be able to reach the new-comer. This was the
mother of the guardian of the lesser garden, and she herself was the
guardian of the larger one.
At last she got up to the youth, and asked him what he was doing in
those parts? The prince gave her the compliments of her son. “Ah, the
vagabond!” said the old woman, “where didst thou meet with him? That
wicked lad of mine knew that I would have compassion on thee, so he sent
thee hither. Very well, let us make an end of thee.” And with that she seized
hold of him, and cried: “Hi, Earless!” and something came running up to
him, and before he knew where he was, the youth found himself seated on
its back. He looked down upon it and saw beneath him a creature like a
shrunken huddled toad, that had neither eyes nor ears. This was Earless, and
away it went with him. When he first saw it, it was as small as a worm, but
the moment he was on its back it took such leaps that every three of them
covered as much space as a vast ocean. Suddenly Earless stopped short and
said to him: “Whatever thou mayest see, whatever thou mayest hear, take
care not to speak, or it will be all up with thee,” and with that it vanished.
There in the rippling water in front of the prince, like a dream-shape, lay
a large garden. This garden had neither beginning nor end, and within it
were such trees and flowers and sweet fruit as the eye of man hath never
seen. Whithersoever one turned nothing was to be heard but the rustling of
soft wings and the songs of nightingales, so that the whole atmosphere of
that garden seemed to be an eternal song. The youth looked all about him,
his reason died away within him, he entered the garden. But then he heard
quite near to him such a woeful wailing that his heart was like to break, and
the thought of the cluster of pomegranates occurred to his mind. His eyes
sought for them in every direction but in vain, till he came to the centre of
the garden, where was a fountain and a little palace made of flowers, and
the pomegranates hung down from the flowery palace like so many shining
lamps. The youth plucked a branch, but no sooner had he done so than there
was a horrible cry, and a warning voice exclaimed—

“A son of man of us hath ta’en,

We by a son of man are slain!”

The youth scarce had time to escape from the garden. “Hasten! fly!”
cried Earless, who was waiting again at the gate. The youth jumped on its
back, and in a couple of leaps they were beyond the ocean. Then only did
the youth think of looking at the cluster of pomegranates. There were fifty
pomegranates on it, and each one had a different voice, and each voice had
a different song—it was just as if all the music in the wide world was
gathered together in one place. By this time they had reached the old
grandmother, the old old beldame of thrice thirty winters.
“Guard well thy pomegranate cluster,” said the old woman, “never leave
it out of thy sight. If on the first night of thy wedding thou and thy bride are
able to listen to their music all night without going to sleep once, these
pomegranates will love thee, and after that thou wilt have nothing more to
fear, for they will deliver thee from every ill.” Then they went from the old
mother to the son; he also bade them take to heart his mother’s words, and
then the youth went on his way to his sole-beloved, the World’s most
beauteous Damsel.
 The girl was awaiting him with the greatest impatience, for she also
dearly loved the prince, and her days were passed in anxiety lest some
mischief should befall the youth. All at once she heard the sound of music,
the fifty pomegranates were singing fifty different songs with fifty different
voices, and she opened her heart to the beautiful music. The damsel rushed
forth to meet the youth, and at their joyous embrace the pomegranates rang
out with a melody so sweet that the like of it is not to be found in this
world, but only in Allah’s world beyond the grave. Forty days and forty
nights did the wedding-feast last, and on the fortieth day the King’s son
went in unto his bride, and they lay down and listened to the pomegranates.
Then when the day was born again they arose, and the pomegranate cluster
rejoiced again in their love, and so they went on their way to the prince’s
own kingdom. There all the feasting began again, and in his joy the old
Padishah resigned his kingdom to his son, the Padishah of the cluster of
Pomegranates.

THE PADISHAH OF THE FORTY PERIS

In the old, old time, in the age of fairy tales, there was once the daughter
of a Padishah who was as fair as the full moon, as slim as a cypress-tree,
with eyes like coals, and hair like the night, and her eyebrows were like
bows, and her eyeballs like the darts of archers. In the palace of the
Padishah was a garden, and in the midst of the garden a fountain of water,
and there the maid sat the livelong day sewing and stitching.
