Once upon a time there was a King who had seven sons, all of whom
were married but the youngest.
One day the Queen-mother spoke to her youngest son, and said: "Why are
you not married? Do not the maidens of my Court please thee? Perhaps
you want what you cannot get, and that is perfection, unless, indeed,
you go and seek and marry the Anar Pari, who is the fairest of all
fairies, and whose charms are traditional."
The Prince then and there registered a vow that he would not marry at
all unless he found this pearl of great price, and forthwith started
on his quest for her.
He put on his armour and five weapons of defence, mounted his favourite
steed, and set forth.
He had proceeded a good distance when night fell, and he found himself
in a forest near a small hut. Entering it, he found it was occupied
by a holy Fakir.
The Fakir said: "My son, why have you come here? Where are you
going? And are you not afraid of the wild animals which infest this
forest?"
The Prince replied: "Holy Father, I am going on a long journey to
try and find the Pomegranate Fairy, so that I may wed her."
"You are going a long way indeed," replied the Fakir; "but if you
listen to what I tell you, your journey will not be in vain."
Next morning he called the young man, and told him that he was going
to enchant him and turn him into a parrot, so that he might fly to
the island on which the fairy was imprisoned, and guarded day and
night by seven hundred dreadful dragons. He also told him that on
the island he would find a pomegranate tree with three pomegranates
on it, of which he was to pluck and bring away the middle one, for
in it dwelt the fairy he was so anxious to find.
"But mind you," said the Fakir, "once you have plucked the pomegranate,
you are not to wait an instant, or even turn to look back when the
dragons come after you, for, if you once look back, all your efforts
will be in vain, and you will be killed."
Then the young Prince was turned into a parrot and immediately
flew off.
He flew and flew and flew, till he had crossed seven seas; and in
the midst of the seventh sea, he at last spied an island in which
was a most lovely garden, where grew an exquisite pomegranate tree,
and on it three pomegranates, the centre one most beautiful to behold.
He plucked the fruit, and flew as fast as he could, but alas, the
dragon who guarded the tree saw him, and called to the other dragons,
who, with wild yells and terrifying noises, flew after him.
The young Prince in his flight unfortunately looked back to see
where they were, and was immediately burnt to a cinder, and fell to
the ground with the golden pomegranate which he had worked so hard
to obtain.
The dragons came up and took away the fruit, but left the burnt body
of the bird upon the ground.
The Fakir waited long for the return of the parrot, but as it did not
come, he set out himself to find it. He was able to cross in safety by
making his body invisible, and when he came to the island, the first
thing he saw was the burnt body of the parrot lying in the garden.
So he took it up, breathed once more the breath of life into it, and
let it go, saying: "Try once more, my son, but remember that I said:
'Look not back,' but fly to my hut for safety."
Thus saying, he disappeared; and the parrot, watching its chance,
very silently approached the tree a second time, stole the fruit,
and flew as fast as he could.
The dragons pursued, but he reached the hut in safety; and the old
Fakir did not lose a moment, but turned him into a small fly, and
then secreted the pomegranate on his person, and sat down.
Almost immediately the dragons also arrived, and said: "Where is the
green parrot who stole the fruit?"
"Look and see," said the old Fakir. "I know not what you want; no
green parrot is here, nor do I know where the pomegranate is that he
took away."
Then he went on quietly counting his beads while the dragons searched
everywhere; but at last, wearied out and finding nothing, they went
away, feeling very angry at the loss of their fairy.
As soon as they had gone, the Fakir caused the Prince to resume his
original form, and, handing him the pomegranate, said: "Go back to
your Palace; and when you have got there, break the pomegranate,
and out of it will step the most beautiful woman you have ever seen;
take her to be your wife, and may luck go with you."
The young Prince then mounted his steed, and thanked the old Fakir
for all his assistance.
As he neared his father's Palace he came to a well in a garden, and
having tied his horse to a tree, he went and rested beside the well,
and looked at the pomegranate.
"I think I will break it now, and see if a fairy comes out, for if I
wait to do so in my father's house before all his courtiers, suppose
no fairy appeared, I should be ashamed to death."
So saying, he broke it, and immediately a most lovely woman appeared,
bright and dazzling as the sun itself. As soon as he beheld her, he
was so entranced that he fell into a swoon. Then the fairy lifted his
head very gently, and placing it on her knee, allowed him to sleep on.
While he slept a young woman of low caste came to draw water. Seeing
the beautiful fairy, she enquired of her if the sleeping man was the
King's youngest son, and if she was the Anar Pari whom he had gone
to seek.
Hearing that this was so, she was filled with envy, and planned in
her mind how she might take the life of the fairy. So she went up
to her, and said: "O fairy, you are most beautiful, but I would be
beautiful too if I had on your clothes: come, let us exchange our
dresses (or sarees), and see how you look in my clothes."
