‘Now tell me what riddle this is,’ said he.
Then the farmer told the king and his ministers how he had rescued the queen and brought up Ameer Ali; and he fetched the old queen herself, whom he had left outside. At the sight of her the king was filled with shame and self-reproach, and wished he could have lived his life over again, and not have married the mother of the proud princess, who caused him endless trouble until her death.
‘My day is past,’ said he. And he gave up his crown to his son Ameer Ali, who went once more and called to the forest fairy to provide him with a queen to share his throne.
‘There is only one person I will marry,’ said he. And this time the maiden did not run away, but agreed to be his wife. So the two were married without delay, and lived long and reigned happily.
As for the old woman whose pitcher Ameer Ali had broken, she was the forest maiden’s fairy godmother, and when she was no longer needed to look after the girl she gladly returned to fairyland.
The old king has never been heard to contradict his wife any more. If he even looks as if he does not agree with her, she smiles at him and says:
‘Is it the tiger, then? or the jackal?’ And he has not another word to say.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] A galail is a double-stringed bow from which bullets or pellets of hard dried clay can be fired with considerable force and precision.