One day she put her ring upon her sewing-table, but scarcely had she
laid it down when there came a little dove and took up the ring and flew
away with it. Now the little dove was so lovely that the damsel at once fell
in love with it. The next day the damsel took off her bracelet, and
immediately the dove was there and flew off with that too. Then the damsel
was so consumed with love that she neither ate nor drank, and could scarce
tarry till the next day for the dove to come forth again. And on the third day
she brought her sewing-table, put upon it her lace handkerchief, and placed
herself close beside it. She waited for the dove, and waited and waited, and
lo! all at once there he was right before her, and he caught up the
handkerchief and away he flew. Then the damsel had scarce strength
enough to rise up; weeping bitterly she went into the palace, and there she
threw herself on the ground in a passion of grief.
 Her old waiting-woman came running towards her: “O Sultana!” cried
she, “wherefore dost thou weep so sorely?—what ails thee?”
“I am sick, my heart is sick!” replied the daughter of the Sultan, and with
that she fell a-weeping and a-wailing worse than ever.
The old waiting-woman feared to tell of this new thing, for the damsel
was the only daughter of the Padishah, but when she perceived how pale the
damsel was growing, and how she wept and sobbed, the waiting-woman
took her courage in both hands, went to the Padishah, and told him of his
daughter’s woe. Then the Padishah was afraid, and went to see his daughter,
and after him came many wise men and many cunning leeches, but not one
of them could cure her sickness.
But on the next day the Padishah’s Vizier said to him: “The wise men
and the leeches cannot help the damsel, the only medicine that can cure her
lies hidden elsewhere.” Then he advised the Padishah to make a great bath,
the water whereof should cure all sick people, but whoever bathed therein
was to be made to tell the story of his life. So the Padishah caused the bath
to be made, and proclaimed throughout the city that the water of this bath
would give back his hair to the bald, and his hearing to the deaf, and his
sight to the blind, and the use of his legs to the lame. Then all the people
flocked in crowds to have a bath for nothing, and each one of them had to
tell the story of his life and his ailment before he returned home again.
Now in that same city dwelt the bald-headed son of a bed-ridden mother,
and the fame of the wonder-working bath reached their ears also. “Let us go
too,” said the son; “perchance the pair of us shall be cured.”
“How can I go when I can’t stand on my legs?” groaned the old woman.
—“Oh, we shall be able to manage that,” replied bald-pate, and taking his
mother on his shoulders he set out for the bath.
They went on and on and on, through the level plains by the flowing
river, till at last the son was tired and put his mother down upon the ground.
At that same instant a cock lighted down beside them with a big pitcher of
water on its back, and hastened off with it. Then the young man became
very curious to know why and whither this cock was carrying water; so
after the bird he went. The cock went on till it came to a great castle, and at
the foot of this castle was a little hole through which water was gurgling.
Still the youth followed the cock, squeezed himself with the utmost
difficulty through the hole, and no sooner had he begun to look about him
than he saw before him a palace so magnificent that his eyes and mouth
stood wide open with astonishment. No other human being had ever stood
in the path that led up to this palace. All over it he went, through all the
rooms, from vestibule to attic, admiring their splendour without ceasing, till
weariness overcame him. “If only I could find a living being here!” said he
to himself, and with that he hid himself in a large armoury, from whence he
could easily pounce out upon any one who came.
He had not waited very long when three doves flew on to the window-
sill, and after shivering there a little while turned into three damsels, all so
beautiful that the young man did not know which to look at first.
“Alas, alas!” cried the three damsels, “we are late, we are late! Our
Padishah will be here presently, and nothing is ready!” Then one seized a
broom and brushed everything clean, the second spread the table, and the
third fetched all manner of meats. Then they all three began to shiver once
more, and three doves flew out of the window.
Meanwhile the bald-pate had grown very hungry, and he thought to
himself: “Nobody sees me, why should I not take a morsel or two from that
table?” So he stretched his hand out from his hiding-place, and was just
about to touch the food with it when he got such a blow on the fingers that
the place swelled up. He stretched out the other hand, and got a still greater
blow on that. The youth was very frightened at this, and he had scarcely
drawn back his hand when a white dove flew into the room. It fell a-
shivering and immediately turned into a beautiful youth.
