All of a sudden they came upon a hut surrounded with trees and brushwood, and hearing no sound they thought that it had been deserted, but listening very attentively they overheard the groans of a man as if in pain. Dismounting, they opened the little door of the hut, and there they saw a very old Fakir, bent almost double, and like to a bundle of rags, and lying on a sort of raised place in the corner. “Arrah! Kaun hai?” he called out, which means “Who is there?” They then told him that they were benighted in the jungles, had consumed all their food for themselves and their horses, and were about to seek their fortune in the King’s country which was somewhere here-about, they thought. “Can you please give us first some food, and then point us out the way to the King’s country?” Upon this the old Fakir scrambled off his bed place, and by the light of the small fire he looked at them very narrowly, and at last he said to the King’s son, “Bucha (son), I will see what I can do for you.” Presently he went a little distance outside his hut and blew a sort of whistle, and in less than no time a whole troop of Lungoors (large monkeys) came hurriedly down from the trees, chattering amongst themselves, and looking up into his face. “Go! ten of you, at once,” he said, “to the nearest village, loot it, and bring food for these travellers and corn for their horses.” Without more ado, off went a party of them in great haste, and in a very short space of time back they came with food and corn, and put it down at the feet of the Fakir, who seemed to speak a word of encouragement, and they departed.
After feeding their horses and refreshing themselves with a little food the travellers were about to take their leave of the old Fakir, and trust themselves again to their wanderings, when the Fakir said “No! you must not go without protection.” So saying, he gave another whistle, and more “Lungoors” came, and detaching about twenty of them he told them to go before the travellers and to put them on the high road leading to the King’s country, and then slightly raising his voice he said, “And mind you do not go beyond your boundary.”
Taking a kindly leave of the Fakir, the travellers left the hut, guarded with this escort of “Lungoors,” who, first on the ground, and then on the trees in front, seemed to point out to them a way through the jungles. After they had threaded their way for a considerable distance, until it was about the dawn of the morning, the “Lungoors” began to pause, and then all of a sudden they came to a dead stop, so the travellers knew that they must have come as far as their boundary.
Shortly afterwards they heard a great stampede amongst the trees, and all their “Lungoors” dispersed in an instant; then there seemed to be a great fight going on amongst them everywhere about, and screams of the most unearthly nature, such as they had never heard in their lives before. Morning then coming on, they pressed their steeds towards an opening in the jungle, and soon reached the high road. And so, on they went at an easy pace until they saw in the distance the walls and smoke of a great city, and the towers of a great palace. Arriving at the gates they went in, and proceeded at once to the Palace, and asked to be taken into the Royal presence. Ere long they were ushered before the King, and narrated their adventures, which both interested and amused him very much.
The King was pleased to give them service under him, and they remained at his Court for some years. Not receiving any news of their own country, they obtained leave from the King to visit it.
Upon their return thither, they went at once in some fear to the Palace, expecting that the anger of the King might still be poured out upon them; but when they told their story the King received them back into favour, and gave to his son an office in the State, and promoted the friend who had been his companion through their travels.
The son then bethought him of doing something in return to the kind old Fakir who had befriended them in the jungles, and he sent a party to persuade him to come to the Palace to live near him. The Fakir declined to leave his hut, so the party returned. At last the King’s son went himself, and took with him a Palkee, or covered carriage, and brought off the Fakir to his Palace. He gave him a beautiful room, with Persian carpets on the floor, and all other luxuries, and hoped that he might spend the few more years he might have to live, in every possible comfort. But the old Fakir felt everything very distasteful to him, and the more the King’s son tried to make him at his ease, the more distressed the old man became, so that in the end the Prince had to allow him to return to his hut in the jungle where he had spent nearly all his life, with the “Lungoors” as his friends.
In course of time the news was brought to the King’s son that the old Fakir was dead, so he and his friend had him conveyed to the city, where he was buried in great pomp; and afterwards a noble Shrine was erected to his memory, and a yearly visit was ever afterwards paid to it by the King’s son and his devoted friend.