Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/285

Rh Jamíla Báno, who re-transformed him, gave him the bow and arrow of the prophet Sálih, a scimitar called ’Aqrab Sulaimání (Solomon's Scorpion), and a dagger called Laimúsí, and showed him how to act at Wáqáf, and how to get there. He has to cross seven impassable rivers on the road by the aid of Símurgh, whom he was to meet on the way, and the condition of success was his marrying his helper, Jamíla Báno. On his way he conquered and slew Turmtáq, a leader of Zangís, who opposed him at a fort called Khumásá, together with his chief Chulmáq; and thence with the aid of Símurgh he reached Wáqáf. At Wáqáf he made friends with a nobleman named Farrukh Fál, who told him that the king's name was Sanaubar, and the queen's Gul, and introduced him to the king. The king agreed to tell him his story on condition that he was to be killed when it was finished. The king then showed him his queen Gul, with fetters on her legs and an iron collar round her neck; a dog sitting on a golden chair beside her, and the head of a Zangí in a tray lying near her. He then related how he had found his queen Gul in the embrace of the Zangí, and had seized them, whereon other Zangís attacked him, with the help of the queen, and would have overpowered him had it not been for the help of his dog. The punishment of the queen was what he saw. One of the accomplices had fled to Mihar Angez, and had told her the story, and hence the riddle. Next day the king called upon Prince Almás Rúh Bakhsh to give himself up to execution according to the compact, but agreed first to listen to his story; and when the king hears it he lets him depart in safety. By the aid of Símurgh he reaches Jamíla Báno, and marries her; then goes on to Turkestan, and marries Dilárám, the slave-girl; and finally answers the riddle and marries Mihar Angez, and goes off home with all his brides.

6., by Maulaví Ghulám Rasúl; published in 1880 at the Mustafa’ Press, Lahore: 16 pp. 8vo. It is an adaptation in rough Panjabi verse in the Persian character of this universally-known tale in the Panjab, Sindh and Northern India. The essentials of the tale appear to be the same in all versions: it has a long bibliography. It relates the loves of Punnún, of the city of Kecham (Kej in Balúchistán), and Sassí, daughter of king