ot once but many
times a day. Hitherto the blade had remained bright and spotless, but
on the fatal hour on which Prince Bahman and his horse were changed
into black stones, large drops of blood appeared on the surface. "Ah!
my beloved brother," cried the princess in horror, throwing the knife
from her, "I shall never see you again, and it is I who have killed
you. Fool that I was to listen to the voice of that temptress, who
probably was not speaking the truth. What are the Talking Bird and the
Singing Tree to me in comparison with you, passionately though I long
for them!"

Prince Perviz's grief at his brother's loss was not less than that of
Princess Parizade, but he did not waste his time on useless
lamentations.

"My sister," he said, "why should you think the old woman was deceiving
you about these treasures, and what would have been her object in doing
so! No, no, our brother must have met his death by some accident, or
want of precaution, and to-morrow I will start on the same quest."

Terrified at the thought that she might lose her only remaining
brother, the princess entreated him to give up his project, but he
remained firm. Before setting out, however, he gave her a chaplet of a
hundred pearls, and said, "When I am absent, tell this over daily for
me. But if you should find that the beads stick, so that they will not
slip one after the other, you will know that my brother's fate has
befallen me. Still, we must hope for better luck."

Then he departed, and on the twentieth day of his journey fell in with
the dervish on the same spot as Prince Bahman had met him, and began to
question him as to the place where the Talking Bird, the Singing Tree
and the Golden Water were to be found. As in the case of his brother,
the dervish tried to make him give up his project, and even told him
that only a few weeks since a young man, bearing a strong resemblance
to himself, had passed that way, but had never come back again.

"That, holy dervish," replied Prince Perviz, "was my elder brother, who
is now dead, though how he died I cannot say."

"He is changed into a black stone," answered the dervish, "like all the
rest who have gone on the same errand, and you will become one likewise
if you are not more careful in following my directions." Then he
charged the prince, as he valued his life, to take no heed of the
clamour of voices that would pursue him up the mountain, and handing
him a ball from the bag,