Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/127

Rh next year; but it seems very inconsequential that, after their previous meeting with Janshah, one of the maidens should express her anxiety lest some one should be lying ambushed in the pavilion, and another should reply that there was no cause for anxiety, because none had entered the pavilion since the time of Solomon, neither man nor Jinni. Janshah steals their clothes, and Shamssah, the youngest, consents to become his wife. They remain with Sheykh Nasr for three months, after which Shamssah dons her feather-dress, and carries Janshah to Kabul, a journey of thirty months, in two days. Janshah's father. King Teghmus, builds a splendid palace for the pair, and buries the feather-dress under the foundations; and the wedding is celebrated with great pomp. But at midnight Shamssah, having found her feather-dress by her keen sense of smell, flies away to her own country, bidding Janshah seek her in Takni, the Castle of Jewels.

Janshah falls into a melancholy state, and King Teghmus, being much occupied in condoling with him, is attacked by the hostile kings Kafid and Fakun. Teghmus goes to the war; and, after two months' time, Janshah sets out on pretence of following him, but he gives his escort the slip; and, on the news reaching Teghmus, the latter shuts himself up in Kabul in despair, where he is beleaguered by King Kafid for seven years. Meantime Janshah makes his way back to the city of the Jews, where he again engages himself to the Jew merchant, and returns to the palace of Sheykh Nasr. At the annual meeting of the birds, none of them can give any information respecting the Castle of Jewels; and Sheykh Nasr commands a great bird to carry Janshah back to Kabul, but the bird misses his way, and they arrive at the palace of Sheykh Badri, the King of the Beasts. He receives Janshah kindly; but, when the beasts assemble, they also know nothing of the Castle of Jewels. Then Sheykh Badri sends Janshah to his brother. King Shimakh; and he sends him on to his superior, the monk Yaghmus, the most powerful of living beings, who had lived since the time of Noah. At length Janshah meets with a bird, who carries him to the Hill of Crystal, behind Mount Kaf. Here he is in sight of the Castle of Jewels, though still two months' journey distant. When he at length arrives, he is received in the kindest manner by King Shahlan, his father-in-law; and, after a