The Serpent-peri and the Magic Mirror

There was once upon a time a poor wood-cutter who had an only son. One

day this poor man fell sick and said to his son: “If I should die follow

thou my handicraft, and go every day into the wood. Thou mayest cut down

whatever trees thou dost find there, but at the edge of the wood is a

cypress-tree, that thou must leave standing.” Two days afterwards the

man died and was buried.

But the son went into the wood and cut down the trees, only the

cypress-tree he left alone. One day the youth stood close to this tree

and thought to himself: “What can be the matter with this tree, seeing

that I am not allowed to lay a hand upon it?” So he looked at it, and

considered it curiously, till at last he took his axe and went with evil

intent towards the tree. But he had scarcely lifted his foot when the

cypress-tree drew away from him. The wood-cutter mounted his ass and

pursued the tree but could not overtake it, and in the meantime eventide

came upon them. Then he dismounted from his ass and tied it to a tree,

but he himself climbed to the top of the tree to await the dawn.

Next morning, when the sky grew red, he descended from the tree, and

there at the foot of it lay only the bones of his ass. “Never mind, I’ll

go on foot,” said the wood-cutter, and he continued his pursuit of the

cypress, the tree going on before and he following after. All that day

he pursued but could not come up with it. The third day also he

shouldered his axe and pursued the tree, when he suddenly came upon an

elephant and a serpent fighting with each other. Believe the truth or

not as you will, but the truth is this, that the serpent was swallowing

the elephant; but the elephant’s great tusk stuck in the serpent’s

throat, and both beasts, seeing the youth staring at them, begged him to

help them.

What didn’t the elephant promise him if only he would slay the serpent!

“Nay, but all I would have thee do,” said the serpent, “is to break his

tusk off; the work is lighter, and the reward will be greater.” At these

words the youth seized his axe and chopped the elephant’s tusk right

off. The serpent then swallowed the elephant, thanked the youth, and

promised to keep his word and give him his reward.

While they were on the road the serpent stopped at a spring and said to

the youth: “Wait while I bathe in this water, and whatever may happen,

fear not!” With that the serpent plunged into the water, and immediately

there arose such a terrible storm, such a tempest, such a hurricane,

with lightning-flash upon lightning-flash, and thunder-bolt upon

thunder-bolt, that the Day of Judgment could not well be worse.

Presently the serpent came out of the bath, and then all was quiet

again.

They went a long way, and they went a little way, they took coffee, they

smoked their chibooks, they gathered violets on the road, till at last

they drew near to a house, and then the serpent said: “In a short time

we shall arrive at my mother’s house. When she opens the door, say thou

art my kinsman, and she will invite thee into the house. She will offer

thee coffee but do not drink it, she will offer thee meat but do not eat

it; but there’s a little bit of a mirror hanging up in the corner of the

door, ask my mother for that!”

So they came to the house, and no sooner had the Peri knocked at the

door than his mother came and opened it. “Come, my brother!” said the

serpent to the youth behind him.--“Who is thy brother?” asked his

mother.--“He who hath saved my life,” replied her son, and with that he

told her the whole story. So they went into the house, and the woman

brought the youth coffee and a chibook, but he would not take them. “My

journey is a hasty one,” said he, “I cannot remain very long.”

“Rest awhile at least,” said the woman, “we cannot let our guests depart

without anything.”

“Nothing do I want, but if thou wilt give me that bit of mirror in the

corner of the door I will take it,” said the youth. The woman did not

want to give it, but the youth insisted that perhaps his life might

depend upon that very piece of mirror, so at last she gave it to him,

though very unwillingly.

So the youth went on his way with the bit of mirror, and as he looked

into it he turned over in his mind what use he should make of it. As he

was still turning it over and looking at it, suddenly there stood before

him a negro efrit, one of whose lips touched the heavens, and the other

lip the earth. The poor youth was so frightened, that if the negro had

not said: “What are thy commands, my Sultan?” he would have run away for

ever and ever. As it was, it was as much as he could do to ask for

something to eat, and immediately there stood before him a rich and rare

banquet, the like of which he had never seen at his father’s, the

wood-cutter’s.

