"Very good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses."
"No," said the young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he
went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time
had seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he
said; "I have married the youngest princess; and when we were married
everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor,
common man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife
is very sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and
bring home quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very
proud of them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I
should like to hunt very much."
"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy
had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer.
"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a
beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own
left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a
grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, got on
his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt.
He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer.
That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful
young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six
princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they
grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food
with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a
tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him.
By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat.
When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that
handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come
from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many
salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are
you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder
daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have
hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not
recognise their brother-in-law in the least.
"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and
drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to
do," they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall
die." "Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a
red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food
and water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they
thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be
covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to
drink." Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in
the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave
them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had
finished they made him many salaams and went home.
The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he
mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people
looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young
prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin."
But no one recognised him. When he came near the King's palace, all
the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew
him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who
he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had
ever been seen.
At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest
princess," he answered.
"No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for he is a poor,
common-looking, and ugly man."
"But I am he," answered the prince; only no one would believe him.
"Tell us the truth," said the servants; "who are you?"
"Perhaps you cannot recognise me," said the young prince, "but call
the youngest princess here. I wish to speak to her." The servants
called her, and she came. "That man is not my husband," she said at
once. "My husband is not nearly as handsome as that man. This must be
a prince from another country."
Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my
husband?"
"Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," answered the
young prince.
"No you are not, you are not telling me the truth," said the little
princess. "My husband is not a handsome man like you. I married a very
poor, common-looking man."
"That is true," he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I
was the grain merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your
father's garden and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who
I was and where I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same
thing happened the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told
you I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to seek
service in yours, and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then
you told your father you wished to marry, but must choose your own
husband; and when all the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's
garden, you sat on an elephant and went round and looked at them all;
and then twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me.
See, here is your necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief
you gave me on our wedding day."
Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a
beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to
him. "Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now
you are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome
man as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then
she worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a
husband. "I have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one
like him in this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on
his chin." Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her
father and mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen
any one like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived
as before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the
King's stables.
One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his
court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him,
"There are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said
the King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said
the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and
every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would
not believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and
then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a
thief on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and
the King and everybody in the court-house saw the mark of the red-hot
pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was
very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at
him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man.
Now, when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was
married, he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all
that had happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he
said to him, "I will take you back to your father's country." So two
months after the young prince had revenged himself on his
brothers-in-law, Katar said to him, "It is time for you to return to
your father. Get the King to let you go to your own country, and I
will tell you what to do when we get there."
The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his
wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see
my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my
father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them,
and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave
them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many
horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great
many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the
prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they
reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the
prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri
had swallowed him so often.
When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the
prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had
come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to
ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in
which he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to
make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has
come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a
grand feast, to which every one in your country must come--men and
women, old and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children,
fakirs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and
I will feast them all."
The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men,
women, and children of all castes, fakirs, and sepoys, in his country
to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give
them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All
came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to
go to the feast, for no one had thought of her.
When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not
there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to
my feast?"
"Yes, every one," said the King.
"Are you sure of that?" asked the prince.
"Quite sure," answered the King.
"I am sure one woman has not come," said the prince. "She is your
gardener's daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in
your palace."
"True," said the King, "I had forgotten her." Then the prince told his
servants to take his finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's
daughter. They were to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and
handsome jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.
While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King
thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed particularly
the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he wondered in
what country the young prince was born.
And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and
the young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her
into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives
looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered
that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and
since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could
not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see
her.
When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's
daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest
dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this
handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I
never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?"
Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the
King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and
wondering who he was.
One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he
answered.
"Do you know who I am?" asked the prince.
"No," said the King. "Tell me who you are."
"I am your son," answered the prince, "and the gardener's daughter is
my mother."
The King shook his head sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when
I have never had any children?"
"But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked Queens
told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a son;
but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they
tried to kill me."
The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my son," he said; "but
as I never had a child, you cannot be my son." "Do you remember your
dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do you remember your cow
Suri, and how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill them
because of me. And," he said, taking the King to Katar, "do you know
whose horse that is?"
The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse Katar."
"Yes," said the prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you
out of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the
prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth,
and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the
beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put
his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy.
"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live
with me always."
"No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace.
I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I
will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. I have married a
King's daughter, and we live with her father."
"But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father.
"You and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my
palace."
"That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will kill your
four wicked Queens with your own hand. If you will do that, we will
come and live with you."
So the King killed his Queens, and then he and his wife, the
gardener's daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in
the King's palace, and lived there happily together for ever after;
and the King thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for
ridding him of his four wicked wives.
Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with
the young prince, and never left him.