The fairy did as she wished, and the young woman said: "Look how
beautiful I am; let us go to the well and behold our reflections in
the water to see which is the most beautiful."
The fairy bent forward to see herself, and, as she did so, the
young woman pushed her so that she fell into the well and sank into
the water.
Having done this, the wicked young woman woke up the Prince, saying:
"Come, let us go to the King's Palace."
The Prince looked doubtfully at her, but, being still half asleep, and
seeing that she wore the same dress as Anar Pari had on, he assented,
believing his passing doubt to be unreasonable.
His arrival at the Palace was made an occasion for great rejoicings,
and all were glad that he was at last happily married.
The new Princess would never allow him to leave her, for she feared
that he might return to the well; but one day, unknown to her, he
found his way there, and looking in, saw floating upon the water a
most exquisite lotus lily of pure white, the most perfect flower he
had ever seen.
He asked his servants to hook it out for him; but each time they tried
to do so, the flower disappeared beneath the water. At last he tried
himself to get it, and succeeded easily, for the lily floated towards
the hook that he let down.
The Prince took the flower home and looked after it with the greatest
care; but when his wife heard where it had come from, she went at
night and, tearing it into several pieces, flung it out of the window.
As the broken fragments of the lotus touched the earth, they turned
into a bed of mint which grew luxuriantly.
Some of this mint was earned into the King's kitchen, to be used
for seasoning dishes; but as the cook began to fry it, a voice was
heard from the frying pan, saying: "Here am I, the real Princess,
being fried to death, while the wicked woman who threw me into the
well has taken my place."
The cook when he heard this was afraid, and threw the mint into the
garden again. As soon as it touched the ground it became a lovely
creeper, which grew and grew until it gradually approached the
bed-chamber of the Prince.
The false Princess when she saw it at once remembered how she had
thrown the fragments of the lotus lily into the garden, and, fearing
lest this might be an offshoot from it, she ordered her gardener to
uproot the creeper and cut it down at once.
The gardener did so, but as he was removing it, the one and only fruit
on the tree fell to the ground and rolled under a jessamine bush,
where it remained in security.
The gardener's daughter, who came every morning to gather flowers
from this bush to weave into garlands, accidentally noticed the fruit
lying beneath it, picked it up, and carried it home.
As she entered the gardener's little hut, the fruit fell to the ground
and broke open, and out of it stepped the lovely Anar Pari.
The good people of the house were filled with wonder and admiration
to see so peerless a being in their humble cottage. They gave her
shelter and fed her, the gardener's daughter loving her as a sister,
and the gardener as a father.
One day, as the gardener's daughter sat weaving her garlands of
jessamine for the King's Court, the fairy said: "Please allow me to
make one too; and when it is ready, take it and put it on the neck
of the youngest Prince."
So she made it; and when two garlands were completed they were taken to
the Prince and Princess. The Princess noticed that the Prince's garland
was made in wonderful fashion, and enquired who had made it. They told
her that a very lovely woman living in the gardener's hut had made it,
and, suspecting at once that this was Anar Pari come to life again,
she thought of some plan by which she could destroy her.
The next day she feigned great illness and a very severe headache,
which she declared nothing would cure but the placing of a heart of
a young and beautiful girl on her forehead. She therefore begged for
the heart of the girl who lived in the gardener's hut, and orders
were given for her execution.
The gardener and his daughter wept most bitterly, and the executioners
were feign to spare the life of so lovely a woman; yet they were
obliged to fulfil their orders, so they led the girl to the place
of execution.
Before they killed her she begged that her limbs might be scattered
to the four winds, and her two eyes thrown upwards into space.
The executioners did as she desired, and her heart was sent to the
wicked Princess.
As soon as Anar Pari's eyes were thrown into the air, they became a
pair of love-birds and flew into the forest.
Many days after, the Prince went to hunt in the forest, and was resting
himself under the trees when he heard two love-birds talking in the
branches, and one was telling the other the story of her life. How
she was once Anar Pari, a beautiful fairy, and how a wicked woman
had enticed her away from the side of the Prince while he slept,
and thrown her down a well, and how the woman was now reigning in
her stead as Princess at the Palace.
The young Prince was amazed to hear all this, and looking up, cried: "I
have at last found you. Come down and be my Fairy Princess once again."
Then two laughing, loving eyes appeared, and presently they were
set in the form of a woman, and the Prince once again beheld the
world-renowned form of Anar Pari.
They went together to the Palace, and there the Prince ordered the
false Princess to be brought out, and told everybody present the
story of her wickedness.
The sentence passed upon her was that she was to be buried alive near
the well; this was done, and to this day nobody dare go near it. Then
the Prince married the fairy, and they lived happily ever afterwards;
but the old gardener and his daughter were not forgotten, and very
often the beautiful Princess sat with her friends, and the two girls
weaved garlands together, and spoke lovingly of the time when Anar
Pari had dwelt in the old hut in the garden.