Then the youth felt very curious about the mirror, and looked into it

again, and immediately the black efrit stood before him again and said:

“What dost thou command, my Sultan?” Nothing would occur to his mind at

first, but at last his lips murmured the word “Palace,” and immediately

there stood before him a palace so beautiful that the Padishah himself

could not have a finer one. “Open!” cried the youth, and immediately the

gates of the palace flew open before him.

The youth rejoiced greatly in his bit of mirror, and his one thought was

what he should ask it to get him next. The beautiful Sultana-damsel, the

Padishah’s daughter, occurred to his mind, and the next moment his eye

sought his mirror and he desired from the big-lipped negro efrit a

palace in which the world-renowned daughter of the Padishah should be

sitting beside him, and he had scarce time to look around him when he

found himself sitting in the palace with the Sultan’s daughter by his

side. Then they kissed and embraced each other, and lived a whole world

of joy.

Meanwhile the Sultan learnt that his daughter had disappeared from her

own palace. He searched for her the whole realm through, he sent heralds

in every direction, but in vain were all his labours, the girl could not

be discovered. At last an old woman came to the Padishah and told him to

make a large casket, line it well with zinc, put her inside it, and cast

it into the sea. She would find the daughter of the Sultan, she said,

for if she was not here, she must be beyond the sea. So they made ready

the great casket, put the old woman inside it, put food for nine days

beside her, and cast it into the sea. The casket was tossed from wave to

wave, till at last it came to that city where the Sultan’s daughter

dwelt with the youth.

Now the fishermen were just then on the shore, and saw the huge casket

floating in the sea. They drew it ashore with ropes and hooks, and when

they opened it an old woman crept out of it. They asked her how she had

got inside it.

“Oh, that my enemy might lose the sight of his little eye that is so

dear to him!” lamented the old woman; “I have not deserved this of him!”

and with that she fell a-weeping and wailing till the men believed every

word she said. “Where is the Bey of your city?” cried she; “perhaps he

will have compassion upon me and receive me into his house,” she said to

the men. Then they showed her the palace, and exhorted her to go

thither, as perhaps she might get an alms.

So the old woman went to the palace, and when she knocked at the door,

the Sultan’s daughter came down to see who it was. The old woman

immediately recognized the damsel, and begged her (for the damsel knew

not the old woman) to take her into her service. “My lord comes home

to-night, I will ask him,” replied the damsel; “meanwhile rest in this

corner!” And the damsel’s lord allowed her to receive the old woman into

the house, and the next day she waited upon them.

There the old woman was for one day and for two days, for a week, for

two weeks, and there was no cook to cook the food, and no servant to

keep the place clean, and yet every day there was a costly banquet and

everything was as clean as clean could be. Then the old woman went to

the damsel and asked her whether she did not feel dull at being alone

all day. “If I were allowed to help thee pass the time away,” added she,

“perhaps it might be better.”--“I must first ask my lord,” replied the

damsel. The youth did not mind the old woman helping his wife to pass

away the time, and so she went up to the rooms of the damsel and stayed

with her for days together.

One day the old woman asked the damsel whence came all the rare meats,

and who did the service of the house. But the damsel knew not of the

piece of mirror, so she could tell the old woman nothing. “Find out from

thy lord,” said the old woman, and scarcely had the youth come home,

scarce had he had time to eat, than she wheedled him so that he showed

her the mirror.

That was all the old woman wanted. A couple of days she let go by, but

on the third and the fourth days she bade the damsel beg her lord for

the piece of mirror so that she might amuse herself therewith, and make

the time pass more easily. And indeed she had only to ask her lord for

it, for he, not suspecting her falseness, gave it to her. And in the

meantime the old woman was not asleep. She knew where the damsel had put

the mirror, stole it, and when she looked into it the negro efrit

appeared. “What is thy command?” inquired he of the old woman. “Take me

with this damsel to her father’s palace,” was her first command. Her

second command made of the youth’s palace a heap of ashes, so that when

the young wood-cutter returned home he found nought but the cat meeowing

among the ashes. There was also a small piece of meat there; the

Sultan’s daughter had thrown it down for the cat.

The youth took up the fragment of meat and set out to seek his consort.

