said: "Gentlemen, I
expect that some of you should lead the way;" to which one who was
nearest to her, in the name of the rest, replied: "Madam, were we
ignorant of the respect due to your sex, yet after what you have done
for us there is no deference we would not willingly pay you,
notwithstanding your modesty; we entreat you no longer to deprive us of
the happiness of following you."

"Gentlemen," said the princess, "I do not deserve the honour you do me,
and accept it only because you desire it." At the same time she led the
way, and the two princes and the gentlemen followed.

This illustrious company called upon the dervish as they passed, to
thank him for his reception and wholesome advice, which they had all
found to be sincere. He was dead, however; whether of old age, or
because he was no longer necessary to show the way to obtaining the
three rarities, did not appear. They pursued their route, but lessened
in their numbers every day. The gentlemen who, as we said before, had
come from different countries, after severally repeating their
obligations to the princess and her brothers, took leave of them one
after another as they approached the road by which they had come.

As soon as the princess reached home, she placed the cage in the garden,
and the Bird no sooner began to warble than he was surrounded by
nightingales, chaffinches, larks, linnets, goldfinches, and every
species of birds of the country. The branch of the Singing Tree was no
sooner set in the midst of the parterre, a little distance from the
house, than it took root and in a short time became a large tree, the
leaves of which gave as harmonious a concert as those of the parent from
which it was gathered. A large basin of beautiful marble was placed in
the garden, and when it was finished, the princess poured into it all
the Golden Water from the flagon, which instantly increased and swelled
so much that it soon reached up to the edges of the basin, and afterward
formed in the middle a fountain twenty feet high, which fell again into
the basin perpetually, without running over.

The report of these wonders was presently spread abroad, and as the
gates of the house and those of the gardens were shut to nobody, a great
number of people came to admire them.

Some days after, when the Princes Bahman and Perviz had recovered from
the fatigue of their journey, they resumed their former way of living;
and as their usual diversion was hunting, they