and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnún,
who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red
cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing
with the Wazír's son, Husain Mahámat, in King Dantál's garden, which
was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees.
They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat
them. King Dantál had a teacher for them to teach them to read and
write.
One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnún said
to his father, "Husain Mahámat and I should like to go and hunt." His
father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else
they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phaláná country,
hunting all the way, but they only found jackals and birds.
The Rájá of the Phaláná country was called Múnsúk Rájá, and he had a
daughter named Lailí, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and
black hair.
One night, some time before Prince Majnún came to her father's
kingdom, as she slept, God sent to her an angel in the form of a man
who told her that she should marry Prince Majnún and no one else, and
that this was God's command to her. When Lailí woke she told her
father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid
no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating,
"Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún," and would say nothing else. Even as
she sat and ate her food she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want
Majnún." Her father used to get quite vexed with her. "Who is this
Majnún? who ever heard of this Majnún?" he would say. "He is the man I
am to marry," said Lailí. "God has ordered me to marry no one but
Majnún." And she was half mad. Meanwhile, Majnún and Husain Mahámat
came to hunt in the Phaláná country; and as they were riding about,
Lailí came out on her horse to eat the air, and rode behind them. All
the time she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún." The prince
heard her, and turned round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this
Lailí looked at him, and the moment she saw him she fell deeply in
love with him, and she said to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince
Majnún that God says I am to marry." And she went home to her father
and said, "Father, I wish to marry the prince who has come to your
kingdom; for I know he is the Prince Majnún I am to marry." "Very
well, you shall have him for your husband," said Múnsúk Rájá. "We will
ask him to-morrow." Lailí consented to wait, although she was very
impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phaláná kingdom that
night, and when Lailí heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She would
not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants said
to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to
jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country.
All the time she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún;" and so
she wandered about for twelve years.
At the end of the twelve years she met a fakír--he was really an
angel, but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always
say, 'Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún'?" She answered, "I am the
daughter of the king of the Phaláná country, and I want to find Prince
Majnún; tell me where his kingdom is." "I think you will never get
there," said the fakír, "for it is very far from hence, and you have
to cross many rivers to reach it." But Lailí said she did not care;
she must see Prince Majnún. "Well," said the fakír, "when you come to
the Bhágírathí river you will see a big fish, a Rohú; and you must get
him to carry you to Prince Majnún's country, or you will never reach
it."
She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhágírathí river.
There there was a great big fish called the Rohú fish. It was yawning
just as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat
into its stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún." At
this the Rohú fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast
as he could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came
and perched on his back, and said, "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said
the poor fish, "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise."
"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down
and see." So the Rohú opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he
came up again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said
the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Rohú,
and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnún's country. There
he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. "Oh,
jackal," said the Rohú, "do tell me what I have inside me." "How can I
tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside you." So the
Rohú opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down his throat; but
he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and saying, "You have
a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away quickly, I am
afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal came an
enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have in my
stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnún, Majnún; I
want Majnún.'" The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go
down and see what it is." The snake went down: when he returned he
said, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach; but if you will let me cut
you open, it will come out of you." "If you do that, I shall die,"
said the Rohú. "Oh, no," said the snake, "you will not, for I will
give you a medicine that will make you quite well again." So the fish
agreed, and the snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped
Lailí.
She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle,
and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohú; and she was no
longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his
back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and
she wandered on and on till she got to Majnún's court-house, where
King Majnún was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnún,
Majnún; I want Majnún," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want
King Majnún," she said. So they went in and said to Prince Majnún, "An
old woman outside says she wants you." "I cannot leave this place,"
said he; "send her in here." They brought her in and the prince asked
her what she wanted. "I want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four
years ago you came to my father the Phaláná Rájá's country, and I
wanted to marry you then; but you went away without marrying me. Then
I went mad, and I have wandered about all these years looking for
you." Prince Majnún said, "Very good." "Pray to God," said Lailí, "to
make us both young again, and then we shall be married." So the prince
prayed to God, and God said to him, "Touch Lailí's clothes and they
will catch fire, and when they are on fire, she and you will become
young again." When he touched Lailí's clothes they caught fire, and
she and he became young again. And there were great feasts, and they
were married, and travelled to the Phaláná country to see her father
and mother.
Now Lailí's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter
that they had become quite blind, and her father kept always
repeating, "Lailí, Lailí, Lailí." When Lailí saw their blindness, she
prayed to God to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as
the father and mother saw Lailí, they hugged her and kissed her, and
then they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince
Majnún and Lailí stayed with Múnsúk Rájá and his wife for three years,
and then they returned to King Dantál, and lived happily for some time
with him.
