"Oh!" said Prince Majnun, "I see you are Laili 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 Dantal 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 fakirs.
After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun 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 Majnun.
"No, no," said Laili; "it belongs to a bad Raja, Chumman Basa, a very
wicked man." But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all
Laili could say, he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as
he was looking at the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards
them, and she read in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and
seize her. So she said to Majnun, "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 Majnun. "I believe he is a very good Raja.
Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away."
"Well," said Laili, "it is better that you should be killed than I,
for if I were to be killed a second time, Khuda would not give me my
life again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now
Chumman Basa had come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought
Prince Majnun; but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his
scimitar and cut off the prince's head at one blow.
Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her
she said, "Why did you kill my husband?"
"Because I want to take you," he answered.
"You cannot," said Laili.
"Yes, I can," said the Raja.
"Take me, then," said Laili to Chumman Basa; 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 Laili made a great sweep with her
arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one
touch.
Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun'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 Majnun's head on his shoulders, and
smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun 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 Raja's dead body by
Laili's horse.
"What's that?" said Majnun.
"That is the wicked Raja who killed you to seize me, just as I said he
would."
"Who killed him?" asked Majnun.
"I did," answered Laili, "and it was I who brought you to life."
"Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so," said Majnun.
"No," said Laili, "for he is a wicked man, and will try to do you
harm." But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so earnestly to
bring the wicked Raja to life, that at least she said, "Jump up on the
horse, then, and go far away with the groom."
"What will you do," said Majnun, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you."
"I will take care of myself," said Laili; "but this man is so wicked,
he may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnun got up on the
horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili.
Then she set the wicked Raja'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 Raja opening his eyes, she began
to run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, 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 Dantal's
palace.
[Illustration: How Loving Laili became young again]
There Prince Majnun 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 fakirs. And he made so much
of Laili. 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 Majnun to go out of them, nor Laili; "for," said King Dantal,
"Laili is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take
her away."