The Ebony Horse

Seeing the prince, the doorkeeper realised his foolish mistake. He threwThe sight of the prince showed the doorkeeper of what folly he had been guilty, and flinging himself at his master’s feet and begged forgivenessmaster's feet, implored his pardon. "Rise," said the prince, "I am the cause of this misfortune, and not you. Go and find me the clothes of a dervish, a member of a Muslim religious order,dress of a dervish, but beware of saying it is for me."

A short distance from the country house stood a lodge for dervishes. Its leader, or sheikh, was the doorkeeper’sAt a short distance from the country house, a convent of dervishes was situated, and the superior, or scheih, was the doorkeeper's friend. WithSo by means of a false story made up on the spot,spur of the moment, it was easy enough to get a dervish’s clothes. The prince immediately put them on in placehold of a dervish's dress, which the prince at once put on, instead of his own. With this disguise and a hiddenDisguised like this and concealing about him a box of pearls and diamonds intended forhe had intended as a present to the princess, he left the house at nightfall. He did not know where to go, but wasnightfall, uncertain where he should go, but firmly resolved not to return without her.

Meanwhile,Meanwhile the Indian had steered the horse so that, within a few hours, itturned the horse in such a direction that, before many hours had passed, it had entered a wood close to the capital of the kingdom of Cashmere. Feeling very hungry, and supposing the princess might also needthat the princess also might be in want of food, he brought his steed down to earth. He left herthe earth, and left the princess in a shady place on the bankplace, on the banks of a clear stream.

When the princess first found herself alone, she thought of trying to escape and hide.At first, when the princess had found herself alone, the idea had occurred to her of trying to escape and hide herself. But as she had eaten scarcely anything since she had left Bengal, she felt too weak to go far and had to abandon the planshe was too weak to venture far, and was obliged to abandon her design. When the Indian returned with various kinds of food,On the return of the Indian with meats of various kinds, she ate hungrily. Soon she regained enough courage to reply spiritedly to his insultingbegan to eat voraciously, and soon had regained sufficient courage to reply with spirit to his insolent remarks. Driven by his threats,Goaded by his threats she sprang to her feet and called loudly for help. Luckily,feet, calling loudly for help, and luckily her cries were heard by a troop of horsemen heard her cries andhorsemen, who rode up to ask what was wrong.inquire what was the matter.

The horsemen’s leaderNow the leader of these horsemen was the Sultan of Cashmere, returning from hunting. He instantly asked the Indian who he was and who wasthe chase, and he instantly turned to the Indian to inquire who he was, and whom he had with him. The Indian rudely answered that it was his wife, and no one else had any right to interferethere was no occasion for anyone else to interfere between them.

The princess did not, of course, know the rank of her rescuer. She completely denied the Indian’sprincess, who, of course, was ignorant of the rank of her deliverer, denied altogether the Indian's story. "My lord," she cried, "whoever you may be, do not believe this liarput no faith in this impostor. He is an abominable magician, who has torn me todaythis day torn me from the Prince of Persia, my destined husband, and has brought me here on this enchanted horse." She would have continued, but her tears choked her. Convinced by her beauty and distinguished air that her story was true, the Sultan of Cashmereher, and the Sultan of Cashmere, convinced by her beauty and her distinguished air of the truth of her tale, ordered his followers to execute the Indian. Thiscut off the Indian's head, whichExplanation: Exception for children: the Indian is still executed immediately. The explicit detail of cutting off his head is softened; his death and its place in the action remain. was done immediately.

Though rescued from one danger, she seemed to haveBut rescued though she was from one peril, it seemed as if she had only fallen into another. The Sultan orderedcommanded a horse to be given to her and tookher, and conducted her to his own palace. Hepalace, where he led her to a beautiful room and selected enslaved womenapartment, and selected female slaves to wait on herher, and eunuchs to guard her.be her guard. Without givingThen, without allowing her time to thank him for all he had done, he told her to rest andbade her repose, saying she should tell him her adventures the nexton the following day.

The princess fell asleep, hoping her story would moveflattering herself that she had only to relate her story for the Sultan to pity and make him returnbe touched by compassion, and to restore her to the prince at once. Withinwithout delay. But a few hours she would learn her mistakewere to undeceive her.