And now he went to a cupboard, opened it, and took out a ring, a
bracelet, and a lace handkerchief. “Oh, lucky ring that thou art!” cried he,
“to be allowed to sit on a beautiful finger; and oh, lucky bracelet, to be
allowed to lie on a beautiful arm.” Then the beautiful youth fell a-sobbing,
and dried his tears one by one on the lace handkerchief. Then he put them
into the cupboard again, tasted one or two of the dishes, and laid him down
to sleep.
It was as much as the bald-pate could do to await the dawn of the day.
But then the beautiful youth arose, shivered, and flew away as a white dove.
Bald-pate too came out of his hiding-place, went down into the courtyard,
and crept once more through the hole at the foot of the tower.
Outside he found his poor old mother weeping all alone, but the youth
pacified her with the assurance that their troubles were nearly at an end,
took her on his back again, and went to the bath. There they bathed, and
immediately the old woman was able to stand on her legs, and the bald-pate
got his hair back again. Then they began to tell their stories, and when the
Sultan’s daughter heard what the youth had seen and heard at midnight, it
was as though a stream of fresh health instantly poured into her. She rose
from her bed and promised the youth a great treasure if he would bring her
to that tower. So the youth went with the princess, showed her the walls of
the palace, helped her through the little hole, brought her into the chamber
of the doves, and pointed out to her the armoury where he had been able to
hide himself. After that the youth returned home with great treasure and
perfect health, and lived all his days with his old mother.
At eventide the three doves flew into the room. They scoured and
cleaned, brought the meats for the table, and flew away again. Soon
afterwards the white dove came flying in, and how did that damsel feel
when she saw her darling little dove once more? But when the dove had
turned into a youth again, and stood there like a glorious full moon, the
damsel scarcely knew where she was, but gazed continuously on his
dazzling face.
Then the youth went to the cupboard, opened it, and took out the ring,
the bracelet, and the lace handkerchief that belonged to the daughter of the
Sultan. “Oh, thou ring! how happy shouldst thou be to sit on a beauteous
finger! Oh, thou bracelet! how happy thou shouldst be to lie on a beauteous
arm!” he cried. Then he took the lace handkerchief and dried his tears, and
at the sight thereof the heart of the damsel was nigh to breaking. Then she
tapped with her fingers on the door of the armoury. The youth approached
it, opened the door, and there stood his heart’s darling. Then the joy of the
youth was so great that it was almost woe.
He asked the damsel how she had come thither to the palace of the Peris.
Then she told him of her journey, and how sick for love she had been.
Then the youth told her that he also was the son of a mortal mother, but
when he was only three days old the Peris had stolen him, and carried him
to this palace and made him their Padishah. He was with them the whole
day, and had only two hours to himself in the twenty-four. The damsel, he
said, might stay with him, and walk about here the whole day, but towards
evening she must hide herself; for if the forty Peris came and saw her with
him they would not leave her alive. To-morrow, he said, he would show her
his mother’s palace, where they would live in peace, and he would be with
her for two hours out of the twenty-four.
So the next day the Padishah of the Peris took the damsel and showed
her his mother’s palace. “When thou goest there,” said the Padishah, “bid
them have compassion on thee, and receive thee in memory of Bahtiyar
Bey, and when my mother hears my name she will not refuse thy request.”
So the damsel went up to the house and knocked at the door. An old
woman came and opened it, and when she saw the damsel and heard her
son’s name, she burst into tears and took her in. There the damsel stayed a
long time, and every day the little bird came to visit her, until a son was
born to the daughter of the Sultan. But the old woman never knew that her
son came to the house, nor that the damsel had been brought to bed.
One day the little bird came, flew upon the window-sill, and said: “Oh,
my Sultana, what is my little seedling doing?”—“No harm hath happened
to our little seedling,” replied she, “but he awaits the coming of
Bahtiyar.”—“Oh! if only my mother knew,” sighed the youth, “she would
open her best room.” With that he flew into the room, turned into a man,
and fondled in his arms his wife and his little child. But when two hours
had passed he shivered a little, and a little dove flew out of the window.
But the mother had heard her son’s speech, and could scarce contain
herself for joy. She hastened to her daughter-in-law, fondled and caressed
her, led her into her most beautiful room, and put everything in order
against her son’s arrival. She knew that the forty Peris had robbed her of
him, and she took counsel with herself how she might steal him back again.
