The Crow-peri

Once upon a time that was no time there was a man who had one son. This

man used to go out into the forest all day, and catch birds for sale to

the first comer. At last, however, the father died and the son was left

all alone. Now he did not know what had been his fathers profession, but

while he was searching all about the floor he came upon the

fowling-snare. So he took it, went out into the forest, and set the

snare on a tree. At that moment a crow flew down upon the tree, but as

the snare was cunningly laid the poor bird was caught. The youth climbed

up after it, but when he had got hold of the bird, the crow began

begging him to let her go, promising to give him in exchange something

more beautiful and more precious than herself. The crow begged and

prayed till at last he let her go free, and again he set the snare in

the tree and sat down at the foot of it to wait. Presently another bird

came flying up, and flew right into the snare. The youth climbed up the

tree again to bring it down, but when he saw it he was full of

amazement, for such a beautiful thing he had never seen in the forest

before.

While he was still gazing at it and chuckling, the crow again appeared

to him and said: “Take that bird to the Padishah, and he will buy it

from thee.” So the youth took away the bird, put it in a cage, and

carried it to the palace. When the Padishah saw the beautiful little

creature he was filled with joy, and gave the youth so much money for it

that he did not know what to do with it all. But the bird they placed in

a golden cage, and the Padishah had his joy of it day and night.

Now the Padishah had a favourite who was grievously jealous of the good

fortune of the youth who had brought the bird, and kept cudgelling his

brains how he could get him beneath his feet. At last he hit upon a

plan, and going in to the Padishah one day he said: “How happy that bird

would be if only he had an ivory palace to dwell in!”

“Yes,” replied the Padishah, “but whence could I get enough ivory to

make him a palace?”

“He who brought the bird hither,” said the favourite, “will certainly be

able to find the ivory.”

So the Padishah sent for the little fowler, and bade him make an ivory

palace for the bird there and then. “I know thou canst get the ivory,”

said the Padishah.

“Alas, my lord Padishah!” lamented the youth, “whence am I to get all

this ivory from?”

“That is thy business,” replied the Padishah. “Thou mayest search for it

for forty days, but if it is not here by that time thy head shall be

where now thy feet are.”

The youth was sore troubled, and while he was still pondering in his

mind which road he should take, the crow came flying up to him, and

asked him what he was grieving about so much. Then the youth told her

what a great trouble that one little bird had brought down upon his

head.

“Why this is nothing at all to fret about,” said the crow; “but go to

the Padishah, and ask him for forty wagon-loads of wine!” So the youth

returned to the palace, got all that quantity of wine, and as he was

coming back with the cars, the crow flew up and said: “Hard by is a

forest, on the border of which are forty large trenches, and as many

elephants as there are in the wide world come to drink out of these

trenches. Go now and fill them with wine instead of water. The elephants

will thus get drunk and tumble down, and thou wilt be able to pull out

their teeth and take them to the Padishah.”

The youth did as the bird said, crammed his cars full of elephants’

tusks instead of wine, and returned with them to the palace. The

Padishah rejoiced greatly at the sight of all the ivory, had the palace

built, rewarded the little fowler with rich gifts, and sent him home.

So there was the sparkling bird in his ivory palace, and right merrily

did he hop about from perch to perch, but he could never be got to sing.

“Ah!” said the evil counsellor, “if only his master were here he would

sing of his own accord.”

“Who knows who his master is, or where he is to be found?” asked the

Padishah sadly.

“He who fetched the elephants’ tusks could fetch the bird’s master

also,” replied the evil counsellor.

So the Padishah sent for the little fowler once more, and commanded him

to bring the bird’s master before him.

“How can I tell who his master is, when I caught him by chance in the

forest?” asked the fowler.

“That is thy look-out,” said the Padishah; “but if thou find him not I

will slay thee. I give thee forty days for thy quest, and let that

suffice thee.”

So the youth went home, and sobbed aloud in his despair, when lo! the

crow came flying up and asked him what he was crying for.

“Why should I not cry?” said the poor youth, and with that he began to

tell the crow of his new trouble.--“Nay, but ’tis a shame to weep for

such a trifle,” said the crow. “Go quickly now to the King and ask him

for a large ship, but it must be large enough to hold forty

maidservants, a beautiful garden also, and a bath-house.” So the youth

returned to the King and told him what he wanted for his journey.

