can I thank you," cried the princess, "for telling me of such
treasures! But add, I pray you, to your goodness by further informing
me where I can find them."

"Madam," replied the pilgrim, "I should ill repay the hospitality you
have shown me if I refused to answer your question. The three things
of which I have spoken are all to be found in one place, on the borders
of this kingdom, towards India. Your messenger has only to follow the
road that passes by your house, for twenty days, and at the end of that
time, he is to ask the first person he meets for the Talking Bird, the
Singing Tree, and the Golden Water." She then rose, and bidding
farewell to the princess, went her way.

The old woman had taken her departure so abruptly that the Princess
Parizade did not perceive till she was really gone that the directions
were hardly clear enough to enable the search to be successful. And
she was still thinking of the subject, and how delightful it would be
to possess such rarities, when the princes, her brothers, returned from
the chase.

"What is the matter, my sister?" asked Prince Bahman; "why are you so
grave? Are you ill? Or has anything happened?"

Princess Parizade did not answer directly, but at length she raised her
eyes, and replied that there was nothing wrong.

"But there must be something," persisted Prince Bahman, "for you to
have changed so much during the short time we have been absent. Hide
nothing from us, I beseech you, unless you wish us to believe that the
confidence we have always had in one another is now to cease."

"When I said that it was nothing," said the princess, moved by his
words, "I meant that it was nothing that affected you, although I admit
that it is certainly of some importance to me. Like myself, you have
always thought this house that our father built for us was perfect in
every respect, but only to-day I have learned that three things are
still lacking to complete it. These are the Talking Bird, the Singing
Tree, and the Golden Water." After explaining the peculiar qualities
of each, the princess continued: "It was a Mussulman devotee who told
me all this, and where they might all be found. Perhaps you will think
that the house is beautiful enough as it is, and that we can do quite
well without them; but in this I cannot agree with you, and I shall
never be content until I have got them. So counsel me, I pray, whom to
send on the undertaking."

"My dear sister,"