voices redoubled with so loud a
din, both behind and before, that at last he was seized with dread, his
legs trembled under him, he staggered, and finding that his strength
failed him, he forgot the dervish's advice, turned about to run down the
hill, and was that instant changed into a black stone; a metamorphosis
which had happened to many before him who had attempted the ascent. His
horse, likewise, underwent the same change.

From the time of Prince Bahman's departure, the Princess Periezade
always wore the knife and sheath in her girdle, and pulled it out
several times in a day, to know whether her brother was alive. She had
the consolation to understand he was in perfect health and to talk of
him frequently with Prince Perviz. On the fatal day that Prince Bahman
was transformed into a stone, as Prince Perviz and the princess were
talking together in the evening, as usual, the prince desired his sister
to pull out the knife to know how their brother did. The princess
readily complied, and seeing the blood run down the point was seized
with so much horror that she threw it down. "Ah! my dear brother," cried
she, "I have been the cause of your death, and shall never see you more!
Why did I tell you of the Talking Bird, Singing Tree, and Golden Water;
or rather, of what importance was it to me to know whether the devout
woman thought this house ugly or handsome, or complete or not? I wish
to Heaven she had never addressed herself to me!"

Prince Perviz was as much afflicted at the death of Prince Bahman as the
princess, but not to waste time in needless regret, as he knew that she
still passionately desired possession of the marvellous treasures, he
interrupted her, saying: "Sister, our regret for our brother is vain;
our lamentations cannot restore him to life; it is the will of God; we
must submit and adore the decrees of the Almighty without searching into
them. Why should you now doubt of the truth of what the holy woman told
you? Do you think she spoke to you of three things that were not in
being, and that she invented them to deceive you who had received her
with so much goodness and civility? Let us rather believe that our
brother's death is owing to some error on his part, or some accident
which we cannot conceive. It ought not therefore to prevent us from
pursuing our object. I offered to go this journey, and am now more
resolved than ever; his example has no effect upon my resolution;
to-morrow I will dep