PRINCE AHMED AND THE FAIRY PERIE BANOU. 171

reminded him of the old woman on whom he had compassion, and said
that she was the spy of the sultan, and had told him all she had seen
and heard. ‘But,’ she said, ‘ the mere knowledge of my abode by the
sultan would not so trouble you; there is something else which is the
cause of your grief and vexation.’ ‘ Perie Banou,’ said Prince Ahmed
at last, ‘it is even so. My father doubts my allegiance to him, unless
I can provide a pavilion large enough to shelter him, his court, and
army, when he takes the field, and small enough for a man to carry in
his hand.’

‘Prince,’ replied the fairy, smiling, ‘ what the sultan your father
requests is a trifle. Upon occasion I can do him more important
service. Therefore, be persuaded that far from thinking myself impor-
tuned by you, I shall always take real pleasure in performing whatever
you can desire.’ Perie Banou then sent for her treasurer, to whom,
when she came, she said, ‘Noor-Jehaun’ (which was her name),
‘bring me the largest pavilion in my treasury.’ Noor-Jehaun re-
turned presently with a small case concealed in the palm of the
hand, and presented it to her mistress, who gave it to Prince Ahmed
to look at.

When Prince Ahmed saw the small case, which the fairy called the
largest tent in her treasury, he fancied she had a mind to banter him,
and on perceiving which, Perie Banou exclaimed, ‘ What, prince ! do
you think I jest with you? You will see that I am in earnest. Noor-
Jehaun,’ said she to her treasurer, taking the tent out of Prince Ahmed’s
hands, ‘go and set it up, that he may judge whether the sultan his
father will think it large enough.’

The treasurer went out immediately with it from the palace, and
carried it to a great distance, and then set it up. The prince found it
large enough to shelter two armies as numerous as that of the sultan
his father. ‘ You see,’ said the fairy, ‘that the pavilion is larger than
your father may have occasion for; bué you are to observe that it has
one property, that it becomes larger or smaller, according to the extent
of the army it is to cover, without applying any hands to it.’

The treasurer took down the tent again, reduced it to its first size,
brought it and put it into the prince’s hands. He took it, and without
staying longer than till the next day, mounted his horse, and went with
the usual attendants to the sultan his father.

The sultan, persuaded that the tent he had asked for was beyond all
possibility, was in great surprise at the prince’s speedy return. He
took the tent, but after he had admired its smallness, his amazement
was so great that he could not recover himself, when he had set it up
in the great plain before mentioned, and found it large enough to cover
with ease his whole army.

The sultan expressed great obligation to the prince for so noble a
present, desiring him to return his thanks to the fairy; and to show
what a value he set upon it, ordered it to be carefully laid up in his
treasury. But in his secret bosom he felt greater jealousy than ever of