The Silent Readers Part 36

said he, "but a fine piece of sculpture, which any able artist may equal."

"Sir," replied the Indian, "it is not his form, but his use that I commend so highly. On his back I can convey myself through the air to the most distant part of the earth, in a very short time. I can even instruct any other person to ride in the same manner. Such is the curiosity I have the honor to present to your majesty's notice."

The king was highly pleased with this account of the Indian's horse, and desired to see a proof of his abilities. "There is," said the king, pointing to a mountain about three leagues off, "on the summit of that mountain, a palm-tree of a particular quality, which I should know from all others; go, fetch me a branch of it."

The Indian mounted his horse, and turning a peg which was in the neck, away he flew with him, and they were presently out of sight. Within a quarter of an hour he was seen returning with a palm branch in his hand, which, as soon as he had descended and alighted, he laid at the king's feet.

The king was greatly pleased with this extraordinary performance, and resolved to purchase the horse if he could prevail with the owner to part with him. Accordingly, he asked the Indian if he was to be sold.

"Sir," replied the Indian, "I should not have produced my horse to your majesty if it had been absolutely impossible for me to sell him. Yet the artist from whom I received him, laid me under the most solemn injunction that I should never part with him for money; nor on any terms but such as I might request your pardon before I presume to name them."

The king impatiently answered that he forgave his demand, even if it was to reach his crown; but he reserved to himself the power of refusal, if he thought that demand too exorbitant. The Indian then replied that he was ready to resign his horse if his majesty would condescend to bestow on him the princess, his daughter, in marriage.

When the courtiers heard this extravagant request, they all burst into loud laughter; but the prince Firouz Shah, the only son of the king, was enraged, and the more so when he saw the king pensive, debating with himself what answer to return. Going up to his father, he said, "I entreat your majesty will pardon the liberty I am about to take, but is it possible you can hesitate a moment what answer to make to this insolent fellow? Can you bear to think of degrading our house by an alliance with a scandalous juggler?"

The king approved of his son's spirit, but argued that if he refused to comply with the Indian's proposal, perhaps some other sovereign might be less nice, and by that means become possessed of the greatest curiosity in the world. He ended his reply by desiring his son to examine the horse attentively, and give his opinion of him.

Respect for his father made him receive these orders in silence. He approached the horse, and the Indian drew near to instruct the prince in the method of managing him; but the haughty young man was in too great a fury to listen to him. He spurned the kneeling Indian contemptuously, and leaping into the saddle, he turned the peg, and the horse flew away with him.

The Indian was exceedingly alarmed when he saw the prince depart before he had learned how to manage the horse. He threw himself once more at the king's feet, and besought his majesty not to blame him for any accident which might befall the prince, since his own impetuosity had exposed him to danger. The king had no apprehension for his son, till he saw the Indian so terrified. He then felt all the horrors of the prince's situation. He cursed the Indian and his fatal horse, and ordered his officers to seize and conduct him to prison. "If my son does not return safe," said he, "in a short time, thy paltry life, at least, shall be sacrificed to my vengeance."

In the meantime, Firouz Shah was carried through the air with inconceivable swiftness, till at length he could scarcely discern the earth at all. He then wished to return, which he expected to do by turning the peg the contrary way; but when he found the horse continued to rise from the earth, and proceed forward at the same time with greater swiftness, he was alarmed and began to regret his pride and anger. He turned the peg about every way to no purpose; in this situation he retained, notwithstanding, a perfect presence of mind, and, on examining the horse closely, he at last perceived another peg behind the ear. On turning that peg he presently found that he descended in the same oblique manner that he had mounted, but not so swiftly.

As he drew near the earth, he lost the light by degrees, till he came into total darkness. He did not attempt, therefore, to guide the horse, but waited patiently, though not without apprehension, till he should alight.

It was midnight when the horse stopped, and Firouz dismounted, faint with hunger and fatigue. He groped about and found he was on the roof of some large building. At length he came to some steps, which he descended, and rambled about in the dark for some time; at last, on opening a door, he found a light, and saw a number of black guards asleep on pallets, with their sabres lying by them. This convinced him that he was in a palace, and that this chamber was the guard room of some princess. As he knew if any of the guards should awake he would be in great danger, he resolved to enter the next apartment, and throw himself on the mercy of the lady who inhabited it.

He found there asleep on a sofa a young lady, whose exquisite beauty captivated his heart the moment he beheld her. Her women were sleeping in little beds around her. The prince gazed on her for a long time, forgetful of his situation; and, at length he knelt down, and gently pulling her hand toward him, he kissed it.

The motion awakened the princess, who was surprised to find a stranger at her bedside. She would have cried out, but Firouz besought her patience. He told her that he was the son of a king, and that a very extraordinary accident, which he would relate, had brought him to the necessity of claiming her protection.

The lady was the daughter of the king of Bengal. Many of her attendants were by this time awakened. She told Firouz, therefore, that she should be glad to hear the particulars of his adventure in the morning, but for the present besought him to withdraw. At the same time she ordered her attendants to conduct him to a chamber, and supply him with such refreshments as he wanted.