The previous evening,When the King of Cashmere had decided she must be his wife before the next sunset. At daybreak his plan was announced throughout the town with drums, trumpets, cymbalsquitted her presence the evening before, he had resolved that the sun should not set again without the princess becoming his wife, and at daybreak proclamation of his intention was made throughout the town, by the sound of drums, trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments meant to fill peoplecalculated to fill the heart with joy. The noise woke the The Princess of Bengal early. She never imaginedwas early awakened by the noise, but she did not for one moment imagine that it had anything to do with her until the Sultan arrived,her, till the Sultan, arriving as soon as she was dressed, to ask about her health. He told herdressed to inquire after her health, informed her that the trumpet blasts blasts she heard were part of the solemn marriage ceremonies, for which he begged her to prepare. This unexpected announcement terrified the princess so much that she fainted.caused the princess such terror that she sank down in a dead faint.

The enslaved attendants ran to help her. Theslaves that were in waiting ran to her aid, and the Sultan himself did his best to bring her back to consciousness, but for a long time nothing worked.while it was all to no purpose. At last she slowly began to regain her senses. Rather than betraylength her senses began slowly to come back to her, and then, rather than break faith with the Prince of Persia by agreeing to the marriage, she decided to pretend she had lost her mind.consenting to such a marriage, she determined to feign madness. She beganSo she began by saying all sorts of absurd things and making strange gestures. The Sultan watched inabsurdities, and using all kinds of strange gestures, while the Sultan stood watching her with sorrow and surprise. As this sudden fitBut as this sudden seizure showed no sign of easing,abating, he left her withto her women, ordering them to take the greatest care of her. AsStill, as the day went on, the apparent illness seemed to worsen,malady seemed to become worse, and by night it was almost violent.

Days passed like this. At last,in this manner, till at last the Sultan of Cashmere summoned all his court doctors to discuss her sad condition.decided to summon all the doctors of his court to consult together over her sad state. They answered that madness took so many forms that they could give no opinionTheir answer was that madness is of so many different kinds that it was impossible to give an opinion on the case without seeing the princess. The Sultan ordered them to be taken into her roomprincess, so the Sultan gave orders that they were to be introduced into her chamber, one by one, eachevery man according to his rank.

The princess had expected this. She was sure that if the doctors felt her pulse, even the least skilled would discover she was healthy and only pretending to have lost her mind. So whenever one approached, she threw herself into such a violent fit that none dared touchThis decision had been foreseen by the princess, who knew quite well that if once she allowed the physicians to feel her pulse, the most ignorant of them would discover that she was in perfectly good health, and that her madness was feigned, so as each man approached, she broke out into such violent paroxysms, that not one dared to lay a finger on her. A few claimedfew, who pretended to be cleverer than the rest. Theyrest, declared that they could diagnose illness by sight alone and prescribed potions. She readily took them, convinced they weresick people only from sight, ordered her certain potions, which she made no difficulty about taking, as she was persuaded they were all harmless.

When the Sultan of Cashmere saw that the court doctors could do nothing towards curing the princess, he called in those of the city, who fared no better. Then he called the most famous doctors from other large towns. When they too failed, he sent messengers to neighbouring countries with a full written account of the princess’s madness. He offeredhad recourse to the most celebrated physicians in the other large towns, but finding that the task was beyond their science, he finally sent messengers into the other neighbouring states, with a memorandum containing full particulars of the princess's madness, offering at the same time to pay the expenses of any doctor who came to see her, and a rich reward to whoever curedphysician who would come and see for himself, and a handsome reward to the one who should cure her. In response to this announcement, many learned physicians from abroad flocked to Cashmere. Naturally, they were noanswer to this proclamation many foreign professors flocked into Cashmere, but they naturally were not more successful than the others:rest had been, as the cure depended depended neither on them nor their skill, but only on the princess, not on them or their skill.princess herself.

During this time, Prince Firouz Schah wanderedIt was during this time that Prince Firouz Schah, wandering sadly and hopelessly from place to place. Heplace, arrived in a large city in India, where everyone was talkingof India, where he heard a great deal of talk about the Princess of Bengal. She had lost her sensesBengal who had gone out of her senses, on the very day day that she was to marryhave been married to the Sultan of Cashmere, they said.Cashmere. That was enough to send him towards Cashmere. AtThis was quite enough to induce him to take the road to Cashmere, and to inquire at the first inn where he stayed in the capital, he asked for the fullat which he lodged in the capital the full particulars of the story. When he knew that he had at last found the princess whom he had so long lost, he set about devising a plan for her rescue.

