Then answered the Khanin, “Wouldst thou in very truth prepare for me a sport at which I would surely laugh?”
And the Khan hasted to make answer, “That would I in very truth; thou knowest that there is nothing I would not do to fulfil thy bidding and desire.”
“If that be so,” replied the Khanin. “Know that there is one thing at which I would laugh in right good earnest; and that is, if it were thou who worest this monstrous costume. That this fellow weareth it is well enough, but we know not how monstrous he may be by nature. But if thou, O Khan, who art so comely of form and stature, didst put it on, then would it be a sight to make one laugh indeed.”
And her words pleased the Khan. So he called the man aside into a solitary place that the courtiers and people might not see what he did, and so become a laughing-stock to them. Then he made the man exchange his costume of magpie’s feathers against his royal attire and mantle, and went to dance before the Khanin, bidding the man take his place by her side.
No sooner, however, did the Khanin see him thus caught in her snare than she returned with her own husband, habited in the Khan’s royal habiliments, to the palace. She also gave strict charge to her guard, saying,—
“That juggler who was dancing just now upon the hill, dressed in a fantastic costume of magpie’s feathers, has the design of giving himself out for being the Khan. Should he make the attempt, set dogs[3] on him and drive him forth out of the country. Of all things, on peril of your lives, suffer him not to enter the palace.”
Scarcely had she made an end of speaking and conducted her husband into the palace, when the Khan appeared, still wearing the magpie costume, because the Khanin’s husband had gone off with her, wearing his royal habiliments, and would have made his way to his own apartments; but the guards seeing him, and recognizing the man in the magpie disguise the Khanin had designated, ordered him out.
The Khan asserted his khanship, and paid no heed to the guards; but the more he strove to prove himself the Khan, the more were the guards convinced he was the man the Khanin had ordered them to eject, and they continued barring the way against him and preventing his ingress. Then he grew angry and began to strive against them till they, wearied with his resistance, called out the dogs and set them on him.
The dogs, taking him for a monstrous wild bird, eagerly ran towards him, so that he was forced to turn and flee that he might by any means save his life. But the dogs were swifter than he and overtook him, and, springing upon him, tore him in pieces and devoured him.
Thus the husband of the Khanin became installed in all his governments and possessions.