Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 5.djvu/398

 were a sparrow. So he cried out to him, 'What is thy will, O merchant?' Replied the Jew, 'Throw me down of the stones that lie about thee, that I may direct thee in the way down.' Quoth Janshah, 'Thou art he who didst with me thus and thus five years ago, and through thee I suffered hunger and thirst and sore toil and much trouble; and now thou hast brought me hither once more and thinkest to destroy me. By Allah, I will not throw thee aught!' So saying, he turned from him and set out for where lived Shaykh Nasr, the King of the Birds."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Five Hundred and Twenty-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "Janshah took the way for where lived Shaykh Nasr, the King of the Birds. And he ceased not faring on many days and nights, tearful-eyed and heavy-hearted; eating, when he was anhungered, of the growth of the ground and drinking, when he thirsted, of its streams, till he came in sight of the Castle of the lord Solomon and saw Shaykh Nasr sitting at the gate. So he hastened up to him and kissed his hands; and the Shaykh saluted him and bade him welcome and said to him, 'O my son, what aileth thee that thou returnest to this place, after I sent thee home with the Princess Shamsah, cool of eyes and broad of breast?' Janshah wept and told him all that had befallen him and how she had flown away from him, saying, 'An thou love me, come to me in Takni, the Castle of Jewels;' at which the old man marvelled and said, 'By Allah, O my son, I know it not, nor, by the virtue of our lord Solomon, have I ever in my life heard its name!' Quoth Janshah, 'What shall I do? I am dying of love and longing.' Quoth Shaykh Nasr, 'Take patience until the coming of the birds, when we will enquire at them of Takni, the Castle of Jewels; haply one of them shall wot thereof.' So Janshah's heart was comforted and, entering the Palace, he went straight to the chamber which gave upon the Lake in which he had seen the three maidens. After this he abode with Shaykh Nasr for a while and, one day as he was sitting with him, the Shaykh said, 'O my son, rejoice for the time of the birds' coming draweth nigh.' Janshah gladdened to hear the news; and after a few days the birds began to come and