Page:Turkish fairy tales and folk tales (1901).djvu/92

 singing bird, and every bird had feathers aglow with light, so that one could only look at it all open-*mouthed and cry: "Oh! oh!" And the palace itself was full of domestics, there were black harem slaves, and white captive youths, and dancers and singers, and players of stringed instruments—more than thou canst count, count thou never so much, and words cannot tell of the splendour of the retinue which went forth to greet the Padishah as a guest.

"These children are not of mortal birth!" thought the Padishah to himself, when he beheld all these marvels, "or if they are of mortal birth a Peri must have had a hand in the matter."

They led the Padishah into the most splendid room of the palace, they brought him coffee and sherbet, and then the music spoke to him, and the singing birds—oh! a man could have listened to them for ever and ever! Then rich meats on rare and precious dishes were set before him, and then the dancers and the jugglers diverted him till the evening.

At eventide the servants came and bowed before the Padishah and said: "My lord! peace be with thee! They await thee in the harem!" So he entered the harem, and there he saw before him the golden-haired youth, with a beautiful half-moon shining on his forehead, and his bride, the Peri-Queen, and his own consort, the Sultana, who had been buried in