Good woman, replied king Beder, I am heartily sorry I cannot comply with your request; my mare is not to be sold. Alas! sir, continued the old woman, do not refuse me this favour, for the love of God. I conjure you to do it out of pure charity, since my son and I shall certainly die with grief if you do not grant it. Good mother, replied the king, I would grant it with all my heart, if I was disposed to part with so good a beast; but if I were so disposed, I believe you would hardly give a thousand pieces of gold for her, which is the lowest price I shall ever put upon her. Why should I not give so much? replied the old woman: if that be the lowest price, you need only say you will take it, and I will fetch you the money.
King Beder, seeing the old woman so poorly dressed, could not imagine she could find the money; therefore, to try her, he said, not thinking to part with his mare for all that, Go fetch me the money, and the mare is yours. The old woman immediately unloosed a purse she had fastened to her girdle, and desiring him to alight, bade him tell over the money: and, in case he found it came short of the sum demanded, her house was not far off, and she could quickly fetch the rest.
The surprise king Beder was in at the sight of this purse was not small. Good woman, said he, do you not perceive I have bantered you all this while? I will assure you my mare is not to be sold.
The old man, who had been witness to all that was said, now began to speak: Son, quoth he to king Beder, it is necessary you should know one thing, which I find you are ignorant of; and that is, that in this city it is not permitted any one to lie, on any account whatsoever, and that on pain of death: now, you having made this bargain with this old woman, you must not refuse her money, and delivering your mare according to the agreement; and this you had better do without any noise, than expose yourself to what may ensue.
King Beder, sorely afflicted to find himself thus trapped by his rash proffer, was nevertheless forced to alight and perform his agreement. The old woman stood ready to seize the bridle; which when she had done, she immediately unbridled the mare, and taking some water in her hand from a spring that ran in the middle of the street, she threw it in the mare’s face, uttering these words: Daughter, quit that bestial form, and reassume thy own. The transformation was effected in a moment; and king Beder, who swooned as soon as he saw queen Labe appear, would have fallen to the ground, if the old man had not hindered him.
The old woman, who was mother to queen Labe, and who had instructed her in all her magic, had no sooner embraced her daughter, than in an instant, she, by whistling, caused a genie to rise, of a gigantic form and stature: this genie immediately took king Beder on one shoulder, and the old woman with the magic queen on the other, and transported them in a few minutes to the palace of queen Labe, in the city of enchantments.
The magic queen immediately fell upon king Beder, reproaching him grievously, in the following manner: Is it thus, ungrateful wretch, that thy unworthy uncle and thou make me amends for all the kindnesses I have done for you? I shall soon be able to make you both feel what you so well deserve. She said no more, but, taking water in her hand, threw it in his face, with these words, Come out of that form, and take that of a vile owl. These words were soon followed by the effect; and immediately she commanded one of her women to shut up the owl in a cage, and give him neither meat nor drink.
The woman took the cage, and, without regarding what the queen ordered, gave him both meat and drink; and being old Abdallah’s friend, she sent him word privately how the queen had treated his nephew, and what design she had taken to destroy him and king Beder, in case he did not take timely measures to prevent it.
Abdallah knew no common measures would do with queen Labe; he therefore did but whistle after a certain manner, and there immediately rose a vast giant, with four wings, who presented himself before him, and asked what he would have with him. Lightning, said Abdallah to him, (for so was the genie’s name,) I command you to preserve the life of king Beder, son of the queen Gulnare. Go to the palace of the magic queen, and transport immediately to the capital of Persia the compassionate woman who has the cage in custody, that she may inform queen Gulnare of the danger the king her son is in, and the occasion he has of her assistance. Take care not to fright her when you come before her, and acquaint her from me what she ought to do.
Lightning immediately disappeared, and got in an instant to the palace of the magic queen. He instructed the woman, lifted her up into the air, and transported her to the capital of Persia, where he placed her on the terrace of the apartment where queen Gulnare was. She went down stairs to the apartment, and she there found queen Gulnare and queen Farasche, lamenting their mutual misfortunes. She made them a profound reverence, and, by the relation she gave them, they soon came to understand the great necessity king Beder was in of their assistance.