Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 06 (24 page)

'We were easily pleased and quite content with our lives at home,
when one morning the officials who had been sent to find wives
for the Sultan saw us, and were struck with our beauty. We had
always expected something of the sort, and were resigned to our
lot, when we chanced to see two young men enter our house. The
elder, who was about twenty years of age, had black hair and very
bright eyes. The other could not have been more than fifteen, and
was so fair that he might easily have passed for a girl.

'They knocked at the door with a timid air and begged our parents
to give them shelter, as they had lost their way. After some
hesitation their request was granted, and they were invited into
the room in which we were. And if our parents' hearts were
touched by their beauty, our own were not any harder, so that our
departure for the palace, which had been arranged for the next
day, suddenly became intolerable to us.

'Night came, and I awoke from my sleep to find the younger of the
two strangers sitting at my bedside and felt him take my hand.

'"Fear nothing, lovely Dely," he whispered, "from one who never
knew love till he saw you. My name," he went on, "is Prince
Delicate, and I am the son of the king of the Isle of Black
Marble. My friend, who travels with me, is one of the richest
nobles of my country, and the secrets which he knows are the envy
of the Sultan himself. And we left our native country because my
father wished me to marry a lady of great beauty, but with one
eye a trifle smaller than the other."

'My vanity was flattered at so speedy a conquest, and I was
charmed with the way the young man had declared his passion. I
turned my eyes slowly on him, and the look I gave him caused him
almost to lose his senses. He fell fainting forward, and I was
unable to move till Tezila, who had hastily put on a dress, ran
to my assistance together with Thelamis, the young noble of whom
the Prince had spoken.

'As soon as we were all ourselves again we began to bewail our
fate, and the journey that we were to take that very day to
Constantinople. But we felt a little comforted when Thelamis
assured us that he and the prince would follow in our steps, and
would somehow contrive to speak to us. Then they kissed our
hands, and left the house by a side-way.

'A few moments later our parents came to tell us that the escort
had arrived, and having taken farewell of them we mounted the
camels, and took our seats in a kind of box that was fixed to the
side of the animal. These boxes were large enough for us to sleep
in comfortably, and as there was a window in the upper part, we
were able to see the country through which we passed.

'For several days we journeyed on, feeling sad and anxious as to
what might become of us, when one day as I was looking out of the
window of our room, I heard my name called, and beheld a
beautifully dressed girl jumping out of the box on the other side
of our camel. One glance told me that it was the prince, and my
heart bounded with joy. It was, he said, Thelamis's idea to
disguise him like this, and that he himself had assumed the
character of a slave-dealer who was taking this peerless maiden
as a present to the Sultan. Thelamis had also persuaded the
officer in charge of the caravan to let him hire the vacant box,
so it was easy for the prince to scramble out of his own window
and approach ours.

This ingenious trick enchanted us, but our agreeable conversation
was soon interrupted by the attendants, who perceived that the
camel was walking in a crooked manner and came to find out what
was wrong. Luckily they were slow in their movements, and the
prince had just time to get back to his own box and restore the
balance, before the trick was discovered.

'But neither the prince nor his friend had any intention of
allowing us to enter the Sultan's palace, though it was difficult
to know how we were to escape, and what was to become of us when
once we had escaped. At length, one day as we were drawing near
Constantinople, we learned from the prince that Thelamis had made
acquaintance with a holy dervish whom he had met on the road, and
had informed him that we were his sisters, who were being sold as
slaves against his will. The good man was interested in the
story, and readily agreed to find us shelter if we could manage
to elude the watchfulness of our guards. The risk was great, but
it was our only chance.

'That night, when the whole caravan was fast asleep, we raised
the upper part of our boxes and by the help of Thelamis climbed
silently out. We next went back some distance along the way we
had come, then, striking into another road, reached at last the
retreat prepared for us by the dervish. Here we found food and
rest, and I need not say what happiness it was to be free once
more.

'The dervish soon became a slave to our beauty, and the day after
our escape he proposed that we should allow him to conduct us to
an inn situated at a short distance, where we should find two
Jews, owners of precious talismans which did not really belong to
them. "Try," said the dervish, "by some means to get possession
of them."

'The inn, though not on the direct road to Constantinople, was a
favourite one with merchants, owing to the excellence of the
food, and on our arrival we discovered at least six or eight
other people who had stopped for refreshment. They greeted us
politely, and we sat down to table together.

'In a short time the two men described by the dervish entered the
room, and at a sign from him my sister made room at her side for
one, while I did the same for the other.

'Now the dervish had happened to mention that "their brother had
danced." At the moment we paid no attention to this remark, but
it came back to our minds now, and we determined that they should
dance also. To accomplish this we used all our arts and very soon
bent them to our wills, so that they could refuse us nothing. At
the end of the day we remained possessors of the talismans and
had left them to their fate, while the prince and Thelamis fell
more in love with us than ever, and declared that we were more
lovely than any women in the world.

'The sun had set before we quitted the inn, and we had made no
plans as to where we should go next, so we readily consented to
the prince's proposal that we should embark without delay for the
Isle of Black Marble. What a place it was! Rocks blacker than jet
towered above its shores and shed thick darkness over the
country. Our sailors had not been there before and were nearly as
frightened as ourselves, but thanks to Thelamis, who undertook to
be our pilot, we landed safely on the beach.

'When we had left the coast behind us, with its walls of jet, we
entered a lovely country where the fields were greener, the
streams clearer, and the sun brighter than anywhere else. The
people crowded round to welcome their prince, whom they loved
dearly, but they told him that the king was still full of rage at
his son's refusal to marry his cousin the Princess Okimpare, and
also at his flight. Indeed, they all begged him not to visit the
capital, as his life would hardly be safe. So, much as I should
have enjoyed seeing the home of my beloved prince, I implored him
to listen to this wise advice and to let us all go to Thelamis's
palace in the middle of a vast forest.

