Page:The Arabian Nights (1909).djvu/41

 voices mentioned by the dervish, though he could see nobody. Some said: ‘‘Where is that fool going? Where is he going? What would he have? Do not let him pass.” Others: “Stop him, catch him, kill him”; and others with a voice like thunder: “Thief! assassin! murderer!” while some in a gibing tone cried: “No, no, do not hurt him; let the pretty fellow pass, the cage and bird are kept for him.”

Notwithstanding all these troublesome voices, Prince Bahman ascended with resolution for some time, but the voices redoubled with so loud a din, both behind and before, that at last he was seized with dread, his legs trembled under him, he staggered, and finding that his strength failed him, he forgot the dervish’s advice, turned about to run down the hill, and was that instant changed into a black stone; a metamorphosis which had happened to many before him who had attempted the ascent. His horse, likewise, underwent the same change.

From the time of Prince Bahman’s departure, the Princess Periezade always wore the knife and sheath in her girdle, and pulled it out several times in a day, to know whether her brother was alive. She had the consolation to understand he was in perfect health and to talk of him frequently with Prince Perviz. On the fatal day that Prince Bahman was transformed into a stone, as Prince Perviz and the princess were talking together in the evening, as usual, the prince desired his sister to pull out the knife to know how their brother did. The princess readily complied, and seeing the blood run down the point was seized with so much horror that she threw it down. “Ah! my dear brother,” cried she, “I have been the cause of your death, and shall never see you more! Why did I tell you of the Talking Bird, Singing Tree, and Golden Water; or rather, of what importance was it to me to know whether the devout woman