and they are such seas that if
all the kings of the earth, and all their wazirs, and all their wise men
considered for a thousand years, they would not be able to cross them.'

'O most delicious person! where is the Simurgh's home? How shall I get
there?'

'O new fruit of life! you must just do what I tell you, and you must use
your eyes and your brains, for if you don't you will find yourself at
the place of the negroes, who are a bloodthirsty set; and God forbid
they should lay hands on your precious person.'

Then she took the bow and quiver of arrows, the sword, and the dagger
out of a box, and the prince let fall a Bismillah, and girt them all
on. Then Jamila of the houri-face, produced two saddle-bags of ruby-red
silk, one filled with roasted fowl and little cakes, and the other with
stones of price. Next she gave him a horse as swift as the breeze of the
morning, and she said: 'Accept all these things from me; ride till you
come to a rising ground, at no great distance from here, where there is
a spring. It is called the Place of Gifts, and you must stay there one
night. There you will see many wild beasts--lions, tigers, leopards,
apes, and so on. Before you get there you must capture some game. On the
long road beyond there dwells a lion-king, alla if other beasts did not
fear him they would ravage the whole country and let no one pass. The
lion is a red transgressor, so when he comes rise and do him reverence;
take a cloth and rub the dust and earth from his face, then set the game
you have taken before him, well cleansed, and lay the hands of respect
on your breast. When he wishes to eat, take your knife and cut pieces of
the meat and set them before him with a bow. In this way you will enfold
that lion-king in perfect friendship, and he will be most useful to you,
and you will be safe from molestation by the negroes. When you go on
from the Place of Gifts, be sure you do not take the right-hand road;
take the left, for the other leads by the negro castle, which is
known as the Place of Clashing Swords, and where there are forty negro
captains each over three thousand or four thousand more. Their chief is
Taramtaq. [11] Further on than this is the home of the Simurgh.'

Having stored these things in the prince's memory, she said: 'You will
see everything happen just as I have said.' Then she escorted him a
little way; they parted, and she went home to mourn his absence.

Prince Almas, relying on the Cause