They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to
country to eat the air and amuse themselves.
One day Prince Majnún said to Lailí, "Let us go through this jungle."
"No, no," said Lailí; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will
happen to me." But Prince Majnún laughed, and went into the jungle.
And as they were going through it, God thought, "I should like to know
how much Prince Majnún loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if she
died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one of
his angels in the form of a fakír into the jungle; and the angel went
up to Lailí, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she fell
to the ground a heap of ashes.
Prince Majnún was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Lailí
turn into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his
father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a
great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go
again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahámat. King
Dantál wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Lailí for my
wife; I will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnún. "How can
you marry Lailí? Lailí is dead. She will never come back to you," said
the father. "Then I'll not have any wife at all," said Prince Majnún.
Meanwhile Lailí was living in the jungle where her husband had left
her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnún had gone, the fakír had
taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay
and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them,
and so Lailí regained her human form, and God sent life into it. But
Lailí had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long
nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her
teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Rohú fish; and she
lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on
saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún."
At last the angel who had come as a fakír and thrown the powder at
her, said to God, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in the
jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún,' and
eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnún."
"Well," said God, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not speak
to Majnún if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if he is
afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the next
day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her
human shape when Prince Majnún loves her, feeds her with his own food,
and lets her sleep in his bed." So the angel came to Lailí again as a
fakír and carried her to King Dantál's garden. "Now," he said, "it is
God's command that you stay here till Prince Majnún comes to walk in
the garden, and then you may show yourself to him. But you must not
speak to him, if he is afraid of you; and should he be afraid of you,
you will the next day become a little white dog." He then told her
what she must do as a little dog to regain her human form.
Lailí stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince
Majnún and Husain Mahámat came to walk in the garden. King Dantál was
now a very old man, and Husain Mahámat, though he was really only as
old as Prince Majnún, looked a great deal older than the prince, who
had been made quite young again when he married Lailí.
As Prince Majnún and the Wazír's son walked in the garden, they
gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit
the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnún was busy
eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahámat, he
turned towards him and saw Lailí walking behind the Wazír's son. "Oh,
look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or
a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Lailí looked at him
beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness;
but this only frightened Majnún the more. "It is a Rakshas, a
Rakshas!" he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazír's
son; and as they ran away, Lailí disappeared into the jungle. They ran
to King Dantál, and Majnún told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in
the garden that had come to eat them. "What nonsense," said his
father. "Fancy two grown men being so frightened by an old ayah or a
fakír! And if it had been a Rakshas, it would not have eaten you."
Indeed King Dantál did not believe Majnún had seen anything at all,
till Husain Mahámat said the prince was speaking the exact truth. They
had the garden searched for the terrible old woman, but found nothing,
and King Dantál told his son he was very silly to be so much
frightened. However, Prince Majnún would not walk in the garden any
more.
The next day Lailí turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape
she came into the palace, where Prince Majnún soon became very fond of
her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out
hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnún fed her
with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the
little dog slept in his bed.
But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay
the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and
now Prince Majnún was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or
some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried
out, "What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Lailí
answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Lailí, and I want to
marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle,
though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm
would happen to me, and then a fakír came and threw powder in my face,
and I became a heap of ashes. But God gave me my life again, and
brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle
crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you
will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more." Majnún, however,
said "How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Lailí? I
am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in
great terror.
In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the
prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old
woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do
nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so
easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in
great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would come
back at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you
can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old
woman as you are?"
That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there
in place of the dog, crying, "Majnún, Majnún, I want to marry you. I
have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's
kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me,
and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so
suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you." "Well," said
Majnún, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry
you."
Lailí said, "Oh, that is quite easy. God will make me a young girl
again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you
will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your
room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it
when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite
alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at
all on." In the morning Lailí took her little dog's form, and
disappeared in the garden.
Prince Majnún told all this to his father, who told him to do all the
old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazír's son
walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit.
"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit."
Husain Mahámat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till
he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and
gather it." So Majnún went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and
he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am
afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that
will eat me." "No," said King Dantál; "remember, Lailí will be naked;
you must go alone, and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in
the fruit, for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call
me with a loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not
be able to eat you."
Then Majnún took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for
he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Lailí, young
and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her
extreme beauty, Majnún fell backwards fainting on the floor.
Lailí took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sárí
(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantál,
and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnún fallen down like this? Why will
he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen
me so many, many times." King Dantál answered, "It is because you are
so beautiful. You are far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But
he will be very happy directly." Then the King got some water, and
they bathed Majnún's face and gave him some to drink, and he sat up
again. Then Lailí said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am
Lailí?" "Oh!" said Prince Majnún, "I see you are Lailí come back to
me, but your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted
when I saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantál had
all the drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments
played on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to
the servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakírs.