The ship was prepared as he had desired it, the youth embarked, and was

just thinking whether he should go to the left or the right, when the

crow came flying up, and said to him: “Steer thy ship always to the

right, and go straight on until thou perceive a huge mountain. At the

foot of this mountain dwell forty Peris, and when they perceive thy ship

they will feel a strong desire to look at everything on board of it. But

thou must allow only their Queen to come on board, for she is the owner

of the bird, and while thou art showing her the ship, set sail and never

stop till thou reach home.”

So the youth went on board the ship, steered steadily to the right, and

never stopped once till he came to the mountain. There the forty Peris

were walking on the sea-shore, and when they saw the ship they all came

rushing up that they might examine the beautiful thing. The Queen of the

Peris asked the little fowler whether he would not show her the ship,

especially the inside of it, and he took her off in a little skiff and

brought her to the vessel.

The Peri was monstrously delighted with the beautiful ship, walked in

the garden with the damsels on board the ship, and when she saw the

bath-room she said to the waiting-maids: “If I have come so far, I may

as well have a bath into the bargain.” With that she stepped into the

bath-room, and while she was bathing the ship went off.

They had gone a good distance across the sea before the Peri had

finished her bathing. The Peri made haste, for it was now growing late,

but when she stepped upon the deck she saw nothing but the sea around

her. At this she fell a-weeping bitterly. What would become of her? she

said; whither was she going? into whose hands was she about to fall? But

the youth comforted her with the assurance that she was going to a

King’s palace, and would be among good people.

Not very long afterwards they arrived in the city, and sent word to the

King that the ship had come back. Then he brought the Peri to the

palace, and as she passed by the ivory palace of the bird, it began to

sing so beautifully that all who heard it were beside themselves for

joy. The Peri was a little comforted when she heard it, but the King was

filled with rapture, and he loved the beautiful Peri so fondly that he

could not be a single moment without her. The wedding-banquet quickly

followed, and with the beauteous Peri on his right hand, and the

sparkling bird on his left, there was not a happier man in the world

than that Padishah. But the poison of envy devoured the soul of the evil

counsellor.

One day, however, the Sultana suddenly fell ill, and took to her bed.

Every remedy was tried in vain, but the sages said that nothing could

cure her but the drug which she had left behind her in her own fairy

palace. Then, by the advice of the evil counsellor, the young fowler was

again sent for to the palace, and commanded to go and seek for the drug.

So the good youth embarked on his ship again, and was just about to sail

when the crow came to him and asked him whither he was going. The youth

told her that the Sultana was ill, and he had been sent to fetch the

drug from the fairy palace. “Well then, go!” said the crow, “and thou

wilt find the palace behind a mountain. Two lions stand in the gates,

but take this feather and touch their mouths with it, and they will not

lift so much as a claw against thee.”

The youth took the feather, arrived in front of the mountain,

disembarked, and quickly beheld the palace. He went straight up to the

gates, and there stood the two lions. He took out his feather, and no

sooner had he touched their mouths than they lay down one on each side

and let him go into the palace. The Peris about the palace also saw the

youth, and immediately guessed that their Queen was ill. So they gave

him the drug, and immediately he took ship again, and returned to the

palace of the Padishah. But the moment he entered the Peri’s chamber

with the drug in his hand, the crow alighted on his shoulder, and thus

they went together to the sick Sultana’s bed.

The Sultana was already in the throes of death, but no sooner had she

tasted of the healing drug than she seemed to return to life again at a

single bound. She opened her eyes, gazed upon the little fowler, and

perceiving the crow upon his shoulder thus addressed her: “Oh, thou

sooty slave! art thou not sorry for all that this good youth hath

suffered for my sake?” Then the Sultana told her lord that this same

crow was her serving-maid, whom, for negligence in her service, she had

changed into a crow. “Nevertheless,” she added, “I now forgive her, for

I see that her intentions towards me were good.”

At these words the crow trembled all over, and immediately a damsel so

lovely stood before the young fowler that there was really very little

difference between her and the Queen of the Peris. At the petition of

the Sultana, the Sultan married the youth to the Crow-Peri, the

evil-minded counsellor was banished, and the fowler became Vizier in his

stead. And their happiness lasted till death.