The dwarf nodded and answered,

"I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this
trick since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the
arrow than the bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and
none, save you and I, would know them apart. Till we are clear of this
cursed land your bow is mine, Master, and you must find you another of
the Eastern make."

"Master," I repeated after him. "Say, Bes, did I dream or did you in
truth tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a
great country?"

"I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and
suffering mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times
which the heart would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will
speak no more of this matter either to me or to any other, man or
woman, unless I should speak of it first. Let it be as though it were
indeed a dream."

"It is granted," I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own
garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the
splendid silken robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed
from the boat. When this was done and I had washed and combed my long,
curling hair, we descended to a lower chamber and called for the woman
of the house to bring us food, of which I ate heartily. As we finished
our meal we heard shouts in the street outside of, "Make way for the
servants of the King!" and looking through the window-place, saw a
great cavalcade approaching, headed by two princes on horseback.