“Then take the youth thither,” said their mother, “and bid her hold him in high honour. He is my son, let him be hers also and help him out of his distress.” Then they took him off to their great-aunt, and told her the whole business. “Alas! I do not know, my sons!” said the old, old great-aunt; “but if you wait till the evening, when my ninety sons come home, I will ask them.”
Then the sixty devils departed and left the King’s son there, and when it grew dusk the Mother of the Devils gave the youth a tap, turned him into a broom, and placed him in the doorway. Shortly afterwards the ninety devils came home, and they also smelt the smell of man, and took the pieces of man’s flesh out of their teeth. In the middle of their meal their mother asked them how they would treat a human brother if they had one. When they had sworn upon eggs that they would not hurt so much as his little finger, their mother gave the broom a tap, and the King’s son stood before them.
The devil brothers entreated him courteously, inquired after his health, and served him so heartily with eatables that they scarcely gave him time to breathe. In the midst of the meal their mother asked them whether they knew where the three Oranges were, for their new brother had fallen in love with them. Then the least of the ninety devils leaped up with a shout of joy, and said that he knew.
“Then if thou knowest,” said his mother, “see that thou take this son of ours thither, that he may satisfy his heart’s desire.”
On arising next morning, the devil-son took the King’s son with him, and the pair of them went merrily along the road together. They went on, and on, and on, and at last the little devil said these words: “My brother, we shall come presently to a large garden, and in the fountain thereof are the three. When I say to thee: ‘Shut thine eye, open thine eye!’ lay hold of what thou shalt see.”
They went on a little way further till they came to the garden, and the moment the devil saw the fountain he said to the King’s son: “Shut thine eye and open thine eye!” He did so, and saw the three Oranges bobbing up and down on the surface of the water where it came bubbling out of the spring, and he snatched up one of them and popped it in his pocket. Again the devil called to him: “Open thine eye and shut thine eye!” He did so, and snatched up the second orange, and so with the third also in the same way. “Now take care,” said the devil, “that thou dost not cut open these oranges in any place where there is no water, or it will go ill with thee.” The King’s son promised, and so they parted, one went to the right, and the other to the left.
The King’s son went on, and on, and on. He went a long way, and he went a short way, he went across mountains and through valleys. At last he came to a sandy desert, and there he bethought him of the oranges, and drawing one out, he cut it open. Scarcely had he cut into it when a damsel, lovely as a Peri, popped out of it before him; the moon when it is fourteen days old is not more dazzling. “For Allah’s sake, give me a drop of water!” cried the damsel, and inasmuch as there was no trace of water anywhere, she vanished from the face of the earth. The King’s son grieved right sorely, but there was no help for it, the thing was done.
Again he went on his way, and when he had gone a little further he thought to himself, “I may as well cut open one more orange.” So he drew out the second orange, and scarcely had he cut into it than there popped down before him a still more lovely damsel, who begged piteously for water, but as the King’s son had none to give her, she also vanished.
“Well, I’ll take better care of the third,” cried he, and continued his journey. He went on and on till he came to a large spring, drank out of it, and then thought to himself: “Well, now I’ll cut open the third orange also.” He drew it out and cut it, and immediately a damsel even lovelier than the other two stood before him. As soon as she called for water, he led her to the spring and gave her to drink, and the damsel did not disappear, but remained there as large as life.
Mother-naked was the damsel, and as he could not take her to town like that, he bade her climb up a large tree that stood beside the spring, while he went into the town to buy her raiment and a carriage.