to you, and now I venture to beg you to tell me your own. Who
are you? How did you come to make your dwelling in this
wilderness?'

To this the faqir replied: 'O youth! it would be best for you to
have nothing to do with me and to know nothing of my fortunes,
for my story is fit neither for telling nor for hearing.' The
prince, however, pleaded so hard to be told, that at last there
was nothing to be done but to let him hear.

'Learn and know, O young man! that I am King Janangir[FN#4] of
Babylon, and that once I had army and servants, family and
treasure; untold wealth and belongings. The Most High God gave
me seven sons who grew up well versed in all princely arts. My
eldest son heard from travellers that in Turkistan, on the
Chinese frontier, there is a king named Quimus, the son of Timus,
and that he has an only child, a daughter named Mihr-afruz,[FN#5]
who, under all the azure heaven, is unrivalled for beauty.
Princes come from all quarters to ask her hand, and on one and
all she imposes a condition. She says to them: "I know a riddle;
and I will marry anyone who answers it, and will bestow on him
all my possessions. But if a suitor cannot answer my question I
cut off his head and hang it on the battlements of the citadel."
The riddle she asks is, "What did the rose do to the cypress?"

'Now, when my son heard this tale, he fell in love with that
unseen girl, and he came to me lamenting and bewailing himself.
Nothing that I could say had the slightest effect on him. I
said: "Oh my son! if there must be fruit of this fancy of yours,
I will lead forth a great army against King Quimus. If he will