'To my sister and myself, who had been brought up in a cottage,
this house of Thelamis's seemed like fairyland. It was built of
pink marble, so highly polished that the flowers and streams
surrounding it were reflected as in a mirror. One set of rooms
was furnished especially for me in yellow silk and silver, to
suit my black hair. Fresh dresses were provided for us every day,
and we had slaves to wait on us. Ah, why could not this happiness
have lasted for ever!

'The peace of our lives was troubled by Thelamis's jealousy of my
sister, as he could not endure to see her on friendly terms with
the prince, though knowing full well that his heart was mine.
Every day we had scenes of tender reproaches and of explanations,
but Tezila's tears never failed to bring Thelamis to his knees,
with prayers for forgiveness.

'We had been living in this way for some months when one day the
news came that the king had fallen dangerously ill. I begged the
prince to hurry at once to the Court, both to see his father and
also to show himself to the senators and nobles, but as his love
for me was greater than his desire of a crown, he hesitated as if
foreseeing all that afterwards happened. At last Tezila spoke to
him so seriously in Thelamis's presence, that he determined to
go, but promised that he would return before night.

'Night came but no prince, and Tezila, who had been the cause of
his departure, showed such signs of uneasiness that Thelamis's
jealousy was at once awakened. As for me, I cannot tell what I
suffered. Not being able to sleep I rose from my bed and wandered
into the forest, along the road which he had taken so many hours
before. Suddenly I heard in the distance the sound of a horse's
hoofs, and in a few moments the prince had flung himself down and
was by my side. "Ah, how I adore you!" he exclaimed; "Thelamis's
love will never equal mine." The words were hardly out of his
mouth when I heard a slight noise behind, and before we could
turn round both our heads were rolling in front of us, while the
voice of Thelamis cried:

'"Perjured wretches, answer me; and you, faithless Tezila, tell
me why you have betrayed me like this?"

'Then I understood what had happened, and that, in his rage, he
had mistaken me for my sister.

'"Alas," replied my head in weak tones, "I am not Tezila, but
Dely, whose life you have destroyed, as well as that of your
friend." At this Thelamis paused and seemed to reflect for an
instant.

'"Be not frightened," he said more quietly, "I can make you whole
again," and laying a magic powder on our tongues he placed our
heads on our necks. In the twinkling of an eye our heads were
joined to our bodies without leaving so much as a scar; only
that, blinded with rage as he still was, Thelamis had placed my
head on the prince's body, and his on mine!

'I cannot describe to you how odd we both felt at this strange
transformation. We both instinctively put up our hands—he to
feel his hair, which was, of course, dressed like a woman's, and
I to raise the turban which pressed heavily on my forehead. But
we did not know what had happened to us, for the night was still
dark.

'At this point Tezila appeared, followed by a troop of slaves
bearing flowers. It was only by the light of their torches that
we understood what had occurred. Indeed the first thought of both
of us was that we must have changed clothes.

'Now in spite of what we may say, we all prefer our own bodies to
those of anybody else, so notwithstanding our love for each
other, at first we could not help feeling a little cross with
Thelamis. However, so deep was the prince's passion for me, that
very soon he began to congratulate himself on the change. " My
happiness is perfect," he said; "my heart, beautiful Dely, has
always been yours, and now I have your head also."

'But though the prince made the best of it, Thelamis was much
ashamed of his stupidity. "I have," he said hesitatingly, "two
other pastilles which have the same magic properties as those I
used before. Let me cut off your heads again, and that will put
matters straight." The proposal sounded tempting, but was a
little risky, and after consulting together we decided to let
things remain as they were. "Do not blame me then," continued
Thelamis, "if you will not accept my offer. But take the two
pastilles, and if it ever happens that you are decapitated a
second time, make use of them in the way I have shown you, and
each will get back his own head." So saying he presented us with
the pastilles, and we all returned to the castle.

'However, the troubles caused by the unfortunate exchange were
only just beginning. My head, without thinking what it was doing,
led the prince's body to my apartments. But my women, only
looking at the dress, declared I had mistaken the corridor, and
called some slaves to conduct me to his highness's rooms. This
was bad enough, but when—as it was still night my servants began
to undress me, I nearly fainted from surprise and confusion, and
no doubt the prince's head was suffering in the same manner at
the other end of the castle!

'By the next morning—you will easily guess that we slept but
little—we had grown partly accustomed to our strange situation,
and when we looked in the mirror, the prince had become
brown-skinned and black-haired, while my head was covered with
his curly golden locks. And after that first day, everyone in the
palace had become so accustomed to the change that they thought
no more about it.

'Some weeks after this, we heard that the king of the Isle of
Black Marble was dead. The prince's head, which once was mine,
was full of ambitious desires, and he longed to ride straight to
the capital and proclaim himself king. But then came the question
as to whether the nobles would recognise the prince with a girl's
body, and indeed, when we came to think of it, which was prince
and which was girl?

'At last, after much argument, my head carried the day and we set
out; but only to find that the king had declared the Princess
Okimpare his successor. The greater part of the senators and
nobles openly professed that they would much have preferred the
rightful heir, but as they could not recognise him either in the
prince or me, they chose to consider us as impostors and threw us
into prison.

'A few days later Tezila and Thelamis, who had followed us to the
capital, came to tell us that the new queen had accused us of
high treason, and had herself been present at our trial—which
was conducted without us. They had been in mortal terror as to
what would be our sentence, but by a piece of extraordinary luck
we had been condemned to be beheaded.