ingenuity of its fashion. So he asked, "What is the use of this
horse of wood, and what is its virtue and what the secret of its
movement?"; and the Persian answered, "O my lord, the virtue of
this horse is that, if one mount him, it will carry him whither
he will and fare with its rider through the air and cover the
space of a year in a single day." The King marvelled and was
amazed at these three wonders, following thus hard upon one
another on the same day, and turning to the sage, said to him,
"By Allah the Omnipotent, and our Lord the Beneficent, who
created all creatures and feedeth them with meat and drink, an
thy speech be veritable and the virtue of thy contrivance appear,
I will assuredly give thee whatsoever thou lustest for and will
bring thee to thy desire and thy wish!"[FN#6] Then he entertained
the sages three days, that he might make trial of their gifts;
after which they brought the figures before him and each took the
creature he had wroughten and showed him the mystery of its
movement. The trumpeter blew the trump; the peacock pecked its
chicks and the Persian sage mounted the ebony house, whereupon it
soared with him high in air and descended again. When King Sabur
saw all this, he was amazed and perplexed and felt like to fly
for joy and said to the three sages, "Now I am certified of the
truth of your words and it behoveth me to quit me of my promise.
Ask ye, therefore, what ye will, and I will give you that same."
Now the report of the King's daughters had reached the sages, so
they answered, "If the King be content with us and accept of our
gifts and allow us to prefer a request to him, we crave of him
that he give us his three daughters in marriage, that we may be
his sons-in-law; for that the stability of Kings may not be
gainsaid." Quoth the King, "I grant you that which you wish and
you desire," and bade summon the Kazi forthright, that he might