“When my son comes to-morrow,” said the old woman, “contrive so that
he stays beyond his time, and leave the rest to me.”
The next day the bird flew into the window, and lo! the damsel was
nowhere to be seen in the room. Then he flew into the more beautiful room,
and cried, “Oh! my Sultana, what is our little seedling doing?”—And the
damsel replied: “No harm hath befallen our little seedling, but he awaits the
coming of Bahtiyar.” Then the bird flew into the room and changed into a
man, and was so taken up with talking to his wife, so filled with the joy of
playing with his child and seeing it play, that he took no count of time at all.
But what was the old woman doing all this time?
 The Padishah of the Peris.—p. 174.

There was a large cypress-tree in front of the house, and there the forty
doves were sometimes wont to alight. The old woman went and hung this
tree full of venomous needles. Towards evening, when the Padishah’s two
hours had run out, the doves who were the forty Peris came to seek their
Padishah, and alighted on the cypress-tree, but scarcely had their feet
touched the needles than they fell down to the ground poisoned.
Meanwhile, however, the youth suddenly remembered the time, and
great was his terror when he came out of the palace so late. He looked to the
right of him and he looked to the left, and when he looked towards the
cypress-tree there were the forty doves. And now his joy was as great as his
terror had been before. First he fell upon the neck of his consort, and then
he ran to his mother and embraced her, so great was his joy that he had
escaped from the hands of the Peris.
Thereupon they made them such a banquet that even after forty days
they had not got to the end of it. So they had their hearts’ desires, and ate
and drank and rejoiced with a great joy. May we too get the desires of our
hearts, with good eating and drinking to comfort us!

THE SERPENT-PERI AND THE MAGIC MIRROR

There was once upon a time a poor wood-cutter who had an only son.
One day this poor man fell sick and said to his son: “If I should die follow
thou my handicraft, and go every day into the wood. Thou mayest cut down
whatever trees thou dost find there, but at the edge of the wood is a cypress-
tree, that thou must leave standing.” Two days afterwards the man died and
was buried.
But the son went into the wood and cut down the trees, only the cypress-
tree he left alone. One day the youth stood close to this tree and thought to
himself: “What can be the matter with this tree, seeing that I am not allowed
to lay a hand upon it?” So he looked at it, and considered it curiously, till at
last he took his axe and went with evil intent towards the tree. But he had
scarcely lifted his foot when the cypress-tree drew away from him. The
wood-cutter mounted his ass and pursued the tree but could not overtake it,
and in the meantime eventide came upon them. Then he dismounted from
his ass and tied it to a tree, but he himself climbed to the top of the tree to
await the dawn.
Next morning, when the sky grew red, he descended from the tree, and
there at the foot of it lay only the bones of his ass. “Never mind, I’ll go on
foot,” said the wood-cutter, and he continued his pursuit of the cypress, the
tree going on before and he following after. All that day he pursued but
could not come up with it. The third day also he shouldered his axe and
pursued the tree, when he suddenly came upon an elephant and a serpent
fighting with each other. Believe the truth or not as you will, but the truth is
this, that the serpent was swallowing the elephant; but the elephant’s great
tusk stuck in the serpent’s throat, and both beasts, seeing the youth staring
at them, begged him to help them.
What didn’t the elephant promise him if only he would slay the serpent!
“Nay, but all I would have thee do,” said the serpent, “is to break his tusk
off; the work is lighter, and the reward will be greater.” At these words the
youth seized his axe and chopped the elephant’s tusk right off. The serpent
then swallowed the elephant, thanked the youth, and promised to keep his
word and give him his reward.
While they were on the road the serpent stopped at a spring and said to
the youth: “Wait while I bathe in this water, and whatever may happen, fear
not!” With that the serpent plunged into the water, and immediately there
arose such a terrible storm, such a tempest, such a hurricane, with lightning-
flash upon lightning-flash, and thunder-bolt upon thunder-bolt, that the Day
of Judgment could not well be worse. Presently the serpent came out of the
bath, and then all was quiet again.
