Indian Antiquary Vol 28

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 84

70
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1899.
his kingdom and all his wealth if he would divorce her. This temptation was too strong for the poor fisherman, and he agreed to the king's proposal. Accordingly the king appointed Abu Sayyid to be his successor, and made him king.
The king who had heard from his minister of the great beauty of the princess, sent an old woman to tempt her. When the old woman reached her house the princess was lying as in a trance, lost in dreams of her lost lover. "What is it?" she said to the old woman. "I am an old woman, named Kunsath, oh beautiful parrot! Prosperity and greatness are yours, for the king wishes to see you, and has sent me to take you to him. Daughter! if he sees you, all his wealth is at your feet." Hasanu'l-Jamâl said :-"What you say is true, but how can I come without my husband's permission? He is in the palace; if he comes back and gives me permission, I will come." The old woman said :-" Daughter! He has divorced you; he has married the king's daughter, and is happy there. Listen to me, a danger will befall you." Then Hasanu'l-Jamal thought perhaps the king and the fisherman had conspired to ruin her. "Oh God! what shall I do!" Thus she mused in deep sorrow, and while so absorbed the old woman spoke again" Beloved daughter! Follow me quickly. Do not hesitate. You are helpless here. You are like an elephant1l in a pit. If you refuse to follow me your mansion and all you possess will be lost to yon. You will be in endless sorrow. Obey me." Thus insulted Hasanu'l-Jamal rose angrily and kicked the old woman out of the house. She went to the king, trembling from head to foot, and said :-"Oh king, I have obeyed you and come to grief. The woman kicked me hard and told me to say to the king-'So long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west nobody need think of me. Nobody shall touch me. Combat I do not fear.' I escaped with my life." The king was angry and ordered four soldiers to seize Hasanu'l-Jamal and bring her before him. The soldiers entered the house. Hassanu'l-Jamâl asked:-"Who are you to come to my house without permission? Go away." The soldiers were startled by her beauty, but approached to seize her. She drew her sword and killed two of them. The other two fled to the king and told him what had happened. He was angry and sent his soldiers to besiege her house, bind her hand and foot, and bring her before him. The soldiers surrounded the house, and called upon her to surrender. She prayed to God, resolving to die rather than fall into the hands of the king. She fought desperately until late in the night,12 killed several of the soldiers, and drove the rest back to the king's palace: to evade her pursuit they fled into the jungle. After all this she rested under a tree. The king of the Jinns saw her, and carried off to a deep forest, raised a beautiful mansion on the top of a hill and placed her therein.
We must now return to the story of Badaru'l-Munir. For three days he shut himself up without food or rest. News of the affair spread all over the country, and huge crowds gathered Unable to bear his pain and shame, Badaru'l-Munir left the town stealthily, and fled to unknown lands. For six months he roamed the forests. In the course of his wanderings he met the Fairy Queen Kamarba. She took him off to the land of the peris and shut him up in her beautiful crystal palace; and there he lived for two years and ten months. One day the Peri Queen and Badaru'l-Munîr went for an aërial drive. They passed over seas and mountains and visited many countries, until at last, resting under a tree, they fell asleep. Just then Sufayirath, daughter of Shihah, king of the Jinns, with her forty maids, was roving the skies in her beautiful chariot. When she came near the tree she asked her maids what they saw under it, was it the moon or a star dropped from the skies? "Whatever it be, let us alight here and see what it is." They came near and found a lovely youth and a beautiful girl sleeping in a warm embrace, a shawl over them. Quietly she removed the shawl. The sight dazzled her eyes and stupefied her senses. Quickly she took the youth, placed him in her chariot, and with the speed of lighting left the place. Thus she took him to the top of a hill on an island in the fourteenth
11 Catching elephants in pits is very common in Malabar. When in the pit the elephant is, of course, entirely at the mercy of its captors.
12 Lit., until 10 o'clock.