to her." Then he got a palanquin, and took her up to
the palace.

His father and mother were very glad that their youngest son had come
back to them; but when they saw the wicked woman, and heard she was
his Bel-Princess, they, and every one else in the palace, said, "Can
she be a Bel-Princess? She is not at all pretty, and she is not at all
pleasant." "She was lovely when she came out of the fruit," said the
prince. "No one ever saw such a beautiful girl before. I cannot think
what has happened to her. It must be the bad air of this country that
has made her so ugly." Then he told them all about his journey to the
jungle where he had met the fakir, and how, with the fakir's help, he
had found his Bel-Princess, and how he had opened the fruit in his
father's garden, and then fallen asleep.

The King made a great wedding-feast for his son, and he and the wicked
woman were married, and all the time the King's youngest son thought
he was marrying the Bel-Princess.

Meanwhile, the beautiful girl had not been drowned in the well, but
had changed into a most lovely pink lotus-flower. This flower was
first seen by a man from the village who came to the well for water.
"What a lovely lotus-flower!" said the man; "I must gather it." But
when he tried to reach it the flower floated away from him. Then he
went and told all the people in the village of the beautiful flower,
and then the palace servants heard of it. They all tried to gather it,
but could not, for the flower always went just out of their reach.
Then the King and his six elder sons heard of it, and they came to the
well; but the King tried in vain to gather it, and his six sons too.
The lotus-flower always floated away from them.

Last of all, the youngest prince heard of the lotus, and he grew very
curious to see it, and said, "I will try if I cannot gather this
wonderful flower that no one can touch." So he, too, came to the well,
and stooped, and stretched out his hand, and the minute he did so the
flower floated of itself into his hand.

Then he was very happy and proud, and he took the flower up to his
wife and showed it to her. "Just see," he said, "every one in the
village and the palace were talking of this lotus-flower; and every
one tried to gather it; and no one could, for the flower would not let
any one touch it. My father tried, and my brothers all tried, and
they, too, could not gather it; but as soon as I stretched out my hand
the flower floated