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43-5
- Prince Kaamaraal
Zamaan and the Princess of China:
The
Prince Meets the Princess
When
all these things were happening in the Island of Ebony, the Prince Kaamaraal
Zamaan was staying with the gardener waiting for the ship to go to the Island
of Ebony. One morning when he was getting prepared to work in the garden,
as he always did, the gardener said - "Today is a great day among the
idolaters. Since they themselves do not work today, they do not let
Muslims also work today. You are on holiday today. I am going to find out
about the ship so that you can get a seat in it." And he went away.
He
started roaming in the garden that he heard the noise of two birds. They
were fighting furiously with each other. One of them hit another very hard so that it fell
down and died, the first one flew away. Immediately after this, two other
birds came and buried the dead bird. They flew again and brought the first
bird who killed the second bird, they killed it and left its body
unburied. In grief, Kaamaraal Zamaan headed towards the tree and looked at
the unburied bird. He saw something red hanging out of its body. He took
it up and found that it was the Princess' lost Talismaan. He thought this
might result in a sooner meeting with his Princess. He kissed the Talismaan,
wrapped it up in a ribbon and tied it on his arm. On that day he slept
sound.
Next
day he rose late than usual and went to cut a tree. As he struck the axe
onto the root of the tree, his axe struck something hard and made a loud
sound. He
removed the earth from that place and discovered a broad plate of brass. He removed it and
found some 10 steps going down. He went down and found a cell about 6 feet
cube size. There were 50 brass pots filled with gild dust. He came out and
replaced everything as before.
The
gardener also came back home and told him that the ship would sail in three
days time and he had arranged his passage with the captain. The Prince
said - "Oh, This is a good news to me. I also have a good news for
you. You have a treasure in your garden." Saying this he took him to
the spot where he saw those pots, and showed him the gold. He then thanked Allaah for giving this to the gardener as the reward of what he had been
doing for years. The gardener exclaimed - "What? Do you think that it
is mine? No, no, It is yours. I have been digging this garden for 80 years,
since my father's death, but I have not found anything here. Now you have
found it, so it is your good fortune. It is destined for you and it suits
a Prince like you. I will die any day, so you keep it." The Prince
did not want to take it, and the gardener was also not ready to accept it,
so they divided it between themselves - 25 pots each.
Then
the gardener asked him - "How will you carry these pots so that none
can doubt you? I have an idea, there are no olives on the Island of Ebony, and I have
plenty of them. Take what you can, fill 50 pots - half with the gold dust
and half with the olives and take them there." The Prince spent rest of the day
in preparing these pots for transportation and lest this Talismaan is lost
again he kept it in one of the pots and marked it with a special mark to
distinguish it from the rest.
Now it
so happened that, the next day gardener got sick and the third day he got
so worse that he was near his end. On the third day the captain came to
take the passenger. The Prince said - "I am the passenger. The person
who arranged for my passage is ill, I take the leave from him and follow
you. Till then you take these 50 pots of olives on board." The Prince
went to the gardener to take leave, but he was dying and died in a few
minutes. He performed his last rites, buried him in his garden, as Muslims
had no cemetery in the town. As soon as he finished everything, he took
the key of the garden and ran away towards the ship. But as he reached the
shore, he found that the ship had already sailed for three hours and was
nowhere to be seen.
He did
not want to live in that country for the next 12 months, but the greater
problem was that he had put the Princess' Talismaan in one of the pots
and now it was gone. Now there was only one alternative that he should go
back to the garden and continue to cultivate it by himself. He hired a boy
to do some part of work, and as he might not lose the other half of the gold
dust, he filled them in other 50 pots and kept them ready for his next
voyage.
The
ship arrived at the capital of Island of Ebony. The Princess Badooraa's
palace was near the sea shore. She heard that a ship has arrived from a
city of idolaters and that it came there once a year. The Princess always
thought about the Prince, so she thought that she might meet her Prince
there on this ship, she went there personally to see him. She pretended
that she had come to see what merchandise was brought on that ship, she
talked to the captain about his ship, voyage, and stranger etc. He told
her that there was no passenger on board but the merchandise - finest
linens, diamonds, musk, camphor, spices, drugs, olives etc.
The
Princess loved olives very much. She told the captain to show her
everything before he showed them to others. Captain said - "Sir,
There are 50 pots of olive, but they belong to a merchant who could not
embark the ship." The Princess said - "No matter, bring them
here, we will make a bargain." The captain brought the pots and the
Princess asked him the price. The captain said - "The merchant was
poor so a 1,000 pieces of silver will be enough for him." The
Princess said - "You say that the merchant was poor, so take 1,000
pieces of gold instead of silver, and would you please take them to
him?" The payment was done and the pots were taken to the King's
palace.
When
the night had fallen, the Princess Badooraa, went to the other Princess
and got those 50 pots of olive there, and asked her to taste them pouring
them into a dish. As she poured them into a dish to eat, she was just
astonished to see that olives were mixed with gold dust. She ordered the
women to empty all the 50 pots. She got
more surprised when her Talismaan dropped off from one of the pots. She
took it and kissed it several times. She dismissed al the women and said
to the Princess - "You have already heard my story, this is the Talismaan which took my husband far from me. Since now it is found, I am
sure I will get my husband back too."
Next
day early morning, she went to the captain and asked him about the
merchant he had left behind, as what he was doing there. He told her that
an old gardener had arranged his passage and since he went there to call
him and he saw the place where he was living, that is why he told her that
he was a poor man. She said to him - "If what you are saying is true you
should go this very day there and fetch me that gardener's man, he is my
debtor, otherwise
I will confiscate not only all your merchandise, but also take the lives
of your merchants. I have already sealed your merchandise and they will be
given to you only after you have brought that man."
The
captain could not disobey this order, so he immediately filled his ship
with the eatables and fresh water to drink and proceeded back to the same
land. He arrived there in the night, he did not anchor his ship, took a
boat with six men, came to the shore and directly went to the Prince's
garden. Though it was midnight, the Prince was not asleep. As he heard the
knock on the door, he immediately opened the door, but no sooner that he
opened the door the captain and his men caught hold of him and took him by
force. As soon as he was safely boarded the ship, they sailed again.
The
captain and his men did not speak a word, then the Prince asked them what
was the matter and why were they taking him away like this? The captain
asked him - "Are you not the debtor of the King of the Island of
Ebony?" The Prince said in amazement - "I? The debtor of the
King of the Island of Ebony? I do not even know him, I have
nothing to do with him in my whole life. I have never been to that
island." The captain said - "You will know better when you reach
there, till then you stay here and have patience."
The
ship again reached the Island of Ebony in the night. The captain
immediately took him to the King. As soon as Badooraa heard of the captain's
return, she herself came out to speak to him. As she saw the Prince she
recognized him in spite of being in gardener's clothes. The Prince was thinking that he had to answer for the debt, so he was trembling in the
presence of the King. If there were some other time, the Princess would
have embraced him at the same time, but at this time she had to restrain
herself, because she was the King of the island. She handed over him to an
officer to present him to her next day. She asked her people to release
his merchandise and bade the captain to keep the 1,000 gold pieces saying
that she would settle the account with the merchant himself. Then she went
to the Princess of the Island of Ebony and told her everything and asked
her to keep it still a secret. The Princess could not say "No"
to her.
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