First he obtained a doctor’s robe. His clothes, along withThe first thing he did was to procure a doctor's robe, so that his dress, added to the long beard he had grownallowed to grow on his travels, would clearly show his supposedmight unmistakably proclaim his profession. He went straight to the palace and metthen lost no time in going to the palace, where he obtained an audience of the chief usher, the official who received visitors. He apologised for daring to thinkand while apologising for his boldness in presuming to think that he could cure the princessprincess, where so many had failed. But he knew secret remedies, he said, that had always workedothers had failed, declared that he had the secret of certain remedies, which had hitherto never failed of their effect.

The chief usher assured him that he was heartily welcomewelcome, and that the Sultan would receive him with pleasure. If he succeeded,pleasure; and in case of success, he would gain a magnificent reward.

When the disguised Prince of PersiaPrince of Persia, in the disguise of a physician, was brought before him, the Sultan wasted no time talking. He merely remarked that thein talking, beyond remarking that the mere sight of a doctor sentthrew the princess into a fury.transports of rage. He He then led the prince prince up to a room under the roof. An opening allowed him to watch the princess withoutroof, which had an opening through which he might observe the princess, without himself being seen.

The prince looked and sawlooked, and beheld the princess reclining on a sofa,sofa with tears in her eyes. She sang softly to herself, lamenting the sad fate that had separatedeyes, singing softly to herself a song bewailing her sad destiny, which had deprived her, perhaps for ever, from the personof a being she so tenderly loved. The young man’sman's heart beat fast as he listened. Helistened, for he needed no further proof that she was only pretending to have lost her mind, and that her love for him had led her to use thisher madness was feigned, and that it was love of him which had caused her to resort to this species of trick. He quietly left his hiding placesoftly left his hiding-place, and returned to the Sultan. He said he was sure, from certain signs, that the princess’s illness could be cured. ButSultan, to whom he reported that he was sure from certain signs that the princess's malady was not incurable, but that he must see her and speak with her alone.

The Sultan readily agreed and ordered him to be shown into the princess’s room.made no difficulty in consenting to this, and commanded that he should be ushered in to the princess's apartment. The moment she caught sight of his physician's robe, she sprang from her seat in a fury, and heaped insults upon him. The prince ignored her behaviour and came close enough for only her to hear his words. In a low whisper, he said,took no notice of her behaviour, and approaching quite close, so that his words might be heard by her alone, he said in a low whisper, "Look at me, princess, and you will see that I am no doctor, but the Prince of Persia, who has come to set you free."

At the sound of his voice, the Princess of Bengal suddenly grew calm. Her face lit up with the joy that comes onlycalm, and an expression of joy overspread her face, such as only comes when what we wish for most and expect least suddenly happens.the least suddenly happens to us. For some time,time she was too delighted to speak.enchanted to speak, and Prince Firouz Schah usedtook advantage of her silence to explain everything that had happened:to her all that had occurred, his despair at seeing her vanish before his eyes, his oathwatching her disappear before his very eyes, the oath he had sworn to follow her acrossover the world, and his rapture at finally findingdiscovering her in the palace at Cashmere. When he When he had finished, he begged the princess toin his turn that the princess would tell him how she had come there, so that he could plan how to rescuemight the better devise some means of rescuing her from the Sultan’s tyranny.tyranny of the Sultan.

In a few words, the princess explained everything. To escape marriage to the Sultan,It needed but a few words from the princess to make him acquainted with the whole situation, and how she had been forced to pretend to have lost her mind. He had not even been polite enoughplay the part of a mad woman in order to escape from a marriage with the Sultan, who had not had sufficient politeness even to ask her consent. If necessary, she said, she would rather die than be forced into that marriage and betray the princeadded, she had resolved to die sooner than permit herself to be forced into such a union, and break faith with a prince whom she loved.

The prince asked whetherthen inquired if she knew what had become of the enchanted horse since the Indian’s death. SheIndian's death, but the princess could only reply that she had heard nothing about it. Still she did not suppose that the horse could have been forgotten by the Sultan, after all she had told him of its value.

The prince agreed. Together, they planned how she couldTo this the prince agreed, and they consulted together over a plan by which she might be able to make her escape and return with him to Persia. First,into Persia. And as the first step, she was to dress with careherself with care, and receive the Sultan politelywith civility when he visited theher next morning.

