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Arabian Nights Stories-2

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Story No 43-5/6

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43-5 - Prince Kaamaraal Zamaan and the Princess of China (5 of 6) :
The Prince Meets the Princess

When all these things were happening in the Island of Ebony, the Prince Kaamaraal Zamaan was staying with the gardener waiting for the ship to go to the Island of Ebony. One morning when he was getting ready to work in the garden, as he always did, the gardener said - "Today is a great day among the idolaters. Since they themselves do not work today, they do not let Muslims also work today. You are on holiday today. I am going to find out about the ship so that you can get a seat in it." And he went away.

The Prince started roaming in the garden when he heard the noise of two birds. They were fighting furiously with each other. One of them hit the other very hard so that it fell down and died, the first one flew away. Immediately after this, two other birds came and buried the dead bird. They flew again and brought the first bird who killed the second bird, they killed it and left its body unburied. In grief, Kaamaraal Zamaan headed towards the tree and looked at the unburied bird. He saw something red hanging out of its body. He took it up and found that it was the Princess' lost Talismaan. He thought this might result in a sooner meeting with his Princess. He kissed the Talismaan, wrapped it up in a ribbon and tied it on his arm. On that day he slept sound.

Next day he rose later than usual and went to cut a tree. As he struck the axe onto the root of the tree, his axe struck something hard and made a loud sound. He removed the earth from that place and discovered a broad plate of brass. He removed it and found some 10 steps going down. He went down and found a cell about 6 feet cube size. There were 50 brass pots filled with gold dust. He came out and replaced everything as before.

The gardener also came back home and told him that the ship would sail in three days time and he had arranged his passage with the captain. The Prince said - "Oh, This is a good news to me. I also have a good news for you. You have a treasure in your garden." Saying this he took him to the spot where he saw those pots, and showed him the gold. He then thanked Allaah for giving this to the gardener as the reward of what he had been doing for years. The gardener exclaimed - "What? Do you think that it is mine? No, no, It is yours. I have been digging this garden for 80 years, since my father's death, but I have not found anything here. Now you have found it, so it is your good fortune. It is destined for you and it suits a Prince like you. I will die any day, so you keep it." The Prince did not want to take it, and the gardener was also was not ready to accept it, so they divided it between themselves - 25 pots each.

Then the gardener asked him - "How will you carry these pots so that none can doubt you? I have an idea, there are no olives on the Island of Ebony, and I have plenty of them. Take what you can, fill 50 pots - half with the gold dust and half with the olives and take them there." The Prince spent rest of the day in preparing these pots for transportation and lest this Talismaan is lost again he kept it in one of the pots and marked it with a special mark to distinguish it from the rest.

Now it so happened that, the next day gardener got sick and the third day he got so worse that he was near his end. On the third day the captain came to take the passenger. The Prince said - "I am the passenger. The person who arranged for my passage is ill, I take the leave from him and follow you. Till then you take these 50 pots of olives on board." The Prince went to the gardener to take leave, but he was dying and died in a few minutes. He performed his last rites, buried him in his garden, as Muslims had no cemetery in the town. As soon as he finished everything, he took the key of the garden and ran towards the ship. But as he reached the shore, he found that the ship had already sailed three hours ago and was nowhere to be seen.

He did not want to live in that country for the next 12 months, but the greater problem was that he had put the Princess' Talismaan in one of the pots and now it was gone. Now there was only one alternative, that he should go back to the garden and continue to cultivate it by himself. He hired a boy to do some part of work, and as he might not lose the other half of the gold dust, he filled them in other 50 pots and kept them ready for his next voyage.

The ship arrived at the capital of Island of Ebony. The Princess Badooraa's palace was near the sea shore. She heard that a ship has arrived from a city of idolaters and that it came there once a year. The Princess always thought about the Prince, so she thought that she might meet her Prince there on this ship, she went there personally to see him. She pretended that she had come to see what merchandise was brought on that ship, she talked to the captain about his ship, voyage, and stranger etc. He told her that there was no passenger on board but the merchandise - finest linens, diamonds, musk, camphor, spices, drugs, olives etc.

The Princess loved olives very much. She told the captain to show her everything before he showed them to others. Captain said - "Sir, There are 50 pots of olive, but they belong to a merchant who could not embark the ship." The Princess said - "No matter, bring them here, we will make a bargain." The captain brought the pots and the Princess asked him the price. The captain said - "The merchant was poor so a 1,000 pieces of silver will be enough for him." The Princess said - "You say that the merchant was poor, so take 1,000 pieces of gold instead of silver, and would you please take them to him?" The payment was done and the pots were taken to the King's palace.

When the night had fallen, the Princess Badooraa, went to the other Princess and got those 50 pots of olive there, and asked her to taste them pouring them into a dish. As she poured them into a dish to eat, she was astonished to see that olives were mixed with gold dust. She ordered the women to empty all the 50 pots. She got more surprised when her Talismaan dropped off from one of the pots. She took it and kissed it several times. She dismissed all the women and said to the Princess - "You have already heard my story, this is the Talismaan which took my husband far from me. Since now it is found, I am sure I will get my husband back too."

Next day early morning, she went to the captain and asked him about the merchant he had left behind, as what he was doing there. He told her that an old gardener had arranged his passage and since he went there to call him and he saw the place where he was living, that is why he told her that he was a poor man. She said to him - "If what you are saying is true you should go this very day there and fetch me that gardener's man, he is my debtor, otherwise I will confiscate not only all your merchandise, but also take the lives of your merchants. I have already sealed your merchandise and they will be given to you only after you have brought me that man."

The captain could not disobey this order, so he immediately filled his ship with eatables and fresh water to drink and proceeded back to the same land. He arrived there in the night, he did not anchor his ship, took a boat with six men, came to the shore and directly went to the Prince's garden. Though it was midnight, the Prince was not asleep. When he heard the knock on the door, he immediately opened the door, but no sooner that he opened the door the captain and his men caught hold of him and took him by force. As soon as he was safely boarded the ship, they sailed again.

The captain and his men did not speak a word, then the Prince asked them what was the matter and why were they taking him away like this? The captain asked him - "Are you not the debtor of the King of the Island of Ebony?" The Prince said in amazement - "I? The debtor of the King of the Island of Ebony? I do not even know him, I have nothing to do with him in my whole life. I have never been to that island." The captain said - "You will know better when you reach there, till then you stay here and have patience."

The ship again reached the Island of Ebony in the night. The captain immediately took him to the King. As soon as Badooraa heard of the captain's return, she herself came out to speak to him. As she saw the Prince she recognized him in spite of being in gardener's clothes. The Prince was thinking that he had to answer for the debt, so he was trembling in the presence of the King. If there were some other time, the Princess would have embraced him at the same time, but at this time she had to restrain herself, because she was the King of the island. She handed him over to an officer to present him to her the next day. She asked her people to release his merchandise and bade the captain to keep the 1,000 gold pieces saying that she would settle the account with the merchant himself. Then she went to the Princess of the Island of Ebony and told her everything and asked her to keep it still a secret. The Princess could not say "No" to her.

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Created by Sushma Gupta on January 15, 2002
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Modified on 09/19/13