This story is evidently that found in the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. 2, p. 307), and termed there “Tale of Kamar al-Zaman,” although in some details it adheres more closely to a story given in the Kathā Sarit Sāgara. In the Arabian Nights, the father of the Prince was King of the Khālidān Islands—(stated to be the Canaries)—and the Princess’s father was the King of “the Islands of the Inland Sea in the parts of China.” A Jinn Princess saw and admired the Prince, who had been imprisoned for refusing to marry; and an Ifrit saw the Princess, and by the order of the Jinn Princess brought her while asleep (without the bed) and laid her beside the sleeping Prince. At the suggestion of an Ifrit whom they summoned to decide their dispute as to which was the more beautiful, they awoke first the Prince and then, when he was asleep, the Princess, each of whom took the other’s finger ring. The Princess was then carried back. Next day the two were thought to be insane, and they were kept in prison for three years. The Princess’s foster-brother found the Prince, cured him by telling him about the Princess, and returned with him. He visited the Princess disguised as an astrologer; she at once recovered, and her father gave her in marriage to the Prince, as well as the rule over half the kingdom. The rest of the story agrees closely with that given above.
The Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 209, contains a story which seems to be the Indian original of the first part of the tale. The second part relating to the loss and recovery of the talisman, appears to be an evident addition, since the first part is a complete tale by itself. The Indian story is as follows:—
At the orders of the God Gaṇēśa, the Gaṇas his attendants transported Prince Śrīdarśana of Mālava (without his bed), while asleep, to Hansadwīpa, an island in the Western Sea, and placed him on the bed on which the King’s daughter lay asleep. He awoke, thought it a dream, nudged her shoulder, and she awoke. When they had exchanged ornaments, the Gaṇas stupefied them and carried back the Prince. Next day the Prince’s father, after hearing his story, issued a proclamation, but could not discover where Hansadwīpa was. The Princess’s father ascertained the facts by means of the power of contemplation possessed by an ascetic, who went “in a moment” by his mystical power to Mālava, cured a madman by the touch of his hand, and was requested to restore the Prince to happiness. He carried him back to Hansadwīpa, and after the two lovers were married conveyed them both to Mālava, where the Prince eventually succeeded to the throne.
In The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 29, a Prince by means of a magic ring caused a Princess to be transported to him while asleep on her bed. They agreed to be married, and he then sent her back to her own room in the same way. On the following day she told her father that she had dreamt of this Prince and had determined to marry him. A few days afterwards the Prince’s Ministers arrived to ask her hand in marriage, and when the Prince went there they were married.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 299, a Prince who refused to marry was imprisoned by his father. Three Bongas (deities) saw him, the wife of the Bonga chief proposed to give him a bride, and during the next night he found a Bonga maiden sitting beside him when he awoke. They exchanged rings, were seen by the warders, who informed the Rāja, and they were married.