CHAP. XXVII.
 
CONTINUATION OF
 
The History of the Prince of Futtun and the
 
Princess Mherbanou.

THE Vizier’s son related his adventures, and informed her of his project; when the princess, smiling, said, “Alas! thou blood-devoted youth, thy weak ability never can accomplish so arduous a business; for, who ever heard of the mountain’s removal by the efforts of a blade of grass? or of the elephant being tumbled to the earth by the strength of a fly? Hasten then, while thou hast power, and fly far off, nor vainly combat with death.”

The youth replied, “Sun-resplen­dent princess, though thy heart-con­soling adage accords with far-sighted caution, yet it frequently occurs that, under the auspices of wise policy, great objects are effected by weak man, and the feeble ant, with the assistance of stratagem, may overcome the mountain-sized elephant. If thou wouldst be my guide, and point out the way, I may succeed in the under­taking.”

The princess said, “His death can only be effected in the following man­ner; if you can convey a black bee, whose wings and feet are smeared with honey, to the Afreet’s nostril, it will itch, and he will sneeze with great violence; when, should the insect fall out, he will instantly tear thee in pieces, or crumble thee to dust; but if it reach his brain, and penetrate, he will immediately die.”

The vizier’s son exclaimed, “Fear not, for I dread not my own death, and will attempt this adventure. If by thy auspicious contrivance the destruction of this villainous Afreet shall be accomplished, I shall have freed the world from a calamity: on the contrary, I shall be a sacrifice to the safety of my patron.” Having said this, he committed himself to the pro­tection of God, and covering his head with the shield of resignation, proceeded to the chamber of the monster.

On his entrance, he beheld a black demon, heaped on the ground like a mountain, with two large horns upon his head, and a long proboscis, fast asleep. In his head the divine Creator had joined the likenesses of the elephant and wild bull. His teeth grew out as the tusks of a boar, and all over his monstrous carcase hung shaggy hairs, like those of the bear. The eye of mortal-born was dimmed at his appear­ance, and the mind, at his horrible form and frightful figure, was confounded

VERSE.
He was an Afreet, created from mouth to foot by the wrath of God.
His hair like a bear’s, his teeth like a boar’s. No one ever beheld such a monster.
Crook-backed and crabbed-faced, he might be scented at the distance of a thousand fersungs.
His nostrils were like the ovens of brick-burners, and his mouth resembled the vat of a dyer.

The vizier’s son, (though at sight of this mountain-like monster he shuddered at his hideousness) fixing the hand of hope on the strong hold of divine favour, bound fast the girdle of enterprise round the loins of valour, and by direction of the princess having taken up a bee from a plant, approached the face of the Afreet. For an instant, with the ken of examination and strict observance, he watched the aspiration and respiration of this impure creature. When his breath came forth, from its vehemence the dust rose up as in a whirlwind, so as to leave a chasm in the earth; and when he drew it in, chaff, sand, and pebbles, from the distance of some yards, were attracted to his nostrils.

The young hero, having smeared the bee with honey, placed it in the nostril of the Afreet at the instant of respiration, and, retiring to a distance, concealed himself in a thicket. The monster almost instantaneously arose, and with a violence that made the hills resound, sneezed, but without effect, as luckily the bee had penetrated his brain. Groans now proceeded from him, and writhing in agony, he bellowed so, that trembling seized the cow of the earth,* and the seven stories of the globe shook. After a short interval delirium seized him, and he began to run to and fro with frantic rage from excess of pain on every quar­ter, tearing up the trees, and hurling large pieces of the rocks, till at length the basis of his life was overthrown, and the tree of his existence rooted up.

The vizier’s son, in thanksgiving for the accomplishment of this important affair, and the drying up of the waters of so dangerous a sea, having prostrated the forehead of humiliation at the throne of the Almighty, speeded like the zephyr to bear the perfume of dawning success to the prince, whose bosom expanded at the joyful tidings, like the blossom from the wavings of the gale. Having embraced the vizier’s son, he kissed his hands and forehead, and going with him to the Afreet’s palace, first visited Peri-nuzzade, after which he surveyed the misshapen monster, fallen like a rock from its base. Praising the courage and wise policy of the vizier’s son, he bowed the head of submission in grateful thanks to the omnipotent, who can by the weak ant humble the pride of the serpent, and scatter the brains of an elephant by means of the feeble fly. Taking with him the beautiful princess, who had come into his possession by such an unexpected success and heaven-bestowed victory, he again measured the path of his designs.