The third Prince looked some more after he crossed the place where his brother’s arrows had been found.
Finally he found the arrow.
The arrow was lying on a rock and judging from the angle that it lay, the third Prince could figure out that the arrow had not been stuck there, but it had rebounded and landed on the rock after hitting something hard.
The third prince saw some boulders and crossed it and finally found a passage.
The passage was closed by an iron door. The prince realized that the arrow had rebounded on hitting this iron door.
The Prince pushed through the door and the door opened because there was no lock on the door.
On walking some more inside the passage the Prince was surprised when he saw a huge and lavish palace there.
A second later he was stunned when a beautiful lady with lovely clothes adorning the costliest jewels that the prince had seen, walked out of the palace.
She was graceful and elegant and the Prince could not take his eyes off her.
This was Peri-Banu, the daughter of the Jinn chief and the palace belonged to her.
The Prince saw Peri-Banu and immediately fell in love with her. He wanted to marry her and he was thrilled to know that Peri-Banu had the permission from her parents to marry any man she liked. The princess loved the Prince and she took very good care of him.
For six months after their marriage the Prince and Peri-Banu lived in the palace very happily.
However six months later the Prince suddenly remembered his kingdom and he wanted to see how his father was faring.
The princess did not want to send the Prince at first. But Peri-Banu realized that the Prince was genuinely homesick and she allowed him to go and spend some time with his family. However, she wanted him to come back as soon as possible.
Meanwhile back in his kingdom the king was worried sick.
The first son had become a hermit.
The second son had married the beautiful girl and he was handling the administration of the state.
But the third son was missing and the king did not know where to look for him.
Finally the king approached a sorceress to get more information about the Prince.
The sorceress looked into her magical items and she could only ascertain that the Prince was alive but beyond that she could not be certain of where the Prince was or where he could be found.
It was at this time that the Prince came back . The king was overjoyed to see his son.
So for the first time, after spending three days there the Prince happily went back to his home.
Now that the king is not worried about the welfare of his third son, things went back to normal.
Peri-Banu was also very happy that the Prince had come back and kept his word.
So every time after that, Peri-Banu sent the Prince to the king’s kingdom, with lavish gifts to greet the king.
Soon the king was curious about the lavish wealth that his son seemed to have.
Once again the king sent for the sorceress to know the details of the girl who his son had married and the source of the wealth of the prince’s wife.
The sorceress could not use her magic to find out where the Prince was going back.
She tried following the Prince but unlike the Prince she could not see the underground passage or the iron door.
She could not see how the Prince suddenly vanished from there.
So the next time the Prince came to visit the king the sorceress had an idea.
She pretended to be injured and made herself look very old.
After that, she followed the prince making sure that he could not see her.
Finally when the Prince was just about to enter the iron door the sorceress fainted.
The kind hearted Prince immediately went and brought the woman back to the palace of the Jinn princess.
The Jinn princess looked after the sorceress very well and soon the sorceress was sent back to the kingdom.
That is when the sorceress told the thing everything about the woman whom the third Prince had married.
However, on hearing this, the king became envious and jealous.
Acting on the advice of the sorceress and one of his own ministers the king suddenly came to believe that the third Prince with the help of the Jinn princess would overthrow him or even kill him.
The sorceress suggested a novel method for the king to get rid of the Prince and make sure he never came back.
The sorceress had convinced the king that if he kept making strange demands of the Prince, eventually the Prince would stop coming to the kingdom because he could not meet the demands of the King.
So the next time when the Prince came to see the king the king had a strange request for him.
The king wanted the Prince to bring a tent large enough for all the members of his court, but with the condition that the tent had to be light to carry.
The Prince was unaware of his father’ intentions.
Being the dutiful son that he was, he went back to the Jinn princess after his visit to the king and told her what her father had said.
Jinns were powerful magical beings and using her power the princess was easily able to procure what the king wanted.
Thereafter the prince presented the same to the king as well.
Not to be outdone the king this time asked for the water from the Lion Springs.
This involved a lot of personal danger for the Prince himself, but with the help of the directions of the Jinn princess, the Prince was able to go to the Lion's Spring. There he was able to distract the lions with the carcasses of four animals and take the precious water from the Spring.
The prince gave the water back to the king.
However this time the king was even more determined to ask for something that could not be granted.
The third time the Prince sadly went back to the Jinn princess.
When the Jinn princess asked the Prince what the king had wanted, the Prince finally told her everything.
The king wanted to meet a ferocious and strong dwarf who carried an iron mallet with him all the time.
The Jinn princess laughed on hearing this. “There is such a dwarf in this very kingdom. He is my half brother. Of course he will be willing to meet the king on my request.”
The Prince happily took the powerful dwarf to his own kingdom.
This time on seeing the ferocious and hideous looking dwarf the king was tongue tied and he just could not move at all.
The dwarf misunderstood the king's silence as rudeness and angrily attacked the rude people around him.
This led to the massacre in the palace and unfortunately the king, the sorceress and the minister who had ill advised the king did not survive it.
Thereafter the third Prince along with Peri-Banu came to this kingdom.
The first son wanted to be a hermit and had no desires at all
The second son and the beautiful girl were given another smaller province to rule.
The Prince and Peri-Banu ruled this kingdom wisely and well.
Adapted from the Arabian Nights.
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