The Sultan was overjoyed attransported with delight on learning the result of the interview. Hisinterview, and his opinion of the doctor’s skill rose still higher the next day, whendoctor's skill was raised still higher when, on the following day, the princess behaved in a way that persuaded him she would soon be completely cured.towards him in such a way as to persuade him that her complete cure would not be long delayed. He was content to tellHowever he contented himself with assuring her how happy he was at her improved health. He urgedto see her health so much improved, and exhorted her to make full use of such a clever physician and trust him completely.every use of so clever a physician, and to repose entire confidence in him. Then he retired, without awaiting any reply from the princess.

The Prince of Persia left the room at the same time. He humbly asked howtime, and asked if he might be allowed humbly to inquire by what means the Princess of Bengal had reached Cashmere, so far from her father’swhich was so far distant from her father's kingdom, and how she came to be there alone. The Sultan thought the question very natural and toldnatural, and told him the same story asthat the Princess of Bengal. He addedBengal had done, adding that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be stored intaken to his treasury as a curiosity, though he had no idea how to use it.was quite ignorant how it could be used.

"Your MajestySire," replied the physician, "your Highness's tale has supplied me with the clue I needed to complete the recovery of the princess. During her journey here on the enchanted horse, some of its magic passed into her. Itvoyage hither on an enchanted horse, a portion of its enchantment has by some means been communicated to her person, and it can only be driven outdissipated by certain perfumes whose secret I knowof which I possess the secret. If you agree, your Highness, order the horse to be brought to the great square outside the palace. Leave the rest to me, and give your court andyour Highness will deign to consent, and to give the court and the people one of the most astonishing sightsspectacles they have ever seenwitnessed, command the horse to be brought into the big square outside the palace, and leave the rest to me. I promise that in a few moments, before the whole assembled crowd,very few moments, in presence of all the assembled multitude, you shall see the princess as healthy healthy both in mind and body as she has ever been.ever she was in her life. ToAnd in order to make the spectacle as impressive as possible, I I would suggest that she she should be richly dressed and adorned with the finest crown jewels.covered with the noblest jewels of the crown."

The Sultan readily agreed to everything the prince proposed. The next morning, he orderedall that the prince proposed, and the following morning he desired that the enchanted horse to be brought from the treasury to the great palace square.should be taken from the treasury, and brought into the great square of the palace. Soon rumoursthe rumour began to spread through the towntown, that something extraordinary was about to happen. Such a crowd gatheredhappen, and such a crowd began to collect that the guards had to be called out to keep order and clearorder, and to make a way for the enchanted horse.

When all was ready, the Sultan appeared, and took his place on a platform, surrounded by the chief nobles and officers of his court. When they were seated, the Princess of Bengal was seen leaving the palace with the ladies the Sultan had assigned to her.palace, accompanied by the ladies who had been assigned to her by the Sultan. She slowly approached the enchanted horse, and with the help of her ladies, she mounted on its back. As soon asDirectly she was in the saddle, herwith her feet in the stirrups and the bridle in her hand, the physician placed large braziers, metal containers full of burning coals, around the horse. Into each he threw a perfume made fromaround the horse some large braziers full of burning coals, into each of which he threw a perfume composed of all sorts of delicious scents. Then he crossed his hands over his breast, and with lowered eyes walked three times round the horse, muttering certain words as he wentthe while certain words. Soon thick smoke rosethere arose from the burning coals, almost hidingbraziers a thick smoke which almost concealed both the horse and princess. Thisprincess, and this was the moment moment for which he had been waiting forwaiting. He sprangSpringing lightly up behind the lady, lady, he leaned forward and turned the peg. Aspeg, and as the horse darted darted up into the air, he shouted so that everyone present could hear,cried aloud so that his words were heard by all present, "Sultan of Cashmere, when you wish to marry princesses who have sought your protection, learn first to gain their consent."

In this way,It was in this way that the Prince of Persia rescued the Princess of BengalBengal, and returned with her to Persia. This time, they descended in front of the King’s own palace.Persia, where they descended this time before the palace of the King himself. The marriage was delayed onlyonly delayed just long enough to make the ceremony as brilliant as possible. Aspossible, and, as soon as the rejoicings ended,were over, an ambassador was sent to the King of Bengal to tell him what had happened and ask his approvalBengal, to inform him of what had passed, and to ask his approbation of the alliance between the two countries. He heartily gave itcountries, which he heartily gave.