They went a long way, and they went a little way, they took coffee, they
smoked their chibooks, they gathered violets on the road, till at last they
drew near to a house, and then the serpent said: “In a short time we shall
arrive at my mother’s house. When she opens the door, say thou art my
kinsman, and she will invite thee into the house. She will offer thee coffee
but do not drink it, she will offer thee meat but do not eat it; but there’s a
little bit of a mirror hanging up in the corner of the door, ask my mother for
that!”
So they came to the house, and no sooner had the Peri knocked at the
door than his mother came and opened it. “Come, my brother!” said the
serpent to the youth behind him.—“Who is thy brother?” asked his mother.
—“He who hath saved my life,” replied her son, and with that he told her
the whole story. So they went into the house, and the woman brought the
youth coffee and a chibook, but he would not take them. “My journey is a
hasty one,” said he, “I cannot remain very long.”
“Rest awhile at least,” said the woman, “we cannot let our guests depart
without anything.”
“Nothing do I want, but if thou wilt give me that bit of mirror in the
corner of the door I will take it,” said the youth. The woman did not want to
give it, but the youth insisted that perhaps his life might depend upon that
very piece of mirror, so at last she gave it to him, though very unwillingly.
So the youth went on his way with the bit of mirror, and as he looked
into it he turned over in his mind what use he should make of it. As he was
still turning it over and looking at it, suddenly there stood before him a
negro efrit, one of whose lips touched the heavens, and the other lip the
earth. The poor youth was so frightened, that if the negro had not said:
“What are thy commands, my Sultan?” he would have run away for ever
and ever. As it was, it was as much as he could do to ask for something to
eat, and immediately there stood before him a rich and rare banquet, the like
of which he had never seen at his father’s, the wood-cutter’s.
Then the youth felt very curious about the mirror, and looked into it
again, and immediately the black efrit stood before him again and said:
“What dost thou command, my Sultan?” Nothing would occur to his mind
at first, but at last his lips murmured the word “Palace,” and immediately
there stood before him a palace so beautiful that the Padishah himself could
not have a finer one. “Open!” cried the youth, and immediately the gates of
the palace flew open before him.
The youth rejoiced greatly in his bit of mirror, and his one thought was
what he should ask it to get him next. The beautiful Sultana-damsel, the
Padishah’s daughter, occurred to his mind, and the next moment his eye
sought his mirror and he desired from the big-lipped negro efrit a palace in
which the world-renowned daughter of the Padishah should be sitting
beside him, and he had scarce time to look around him when he found
himself sitting in the palace with the Sultan’s daughter by his side. Then
they kissed and embraced each other, and lived a whole world of joy.
Meanwhile the Sultan learnt that his daughter had disappeared from her
own palace. He searched for her the whole realm through, he sent heralds in
every direction, but in vain were all his labours, the girl could not be
discovered. At last an old woman came to the Padishah and told him to
make a large casket, line it well with zinc, put her inside it, and cast it into
the sea. She would find the daughter of the Sultan, she said, for if she was
not here, she must be beyond the sea. So they made ready the great casket,
put the old woman inside it, put food for nine days beside her, and cast it
into the sea. The casket was tossed from wave to wave, till at last it came to
that city where the Sultan’s daughter dwelt with the youth.
Now the fishermen were just then on the shore, and saw the huge casket
floating in the sea. They drew it ashore with ropes and hooks, and when
they opened it an old woman crept out of it. They asked her how she had
got inside it.
“Oh, that my enemy might lose the sight of his little eye that is so dear to
him!” lamented the old woman; “I have not deserved this of him!” and with
that she fell a-weeping and wailing till the men believed every word she
said. “Where is the Bey of your city?” cried she; “perhaps he will have
compassion upon me and receive me into his house,” she said to the men.
Then they showed her the palace, and exhorted her to go thither, as perhaps
she might get an alms.
So the old woman went to the palace, and when she knocked at the door,
the Sultan’s daughter came down to see who it was. The old woman
immediately recognized the damsel, and begged her (for the damsel knew
not the old woman) to take her into her service. “My lord comes home to-
night, I will ask him,” replied the damsel; “meanwhile rest in this corner!”
And the damsel’s lord allowed her to receive the old woman into the house,
and the next day she waited upon them.
There the old woman was for one day and for two days, for a week, for
two weeks, and there was no cook to cook the food, and no servant to keep
the place clean, and yet every day there was a costly banquet and
everything was as clean as clean could be. Then the old woman went to the
damsel and asked her whether she did not feel dull at being alone all day.
