gardener threw the earth into the hole at the foot of
the tree as it had been before.

The princes Bahman and Perviz, who, as they were dressing
themselves in their own apartments, saw the princess their sister
in the garden earlier than usual, as soon as they could get out
went to her, and met her as she was returning, with a gold box
under her arm, which much surprised them. "Sister," said Bahman,
"you carried nothing with you when we saw you before with the
gardener, and now we see you have a golden box: is this some
treasure found by the gardener, and did he come and tell you of
it?"

"No, brother," answered the princess; "I took the gardener to the
place where this casket was concealed, and shewed him where to
dig: but you will be more amazed when you see what it contains."

The princess opened the box, and when the princes saw that it was
full of pearls, which, though small, were of great value; they
asked her how she came to the knowledge of this treasure?
"Brothers," said she, "if nothing more pressing calls you
elsewhere, come with me, and I will tell you." "What more
pressing business," said prince Perviz, "can we have than to be
informed of what concerns us so much? We have nothing to do to
prevent our attending you." The princess, as they returned to the
house, gave them an account of her having consulted the bird, as
they had agreed she should, and the answer he had given her; the
objection she had raised to preparing a dish of cucumbers stuffed
full of pearls, and how he had told her where to find this box.
The princes and princess formed many conjectures to penetrate
into what the bird could mean by ordering them to prepare such a
dish; and after much conversation, though they could not by any
means guess at his reason, they nevertheless agreed to follow his
advice exactly.

As soon as the princess entered the house, she called for the
head cook; and after she had given him directions about the
entertainment for the emperor, said to him, "Besides all this,
you must dress an extraordinary dish for the emperor's own
eating, which nobody else must have any thing to do with besides
yourself. This dish must be of cucumbers stuffed with these
pearls;" and at the same time she opened him the box, and shewed
him the pearls.

The chief cook, who had never heard of such a dish, started back,
and shewed his thoughts by his looks; which the princess
penetrating, said, "I see you take me to be mad to order s