The prince attended her the next day and related to her all the particulars of the arrival of the Indian with his horse, of his insolent demand, and its consequences. He concluded his account of his journey by observing that however much he had been enraged at the Indian, he now began to consider him his benefactor; "since," added he, "he has been the cause of my being known to a lady whose chains I shall be proud to wear as long as I live."

The princess received this compliment in such a manner as showed it was very acceptable to her. She invited the prince to repose a few days in her palace to recover himself from the fatigue and alarm he had undergone. He accepted this invitation; and being much together, they fell more and more in love with each other. And, at last, when filial duty obliged Firouz to think of returning to Persia, the fond princess, fearing she should see him no more, dropped a hint that she should not be afraid to trust herself with him on the enchanted horse; and the prince, equally enamored, failed not to confirm her in this rash adventure.

Everything being agreed on between the lovers, they repaired, one morning at daybreak, to the roof where the horse still remained; and Firouz a.s.sisted the princess to mount him. He then placed himself before her, and turning the peg, they were out of sight before any of the attendants in the palace were stirring; and in two hours the prince discovered the capital of Persia.

He would not alight at the king's palace, but directed his course to a small cottage in a wood, a little distance from town, that he might inform his father who the lady was, and secure her a reception suitable to her dignity. When they alighted, he led her into a handsome apartment, and ordered the keeper of the house to show her all imaginable respect. Then he hastened to the palace, where the king received him with unspeakable joy. Firouz related to his father all that had befallen him, and the king was so delighted with his son's safe arrival, that he readily complied with his desire that the wedding ceremonies between him and the princess should be immediately celebrated.

While the necessary preparations were being made, the king ordered the Indian, who was to have been executed the next day, to be released from prison, and brought before him. "My son's safe arrival," said the king to him, "hath preserved thy life. Take thy horse, and begone from my dominions; where, if thou art ever seen again, I will not fail to put thee to death." The Indian being then freed from his chains, and set at liberty, withdrew in silence.

But he meditated a severe revenge. He had learned from those who fetched him out of prison, that Firouz had brought home with him a beautiful princess, to whom he was about to be married. He was told also that she was at the house in the wood, where he was directed to go and take away his horse. While Firouz was preparing a great retinue to conduct the princess in state to the palace, the Indian hastened to the house in the wood, and told the keeper he was sent by the prince to conduct her, on the horse, to the capital; and that the whole court and people were waiting with impatience for the wonderful sight.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PRINCE OF PERSIA CARRIES AWAY THE PRINCESS OF BENGAL]

The keeper knew that the Indian had been imprisoned on account of the prince's absence; and, seeing him now at liberty, he believed all he said. He presented the traitor to the princess, who, not doubting but he came from Firouz, readily agreed to go with him. The Indian, overjoyed at his success, mounted his horse, took the princess behind him, and turning the peg, the horse immediately ascended into the air.

The king and his whole court were on the road to the house in the wood, to conduct the princess of Bengal from thence to the palace; when the Indian, to brave them, and revenge the severe treatment he had received, pa.s.sed several times over their heads with his prize.

The rage and grief of the king were extreme. He loaded the villain with a thousand execrations, in which he was joined by the courtiers and people. The Indian, having expressed his contempt for them, and his triumph over the king and his son, was presently out of sight.

But who can describe the horror and despair of Firouz, when he saw his beloved princess torn from him by a vile Indian he so thoroughly detested, and found himself unable to afford her the least a.s.sistance.

At first he abandoned himself to despair; but, recollecting that such a conduct would neither recover the princess nor punish the captor, he restrained his affliction, and began to consider how he could best effect these desirable purposes. He put on the habit of a dervish, and left the palace the same evening, uncertain which way to go, but determined not to return till he had found his princess again.

In the meantime, the Indian having pursued his journey for several hours, alighted in a wood, near the capital of Cashmere. As he was hungry himself, and doubted not but the princess was so too, he left her by the side of a brook and flew away on the horse to the city to procure provisions. The princess made the best use in her power of his absence; and though faint for want of food, she traveled on, and had got a considerable distance from the place where he left her, when she had the mortification to see him return and alight close by her; for the Indian had wished to be set down wherever the princess was, and the horse always obeyed the desire of the rider.

The Indian produced some wine and provisions, and ate heartily, urging her to follow his example, which she thought it best to do. When they had done, he drew near and began to pay his addresses to the princess, which she repulsed with indignation. Her outcries drew a company of hors.e.m.e.n to her a.s.sistance.

They proved to be the sultan of Cashmere and his attendants, returning from a day's hunting. When the sultan asked of the Indian why he annoyed the lady, he boldly answered that she was his wife; but the princess, though she knew not the quality of the sultan, besought his protection, and declared that by the basest deceit only she had been thrown into the power of such a reptile.

The sultan of Cashmere was very chivalrous. The disorder and distress of the princess added to her beauty and interested the monarch.

Judging that, whether the Indian was the husband of the lady or not, he would be best out of the way, he pretended to be much enraged against him, and ordered his head to be stuck off immediately. He then conducted the princess to his palace, and directed his attendants to bring the horse after them, though he knew nothing of the use of it.

