The youth had little hope of this. Still, he asked the King for the things, as the crow had bade him,—forty cartloads of wine, the bullocks, and the forty slaves, and the King was not slow to give them to him. Then Hassan went away with them into the forest, and the crow flew before to show him in which direction to go. After they had journeyed a long distance, they came to a pool, and all round this pool were marks that showed that it was the drinking-place for a great herd of elephants. There had been a drought, however, and the water had almost dried up.
The crow bade Hassan fill the pool with the wine he had brought with him, and this he did. Then, by the crow’s directions, Hassan hid himself and the carts and bullocks and slaves some little distance away.
Toward evening there was a great noise of trampling and trumpeting in the forest, and a huge herd of elephants came down to the pool to drink. They were very thirsty, for the supply of water had been low for some days. When they found the pool full to the brim, they trumpeted with joy and rushed to it to drink. They drank and drank, and presently they were all overcome with the wine and fell down and lay as though dead.
Then Hassan called to the forty slaves, and they came and cut off all the elephants’ tusks and loaded them upon the carts, and there were forty cartloads.
Hassan and his slaves and carts left the forest before the elephants awoke, and by the next day they were back in the city again.
When the King saw the loads of ivory that Hassan had brought with him, he could not wonder enough.
Hassan’s enemy was filled with rage and envy, but he dissembled. “Did I not know it?” said he to the King. “I tell you there is nothing in the world that Hassan cannot do if only he wishes to.”
The ivory palace was built, and every day the King went there to sit and watch the bird, and Hassan was more of a favourite with him than ever.
But one day Hassan’s enemy thought of a new plot to destroy him. He went to the King and said, “What a pity it is that such a beautiful bird as this should never make a sound. No doubt it could make the most ravishing music if it would but sing.”
“Yes, it is a pity,” answered the King, and at once he became dissatisfied.