“If I were allowed to help thee pass the time away,” added she, “perhaps it
might be better.”—“I must first ask my lord,” replied the damsel. The youth
did not mind the old woman helping his wife to pass away the time, and so
she went up to the rooms of the damsel and stayed with her for days
together.
 One day the old woman asked the damsel whence came all the rare
meats, and who did the service of the house. But the damsel knew not of the
piece of mirror, so she could tell the old woman nothing. “Find out from thy
lord,” said the old woman, and scarcely had the youth come home, scarce
had he had time to eat, than she wheedled him so that he showed her the
mirror.
That was all the old woman wanted. A couple of days she let go by, but
on the third and the fourth days she bade the damsel beg her lord for the
piece of mirror so that she might amuse herself therewith, and make the
time pass more easily. And indeed she had only to ask her lord for it, for he,
not suspecting her falseness, gave it to her. And in the meantime the old
woman was not asleep. She knew where the damsel had put the mirror, stole
it, and when she looked into it the negro efrit appeared. “What is thy
command?” inquired he of the old woman. “Take me with this damsel to
her father’s palace,” was her first command. Her second command made of
the youth’s palace a heap of ashes, so that when the young wood-cutter
returned home he found nought but the cat meeowing among the ashes.
There was also a small piece of meat there; the Sultan’s daughter had
thrown it down for the cat.
The youth took up the fragment of meat and set out to seek his consort.
Find her he would, though he roamed the whole world over. He went on
and on, he searched and searched till he came to the city where his wife
lived. He went up to the palace, and there he begged the cook to take him
into the kitchen as a servant out of pure compassion. In a couple of days he
had learnt from his fellow-servants in the kitchen that the Sultan’s daughter
had returned home.
One day the cook fell sick and there was no heart in him to attend to the
cooking. The youth, seeing this, bade him rest, and said he would cook the
food in his stead. The cook agreed, and told him what to cook, and how to
season it. So the youth set to work, roasting and stewing, and when he sent
up the dishes, he also sent up the scrap of food that he had found on the
ashes, and put it on the damsel’s plate. Scarcely had the damsel cast eyes on
this little scrap than she knew within herself that her lord was near her. So
she called the cook and asked whom he had with him in the kitchen. At first
he denied that he had any one, but at last he confessed that he had taken a
poor lad in to assist him.
 Then the damsel went to her father and said to him that there was a
young lad in the kitchen who prepared coffee so well that she should like
some coffee from his hands. So the lad was ordered up, and from
thenceforth he prepared the coffee and took it to the Sultan’s daughter. So
they came together again, and she told her lord how the matter had gone.
Then they took counsel how they should await their turn and get the mirror
back again.
Scarcely had the youth gone in to the damsel than the old woman
appeared. Although she had not seen him for long, she recognized him, and,
looking into the mirror, caused the poor lad to be sent back again to the
ashes of his old palace. There he found the cat still squatting. When she felt
hungry she caught mice, and such ravages did she make upon them that at
last the Padishah of the mice had scarce a soldier left.
Very wroth was the poor Padishah, but he durst not tackle the cat. One
day, however, he observed the youth, went up to him, and begged his
assistance in his dire distress, for if he waited till the morrow his whole
realm would be ruined.
“I’ll help thee,” said the youth, “though, indeed, I have enough troubles
of my own to carry already.”
“What is thy trouble?” asked the Padishah of the mice. The youth told
him about the history of the piece of looking-glass, and how it had been
stolen from him, and into whose hands it had fallen.
“Then I can help thee,” cried the Padishah, whereupon he called together
all the mice in the world. And he asked which of them had access to this
palace, and which knew of such-and-such an old woman, and the piece of
looking-glass. At these words a lame mouse hobbled forth, kissed the
ground at the feet of the Padishah, and said that it was his wont to steal food
from the old woman’s box. He had seen through the keyhole how she took
out a little bit of looking-glass every evening and hid it under a cushion.
