Page:Fairy tales from the Arabian nights.djvu/317

 looked them all over from head to foot before he spoke. Then he asked them who they were, and where they lived.

'Sir,' said Prince Bahman, 'we are the sons of the late keeper of your majesty's gardens, and we live in a house which he built, a little before he died, for us to live in, till we should be fit to serve your majesty when opportunity offered.'

'By what I perceive,' replied the sultan, 'you are fond of hunting.'

'Sir,' answered Prince Bahman, 'it is our common exercise; none of your majesty's subjects who intend to bear arms in your armies ought, according to the ancient custom of the kingdom, to neglect it.'

The sultan, charmed with so prudent an answer, said, 'Since it is so, I should be glad to see you hunt game; make choice of what you like.'

The princes mounted their horses again, and followed the sultan, but had not gone far before they saw a great many wild beasts together. Prince Bahman chose a lion, and Prince Perviz a bear, and pursued them with so much valour that the sultan was surprised. They came up with their game, and darted their javelins with so much skill, that they pierced, the one the lion, and the other the bear, through and through: the sultan, with his own eyes, saw them fall one after the other. Immediately afterwards Prince Bahman pursued another bear, and Prince Perviz another lion, and killed them in a short time, and would have beaten out for fresh game, but the sultan would not let them, and sent for them. When they came he said, 'If I had given you leave, you would soon have destroyed all my game. I am sure your bravery will some time or other be serviceable to me.'

The sultan, in short, felt so kindly disposed towards the two princes, that he invited them immediately to pay him a visit; to which Prince Bahman replied, 'Your majesty does us an honour we do not deserve, and we beg you will excuse us.'

The sultan, who could not comprehend what reason the princes could have for refusing this token of his favour, asked and pressed them to tell him why they excused themselves. 'Sir,' said Prince Pahman, 'we have a younger sister, with whom we live in such