little cakes, and the other with stones of price. Next she gave
him a horse as swift as the breeze of the morning, and she said:
' Accept all these things from me; ride till you come to a rising
ground, at no great distance from here, where there is a spring.
It is called the Place of Gifts, and you must stay there one
night. There you will see many wild beasts--lions, tigers,
leopards, apes, and so on. Before you get there you must capture
some game. On the long road beyond there dwells a lion-king,
alla if other beasts did not fear him they would ravage the whole
country and let no one pass. The lion is a red transgressor, so
when he comes rise and do him reverence; take a cloth and rub the
dust and earth from his face, then set the game you have taken
before him, well cleansed, and lay the hands of respect on your
breast. When he wishes to eat, take your knife and cut pieces of
the meat and set them before him with a bow. In this way you
will enfold that lion-king in perfect friendship, and he will be
most useful to you, and you will be safe from molestation by the
negroes. When you go on from the Place of Gifts, be sure you do
not take the right-hand road; take the left, for the other leads
by the negro castle, which is known as the Place of Clashing
Swords, and where there are forty negro captains each over three
thousand or four thousand more. Their chief is Taramtaq.[FN#11]
Further on than this is the home of the Simurgh.'

Having stored these things in the prince's memory, she said: 'You
will see everything happen just as I have said.' Then she
escorted him a little way; they parted, and she went home to
mourn his absence.

Prince Almas, relying on the Causer of Causes, rode on to the