Find her he would, though he roamed the whole world over. He went on and

on, he searched and searched till he came to the city where his wife

lived. He went up to the palace, and there he begged the cook to take

him into the kitchen as a servant out of pure compassion. In a couple of

days he had learnt from his fellow-servants in the kitchen that the

Sultan’s daughter had returned home.

One day the cook fell sick and there was no heart in him to attend to

the cooking. The youth, seeing this, bade him rest, and said he would

cook the food in his stead. The cook agreed, and told him what to cook,

and how to season it. So the youth set to work, roasting and stewing,

and when he sent up the dishes, he also sent up the scrap of food that

he had found on the ashes, and put it on the damsel’s plate. Scarcely

had the damsel cast eyes on this little scrap than she knew within

herself that her lord was near her. So she called the cook and asked

whom he had with him in the kitchen. At first he denied that he had any

one, but at last he confessed that he had taken a poor lad in to assist

him.

Then the damsel went to her father and said to him that there was a

young lad in the kitchen who prepared coffee so well that she should

like some coffee from his hands. So the lad was ordered up, and from

thenceforth he prepared the coffee and took it to the Sultan’s daughter.

So they came together again, and she told her lord how the matter had

gone. Then they took counsel how they should await their turn and get

the mirror back again.

Scarcely had the youth gone in to the damsel than the old woman

appeared. Although she had not seen him for long, she recognized him,

and, looking into the mirror, caused the poor lad to be sent back again

to the ashes of his old palace. There he found the cat still squatting.

When she felt hungry she caught mice, and such ravages did she make upon

them that at last the Padishah of the mice had scarce a soldier left.

Very wroth was the poor Padishah, but he durst not tackle the cat. One

day, however, he observed the youth, went up to him, and begged his

assistance in his dire distress, for if he waited till the morrow his

whole realm would be ruined.

“I’ll help thee,” said the youth, “though, indeed, I have enough

troubles of my own to carry already.”

“What is thy trouble?” asked the Padishah of the mice. The youth told

him about the history of the piece of looking-glass, and how it had been

stolen from him, and into whose hands it had fallen.

“Then I can help thee,” cried the Padishah, whereupon he called together

all the mice in the world. And he asked which of them had access to this

palace, and which knew of such-and-such an old woman, and the piece of

looking-glass. At these words a lame mouse hobbled forth, kissed the

ground at the feet of the Padishah, and said that it was his wont to

steal food from the old woman’s box. He had seen through the keyhole how

she took out a little bit of looking-glass every evening and hid it

under a cushion.

Then the Padishah commanded him to go and steal this bit of mirror. The

mouse, however, begged that he might have two comrades, sat on the back

of one of them, and so went on to the old woman. It was evening when

they arrived there, and the old woman was just eating her supper. “We

have come at the right time,” said the lame mouse, “we shall get

something to eat.” And with that they scampered into the room, satisfied

their hunger, and waited for the night. They arranged between them what

they should do, and when the old woman lay down they waited till she was

asleep. Scarcely had she fallen asleep than the lame mouse leaped into

her bed, made for her face, and began tickling her nose with the end of

its tail.

“P-chi! p-chi!” the old woman sneezed, so that her head nearly leaped

from her shoulders. “P-chi! p-chi!” she sneezed again, and meanwhile the

two other little mice rushed out, picked up the piece of looking-glass

from underneath the cushion, took the lame mouse on their backs, and

hurried home again.

The youth rejoiced greatly at the sight of the mirror, then he took the

cat with him so that it should do no more harm to the mice, and went

into other parts. There he took out the bit of mirror, looked into it,

and lo! the black efrit stood before him and said: “What is thy command,

my Sultan?”

The youth asked for a raiment of cloth of gold and a whole army of

soldiers, and before he had time to look round, in front of him stood

costly raiment, and he put it on; and a beautiful horse, and he sat on

its back; and a large army which marched behind him into the city. When

he arrived there he stood before the palace, and surrounded it with his

soldiers. Oh, how terrified the Padishah was at the sight of that vast

army!

The youth went into the palace, and demanded the damsel from her father.

In his terror the Padishah gave him not only his daughter but his realm.

The old woman was given into the hands of the big-lipped efrit, but the

bride and bridegroom lived happily in the midst of their glorious

kingdom. And close beside them stood the magic mirror that made all

their woes to vanish.