Next morning, at nine o’clock, the king came with his ministers on board the ship, and asked the captain who he was, and whence he came?
Whilst walking about the vessel he saw there the portrait of the girl on the helm and that of the old woman on the stern, and recognised the features of his own daughter and her old nurse who had been captured by the Turks. But his joy was so great, he dared not believe his eyes, so he invited the captain to come that afternoon to his palace to relate his adventures, hoping thus to find out if his hopes were well founded.
In the afternoon, in obedience to the king’s wish, he went to the palace, and the king at once began to inquire why the figure of the girl was painted on the helm and that of the old woman on the stern. The captain guessed at once that this king must be his wife’s father, so he told him everything that had happened—how he had met the Turkish ship filled with slaves, and had ransomed them and set them free. ‘This girl, alone,’ he continued, ‘with her old nurse, had nowhere to go, as her country was so far off, so they asked to remain with me, and I married the girl.’
When the king heard this he exclaimed, ‘That girl is my only child, and the accursed Turks took her and her old nurse. You, since you are her husband, will be the heir to my crown. But go—go at once to your home and bring me your wife that I may see her—my only daughter, before I die. Bring your father, your mother, bring all your family. Let your property be all sold in that country, and come all of you here. Your father shall be my brother, and your mother my sister, as you are my son and the heir to my crown. We will all live together here in one palace.’ Then he called the queen, and all his ministers, and told them all about his daughter. And there was great rejoicing and festivity in the whole court.
After this the king gave his son-in-law his own large ship to bring back the princess and the whole family. So the captain left his own ship there, but he asked the king to send one of his ministers with him, ‘Lest they should not believe me,’ he said; and the king gave him as a companion for his voyage the same minister to whom he had formerly promised the princess in marriage. They arrived safely in port, and the captain’s father was surprised to see his son return so soon, and with such a splendid vessel.
Then he told all that had happened and his mother and wife, and especially the old nurse, rejoiced greatly when they heard the good news. As the king’s minister was there to witness the truth of this strange news, no one could doubt it. So the father and mother consented to sell all their property and go to live in the king’s palace.
But the minister resolved to kill this new heir to the king and husband of the princess who had been promised to him for wife; so, when they had sailed a long distance, he called him on deck to confer with him. The captain had a quiet conscience, and did not suspect any evil, so he came up at once, and the minister caught him quickly and threw him overboard.
The ship was sailing fast, and it was rather dark, so the captain could not overtake her, but was left behind in the deep waters. The minister, however, went quietly to sleep.
Fortunately the waves carried the king’s young heir to a rock near the shore; it was, however, a desert country, and no one was near to help him. Those he had left on board the ship, seeing next morning that he had disappeared, began to weep and wail, thinking he had fallen overboard in the night and been drowned. His wife especially lamented him, because they had loved each other very much. When the ship arrived at the king’s city, and reported to him the great disaster that had befallen them, the king was troubled, and the whole court mourned greatly. The king kept the parents and family of the young man by him as he had engaged to do, but they could not console themselves for their great loss.
Meanwhile, the king’s unhappy son-in-law sat on the rock, and lived on the moss which grew there, and was scorched by the hot sun, from which he had no shelter; his garments were soiled and torn, and no one would have recognised him. Still not a living soul was to be seen anywhere to help him. At last, after fifteen days and fifteen nights, he noticed an old man on the shore, leaning on a staff, and engaged in fishing. Then the king’s heir shouted to the old man, and begged him to help him off the rock. The old fisherman consented—