The Snake-woman and King Ali Mardan

Once upon a time King Ali Mardan went out a-hunting, and as he hunted

in the forest above the beautiful Dal lake, which stretches clear and

placid between the mountains and the royal town of Srinagar, he came

suddenly on a maiden, lovely as a flower, who, seated beneath a tree,

was weeping bitterly. Bidding his followers remain at a distance, he

went up to the damsel, and asked her who she was, and how she came to

be alone in the wild forest.

'O great King,' she answered, looking up in his face, 'I am the

Emperor of China's handmaiden, and as I wandered about in the

pleasure-grounds of his palace I lost my way. I know not how far I

have come since, but now I must surely die, for I am weary and

hungry!'

'So fair a maiden must not die while Ali Mardan can deliver her,'

quoth the monarch, gazing ardently on the beautiful girl. So he bade

his servants convey her with the greatest care to his summer palace in

the Shalimar gardens, where the fountains scatter dewdrops over the

beds of flowers, and laden fruit-trees bend over the marble

colonnades. And there, amid the flowers and sunshine, she lived with

the King, who speedily became so enamoured of her that he forgot

everything else in the world.

So the days passed until it chanced that a Jôgi's servant, coming back

from the holy lake Gangabal, which lies on the snowy peak of Haramukh,

whither he went every year to draw water for his master, passed by the

gardens; and over the high garden wall he saw the tops of the

fountains, leaping and splashing like silver sunshine. He was so

astonished at the sight that he put his vessel of water on the ground,

and climbed over the wall, determined to see the wonderful things

inside. Once in the garden amid the fountains and flowers, he

wandered hither and thither, bewildered by beauty, until, wearied out

by excitement, he lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

Now the King, coming to walk in the garden, found the man lying there,

and noticed that he held something fast in his closed right hand.

Stooping down, Ali Mardan gently loosed the fingers, and discovered a

tiny box filled with a sweet-smelling ointment. While he was

examining this more closely, the sleeper awoke, and missing his box,

began to weep and wail; whereupon the King bade him be comforted, and

showing him the box, promised to return it if he would faithfully tell

why it was so precious to him.

'O great King,' replied the Jôgi's servant, 'the box belongs to my

master, and it contains a holy ointment of many virtues. By its power

I am preserved from all harm, and am able to go to Gangabal and return

with my jar full of water in so short a time that my master is never

without the sacred element.'

Then the King was astonished, and, looking at the man keenly, said,

'Tell me the truth! Is your master indeed such a holy saint? Is he

indeed such a wonderful man?'

'O King,' replied the servant, 'he is indeed such a man, and there is

nothing in the world he does not know!'

This reply aroused the King's curiosity, and putting the box in his

vest, he said to the servant, 'Go home to your master, and tell him

King Ali Mardan has his box, and means to keep it until he comes to

fetch it himself.' In this way he hoped to entice the holy Jôgi into

his presence.

So the servant, seeing there was nothing else to be done, set off to

his master, but he was two years and a half in reaching home, because

he had not the precious box with the magical ointment; and all this

time Ali Mardan lived with the beautiful stranger in the Shalimar

palace, and forgot everything in the wide world except her

loveliness. Yet he was not happy, and a strange look came over his

face, and a stony stare into his eyes.

Now, when the servant reached home at last, and told his master what

had occurred, the Jôgi was very angry, but as he could not get on

without the box which enabled him to procure the water from Gangabal,

he set off at once to the court of King Ali Mardan. On his arrival,

the King treated him with the greatest honour, and faithfully

fulfilled the promise of returning the box.

Now the Jôgi was indeed a learned man, and when he saw the King he

knew at once all was not right, so he said, 'O King, you have been

gracious unto me, and I in my turn desire to do you a kind action; so

tell me truly,--have you always had that white scared face and those

stony eyes?'

The King hung his head.

'Tell me truly,' continued the holy Jôgi, 'have you any strange woman

in your palace?'

Then Ali Mardan, feeling a strange relief in speaking, told the Jôgi

about the finding of the maiden, so lovely and forlorn, in the forest.

'She is no handmaiden of the Emperor of China--she is no woman!'

quoth the Jôgi fearlessly; 'she is nothing but a Lamia--the dreadful

two-hundred-years-old snake which has the power of taking woman's

shape!'

Hearing this, King Ali Mardan was at first indignant, for he was madly

in love with the stranger; but when the Jôgi insisted, he became

alarmed, and at last promised to obey the holy man's orders, and so

discover the truth or falsehood of his words.

Therefore, that same evening he ordered two kinds of _khichrî_ to

be made ready for supper, and placed in one dish, so that one half was

sweet _khichrî_, and the other half salt.

Now, when as usual the King sat down to eat out of the same dish with

the Snake-woman, he turned the salt side towards her and the sweet

side towards himself.

She found her portion very salt, but, seeing the King eat his with

relish and without remark, finished hers in silence. But when they

had retired to rest, and the King, obeying the Jôgi's orders, had

feigned sleep, the Snake-woman became so dreadfully thirsty, in

consequence of all the salt food she had eaten, that she longed for a

drink of water; and as there was none in the room, she was obliged to

go outside to get some.

Now, if a Snake-woman goes out at night, she must resume her own

loathsome form; so, as King Ali Mardan lay feigning sleep, he saw the

beautiful form in his arms change to a deadly slimy snake, that slid

from the bed out of the door into the garden. He followed it softly,

watching it drink of every fountain by the way, until it reached the

Dal lake, where it drank and bathed for hours.

Fully satisfied of the truth of the Jôgi's story, King Ali Mardan

begged him for aid in getting rid of the beautiful horror. This the

Jôgi promised to do, if the King would faithfully obey orders. So

they made an oven of a hundred different kinds of metal melted

together, and closed by a strong lid and a heavy padlock. This they

placed in a shady corner of the garden, fastening it securely to the

ground by strong chains. When all was ready, the King said to the

Snake-woman, 'My heart's beloved! let us wander in the gardens alone

to-day, and amuse ourselves by cooking our own food,'

She, nothing loath, consented, and so they wandered about in the

garden; and when dinner-time came, set to work, with laughter and

mirth, to cook their own food.

The King heated the oven very hot, and kneaded the bread, but being

clumsy at it, he told the Snake-woman he could do no more, and that

she must bake the bread. This she at first refused to do, saying that

she disliked ovens, but when the King pretended to be vexed, averring

she could not love him since she refused to help, she gave in, and set

to work with a very bad grace to tend the baking.

Then, just as she stooped over the oven's mouth, to turn the loaves,

the King, seizing his opportunity, pushed her in, and clapping down

the cover, locked and double-locked it.

Now, when the Snake-woman found herself caught in the scorching oven,

she bounded so, that had it not been for the strong chains, she would

have bounded out of the garden, oven and all! But as it was, all she

could do was to bound up and down, whilst the King and the Jôgi piled

fuel on to the fire, and the oven grew hotter and hotter. So it went

on from four o'clock one afternoon to four o'clock the next, when the

Snake-woman ceased to bound, and all was quiet.

They waited until the oven grew cold, and then opened it, when not a

trace of the Snake-woman was to be seen, only a tiny heap of ashes,

out of which the Jôgi took a small round stone, and gave it to the

King, saying, 'This is the real essence of the Snake-woman, and

whatever you touch with it will turn to gold.'

But King Ali Mardan said such a treasure was more than any man's life

was worth, since it must bring envy and battle and murder to its

possessor; so when he went to Attock he threw the magical Snake-stone

into the river, lest it should bring strife into the world.