Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/306

 298 the Kurān. The king's daughter then laid down her own Kurān, and fixed the ears of her heart on him, for his voice sounded sweet to her. Every morning she did this. One day the king's daughter said to her father, "It is now time for me to have a husband ; let me marry. Get the people together, and let me choose a husband for myself." The king called all the people together, and they assembled there. The prophet Drīs asked the potter to take him also to the assembly. The potter carried him to the place in an open basket, and put him down there. The king's daughter filled a cup full of water, and gave it to her handmaiden, saying, "Take this and sprinkle it over that maimed man." The maidservant took it and sprinkled it as ordered. The king was not pleased, and he said, "To-day's assembly has turned out a failure. Let everyone come again to-morrow." The next day, again, the king's daughter sent her handmaiden with orders to sprinkle water over the maimed man, and she sprinkled it. Then the king perceived in his mind that his daughter had set her heart on this man, and said, "Let her take him." So he married them, and took Drīs into the palace, and made him an allowance for his maintenance.

One day three men appeared before the king and demanded a judgment from him on a certain case. The king said, "Wait here while I wash my face and hands. I will then decide your case." Then they said one to the other, "This king will not settle our case ; let us go to the prophet Drīs, and he will settle it for us." The king overheard what they said. They at once started off, and the king sent a man after them to watch where they went to see the prophet Drīs. They went straight to the king's son-in-law and salaamed to him, saying, "O prophet Drīs ! do us justice !" He said, "Who are you, that I should do you justice?" The first said, "My name is Health"; and the second said, "My name is Fortune"; and the third said, "My name is Wisdom." Then Drīs said, "I have been