Then the Padishah commanded him to go and steal this bit of mirror. The
mouse, however, begged that he might have two comrades, sat on the back
of one of them, and so went on to the old woman. It was evening when they
arrived there, and the old woman was just eating her supper. “We have
come at the right time,” said the lame mouse, “we shall get something to
eat.” And with that they scampered into the room, satisfied their hunger, and
waited for the night. They arranged between them what they should do, and
when the old woman lay down they waited till she was asleep. Scarcely had
she fallen asleep than the lame mouse leaped into her bed, made for her
face, and began tickling her nose with the end of its tail.
“P-chi! p-chi!” the old woman sneezed, so that her head nearly leaped
from her shoulders. “P-chi! p-chi!” she sneezed again, and meanwhile the
two other little mice rushed out, picked up the piece of looking-glass from
underneath the cushion, took the lame mouse on their backs, and hurried
home again.
The youth rejoiced greatly at the sight of the mirror, then he took the cat
with him so that it should do no more harm to the mice, and went into other
parts. There he took out the bit of mirror, looked into it, and lo! the black
efrit stood before him and said: “What is thy command, my Sultan?”
The youth asked for a raiment of cloth of gold and a whole army of
soldiers, and before he had time to look round, in front of him stood costly
raiment, and he put it on; and a beautiful horse, and he sat on its back; and a
large army which marched behind him into the city. When he arrived there
he stood before the palace, and surrounded it with his soldiers. Oh, how
terrified the Padishah was at the sight of that vast army!
The youth went into the palace, and demanded the damsel from her
father. In his terror the Padishah gave him not only his daughter but his
realm. The old woman was given into the hands of the big-lipped efrit, but
the bride and bridegroom lived happily in the midst of their glorious
kingdom. And close beside them stood the magic mirror that made all their
woes to vanish.

STONE-PATIENCE AND KNIFE-PATIENCE

There was once a poor woman who had one daughter, and this poor
woman used to go out and wash linen, while her daughter remained at home
at her working-table. One day she was sitting by the window as was her
wont, when a little bird flew on to the sewing-table and said to the damsel:
“Oh, little damsel, poor little damsel! death is thy Kismet!”[13] whereupon
it flew away again. From that hour the damsel’s peace of mind was gone,
and in the evening she told her mother what the bird had said to her. “Close
the door and the window,” said her mother, “and sit at thy work as usual.”
 So the next morning she closed the door and the window and sat her
down at her work. But all at once there came a “Whirr-r-r-r!” and there was
the little bird again on the work-table. “Oh, little damsel, poor little damsel!
death is thy Kismet,” and with that it flew away again. The damsel was
more and more terrified than ever at these words, but her mother comforted
her again: “To-morrow,” said she, “close fast the door and the window, and
get into the cupboard. There light a candle, and go on with thy work!”
Scarcely had her mother departed with the dawn than the girl closed up
everything, lit a candle, and locked herself in the cupboard with her work-
table. But scarcely had she stitched two stitches when the bird stood before
her again, and said: “Oh, little damsel, poor little damsel! death is thy
Kismet!” and whirr-r-r-r! it flew away again. The damsel was in such
distress that she scarce knew where she was. She threw her work aside, and
began tormenting herself as to what this saying might mean. Her mother,
too, could not get to the bottom of the matter, so she remained at home the
next day, that she also might see the bird, but the bird did not come again.
So their sorrow was perpetual, and all the joy of their life was gone.
They never stirred from the house but watched and waited continually, if
perchance the bird might come again. One day the damsels of their
neighbour came to them and asked the woman to let her daughter go with
them. “If she went for a little outing,” said they, “she might forget her
trouble.” The woman did not like to let her go, but they promised to take
great care of her and not to lose sight of her, so at last she let her go.
So the damsels went into the fields and danced and diverted themselves
till the day was on the decline. On the way home they sat down by a well
and began to drink out of it. The poor woman’s daughter also went to drink
of the water, when lo! a wall rose up between her and the other damsels, but
such a wall as never the eye of man yet beheld. A voice could not get
beyond it, it was so high, and a man could not get through it, it was so hard.
Oh, how terrified was the poor woman’s daughter, and what weeping and
wailing and despair there was among her comrades. What would become of
the poor girl, and what would become of her poor mother!
“I will not tell,” said one of them, “for she will not believe us!”—“But
what shall we say to her mother,” cried another, “now that she has
disappeared from before our eyes?”—“It is thy fault, it is thy fault!” “Twas
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