The princess of Bengal rejoiced at her deliverance. She entertained hopes that the sultan of Cashmere would generously restore her to the prince of Persia; but she was much deceived; for as soon as the sultan learned that she was daughter to the king of Bengal, he determined to marry her, and that no untoward circ.u.mstances might happen to prevent it, he gave orders for the necessary preparations to be completed by the next day.

In the morning the princess was awakened early by the sounding of trumpets, the beating of drums, and other noisy tokens of public joy, which echoed through the palace and city. On her asking the cause of this rejoicing, she was told it was to celebrate her marriage with their sultan, which was to take place presently.

The princess' attachment to Firouz would have made any other man disagreeable to her. But this conduct of the sultan of Cashmere in proclaiming their nuptials, without even having asked her consent, at once enraged and terrified her. She was entirely in his power; and the disrespect he had paid her convinced her that she had everything to fear from his violence, if she refused to comply with his wishes.

Thus critically situated, she had recourse to art. She arose and dressed herself fancifully, and in her whole behavior appeared to her women to be unsettled in her intellect. The sultan was soon told of his misfortune, and on his approach she put on the appearance of frenzy, and endeavored to fly at him; and this fury she ever after affected whenever he came in her sight. The sultan was much disturbed at this unfortunate event, as he thought it, and offered large rewards to any physician who could cure her, but the princess would not suffer any one to come near her, so that all hope of her recovery began to be despaired of.

During this interval, Firouz, disguised as a dervish, had traveled through many provinces, full of grief, and uncertain which way to direct his course in search of his beloved princess. At last, pa.s.sing through a town in India, he heard an account that a princess of Bengal had run mad on the day of the celebration of her nuptials with the sultan of Cashmere. Slender as was the hope that such a report gave him, he resolved to travel to the capital of that kingdom; where, when he arrived, he had the happiness to find he had not journeyed in vain. He learned all the particulars of her having been delivered from the Indian by their sultan, and that the very next day she was seized with madness.

Firouz saw at once the reason of the princess' conduct, and was delighted with this tender proof of her love and constancy to him. All the difficulty which remained was to obtain an opportunity of speaking to her. To gain this, he put on the clothes of a physician, and, presenting himself to the sultan, undertook to cure the princess.

His services being accepted, he desired first to see her, without being seen by her. For this purpose he was conveyed into a closet, whence he saw her un.o.bserved. She was carelessly singing a song, in which she deplored the unhappy fate which had forever deprived her of the object she loved so tenderly. When he quitted the closet, he told the sultan she was not incurable, but that it was necessary for him to speak with her alone; and that notwithstanding her violent fits at the sight of physicians, he knew how to make her attend to him.

As the princess had been long thought incurable, the sultan made no difficulty of complying with the supposed physician's request. As soon as he entered her apartment, she began to rave at him in her usual furious manner, on which he went up close to her, and said, in a low voice, "I am the prince of Persia."

The princess ceased to rave, and the attendants withdrew, rejoiced at this proof of the physician's abilities. After mutual congratulations, Firouz acquainted her with the plan he had formed for her deliverance.

He then returned to the sultan, who demanded eagerly what hopes he now entertained. The pretended physician shook his head, and said, "All depends upon a mere chance; the princess, a few hours before she was taken ill, had touched something that was enchanted. Unless I can obtain that something, whatever it may be, I cannot cure her."

The sultan of Cashmere presently recollected the horse, which was still preserved in his treasury. He showed it to the imaginary physician, who, on seeing it, very gravely said, "I congratulate your majesty on the certainty of my success. Let this horse be brought out into the great square before the palace, and let the princess attend; I will promise that in a few minutes she shall be perfectly cured."

Accordingly, the following morning the horse was placed in the middle of the square, and the supposed physician drew a large circle, and placed around it chafing dishes, with a little fire in each. The sultan, full of expectation, with all his n.o.bles and ministers of state, attended. The princess was brought out veiled, conducted within the circle, and the physician placed her on the enchanted horse. He then went round to each chafing dish, and threw in a certain drug, which presently raised such a cloud of smoke that neither the physician, the princess, nor the horse could be seen through it. At that instant the prince of Persia mounted the horse; and, turning the peg, while the horse ascended into the air, he distinctly p.r.o.nounced these words: "Sultan of Cashmere, when thou wouldst marry princesses who implore thy protection, learn first to obtain their consent."

The same day the prince of Persia and his beloved princess arrived safely at his father's court, when their nuptials were immediately celebrated with the greatest splendor.

--_Arabian Nights._

THINKING

Arrange your paper with your name on the first line, at the right, and your grade below it on the second line. Put nothing on the next line. Here are ten problems to be answered, not with figures, but with the word, _yes_ or _no_. No other answer will be satisfactory.

Put the answer to the first problem on the fourth line, and in the margin of your paper mark it number 1. Use a new line for each new answer guess at it, and pa.s.s on to the next problem.

1. One day last June, I picked sixty-five pounds of cherries. My mother wanted about thirty pounds. Did I have enough to sell Mrs.