and alone. Like his brothers, he made the long journey to the city of
Quimus the son of Timus; like them he saw the citadel, but he saw there
the heads of Tahmasp and Qamas. He went about in the city, saw the tent
and the drums, and then went out again to a village not far off. Here he
found out a very old man who had a wife 120 years old, or rather more.
Their lives were coming to their end, but they had never beheld face of
child of their own. They were glad when the prince came to their house,
and they dealt with him as with a son. He put all his belongings into
their charge, and fastened his horse in their out-house. Then he asked
them not to speak of him to anyone, and to keep his affairs secret. He
exchanged his royal dress for another, and next morning, just as the sun
looked forth from its eastern oratory, he went again into the city.
He turned over in his mind without ceasing how he was to find out the
meaning of the riddle, and to give them a right answer, and who could
help him, and how to avenge his brothers. He wandered about the city,
but heard nothing of service, for there was no one in all that land who
understood the riddle of Princess Mihr-afruz.

One day he thought he would go to her own palace and see if he could
learn anything there, so he went out to her garden-house. It was a very
splendid place, with a wonderful gateway, and walls like Alexander's
ramparts. Many gate-keepers were on guard, and there was no chance of
passing them. His heart was full of bitterness, but he said to himself:
'All will be well! it is here I shall get what I want.' He went round
outside the garden wall hoping to find a gap, and he made supplication
in the Court of Supplications and prayed, 'O Holder of the hand of the
helpless! show me my way.'

While he prayed he bethought himself that he could get into the garden
with a stream of inflowing water. He looked carefully round, fearing to
be seen, stripped, slid into the stream and was carried within the great
walls. There he hid himself till his loin cloth was dry. The garden was
a very Eden, with running water amongst its lawns, with flowers and the
lament of doves and the jug-jug of nightingales. It was a place to steal
the senses from the brain, and he wandered about and saw the house, but
there seemed to be no one there. In the forecourt was a royal seat of
polished jasper, and in the middle of the platform was a basin of purest
water that flashed like a mirror. He