and the Fairy ; ae ome TG 5

rest, he said to _him:' ‘Son, I have already. expressed how much I
am obliged to you for the present of the tent you have procured
me, which I look upon asthe most valuable thing in my treasury;
but you must do one thing more for me. I am informed that the
fairy your. wife makes use of a certain water, called the water of
the fountain of lions, which cures all sorts of fevers, even the most
dangerous; and as I am perfectly sure that my health is dear to
you, I do not doubt that. you will ask her for a bottle of that water
for me, and bring it me as a sovereign remedy, which I may
make use of when I have occasion. Do me this service, and
complete the duty of a good son towards a tender father.’

‘Prince’ Ahmed, who had believed that the sultan his father
would have been satisfied with so singular and useful a tent as
that which he. had brought, and that he would not have imposed
any new task upon him which might hazard the fairy’s displeasure
was thunderstruck at this new request, notwithstanding the assurance
she had given him of granting him whatever lay in her power. After
a long silence, he said, ‘I beg of your majesty to be assured that
there is nothing I would not undertake to prolong your life, but
I. wish it might not be by. means of my wife. For this reason I
dare not promise to bring the. water. . All I can do is to assure
you I will ask her; but it will be with as great reluctance as. when
I asked for the tent! /

- The next morning Prince Ahmed rertne | to the Ga Bar

- Banou, and related to her sincerely and faithfully all that had
passed at the sultan his father’s court, from the giving of ‘the tent,
which he told her he received with the utmost gratitude, to the
new request he had charged him to make, and when he had done,
he added : ‘but, my princess, I only tell you this as a plain account
of what passed between me and my father. I leave you to your
own discretion to gratify or oe this new desire. It shall be
as you please’