After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnún and his wife
went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a
groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden.
"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnún. "No, no," said
Lailí; "it belongs to a bad Rájá, Chumman Básá, a very wicked man."
But Majnún insisted on going in, and in spite of all Lailí could say,
he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as he was looking at
the flowers, Lailí saw Chumman Básá coming towards them, and she read
in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and seize her. So she
said to Majnún, "Come, come, let us go; do not go near that bad man. I
see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he will kill you to
seize me." "What nonsense," said Majnún. "I believe he is a very good
Rájá. Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away." "Well,"
said Lailí, "it is better that you should be killed than I, for if I
were to be killed a second time, God would not give me my life again;
but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now Chumman Básá had
come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought Prince Majnún;
but when he was speaking to Majnún, he drew his scimitar and cut off
the prince's head at one blow.
Lailí sat quite still on her horse, and as the Rájá came towards her
she said, "Why did you kill my husband?" "Because I want to take you,"
he answered. "You cannot," said Lailí. "Yes, I can," said the Rájá.
"Take me, then," said Lailí to Chumman Básá; so he came quite close
and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she
put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long
as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant
till it was such a length! and then Lailí made a great sweep with her
arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Básá's head at one
touch.
Then Lailí slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnún's dead
body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from
the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like
healing medicine. Then she put Majnún's head on his shoulders, and
smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnún woke up and
said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had
slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Rájá's dead body by
Lailí's horse. "What's that?" said Majnún. "That is the wicked Rájá
who killed you to seize me, just as I said he would." "Who killed
him?" asked Majnún. "I did," answered Lailí, "and it was I who brought
you to life." "Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do
so," said Majnún. "No," said Lailí, "for he is a wicked man, and will
try to do you harm." But Majnún asked her for such a long time, and so
earnestly to bring the wicked Rájá to life, that at last she said,
"Jump up on the horse, then, and go far away with the groom." "What
will you do," said Majnún, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you." "I
will take care of myself," said Lailí; "but this man is so wicked, he
may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnún got up on the
horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Lailí.
Then she set the wicked Rájá's head straight on his shoulders, and she
squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine came out
of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife had
passed, and just as she saw the Rájá opening his eyes, she began to
run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Rájá, who tried
to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband, and
they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantál's palace.
There Prince Majnún told everything to his father, who was horrified
and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said.
"Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now
dead." Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's
safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakírs. And he made so much
of Lailí. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he
built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of
ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and
heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but
their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not
allow Majnún to go out of them, nor Lailí; "for," said King Dantál,
"Lailí is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take
her away."
Told by Dunkní.
[Decoration]
XV.
HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKÍR.
Once there was a great king called Burtal, and he had a hundred and
sixty wives, but he had no children, which made him sad. One day he
said to his wives, "I am going to a very distant jungle which is full
of antelopes, to hunt them." "Very well," they answered, "go." So he
went. In that jungle lived neither tigers nor men, but only antelopes.
When King Burtal reached the jungle, some of the antelopes came to him
and said, "Pray don't kill the black antelope, for he is our Rájá, and
we have no other antelope like him among us; but try to kill any of
the others--the brown or the yellow antelopes--that you choose." Now,
the king was not a kind man, and he said, "I will kill your black
antelope, and no other." So he shot him dead. When the other antelopes
saw this they began to scream and cry with sorrow. But the dead
antelope's wife said to them, "There is a holy man, a fakír, in the
jungle. Let us take the dead body to him and ask him to bring our Rájá
to life." And King Burtal laughed at them and said, "How can any man
bring a dead antelope to life?" But the antelopes took the body of
their dead Rájá on their backs, and the dead antelope's wife went at
their head; and King Burtal went too; and they carried it to the
fakír, who was called Goraknáth, and who was resting in the jungle,
and they said to him, "Bring our Rájá to life again, for what can we
do without a Rájá? and he has left no son to succeed him." And the
queen antelope said, "I have no other husband. I had only this one
husband. Do bring him to life for me." King Burtal laughed and mocked
them, and said to the fakír, "I never heard of any man being able to
bring a dead antelope to life. I don't believe you can do it." At this
Goraknáth got angry, and he knelt down and asked God to bring the
antelope to life; and God told him to take a wand and beat the dead
antelope with it, and then the antelope would be alive again. So
Goraknáth took a wand and beat the dead antelope, and it was alive
once more, and then it instantly sprang up into heaven. The antelopes
were delighted to see their Rájá alive again, and they said, "We do
not mind his going up to heaven, for he will come down again to us."