Page:Turkish fairy tales and folk tales (1901).djvu/174

 Now the Sultan's daughter saw the youth, called him to her window, and asked him how he had managed to reach that realm. Then the youth told her that his father was a Padishah, that he had fought with the dragon Champalak on his travels, and had promised to bring him the Sultan's daughter. "Yet fear thou nothing," added the youth, "my love is stronger than the love of the serpent, and if thou wilt only have the courage to come with me, trust me to find a way of disposing of him."

The damsel was so much in love with the prince, and so eager to escape from her captivity, that she consented to trust herself to him, and one night they escaped from her palace and went straight towards the desert where dwelt the dragon Champalak. They agreed on the way that the girl should find out what the dragon's talisman was, that they might destroy him that way if they could do it no other.

Imagine the joy of Champalak when he perceived the princess! "What joy, what rapture, that thou hast come!" cried Champalak; but fondle her and caress her as he might, the damsel did nothing but weep. Days passed by, weeks passed by, and yet the tears never left the damsel's eyes. "Tell me at least what thy talisman is," said the damsel to him one day, "if thou wouldst see me happy and not wretched with thee all thy days."