better.

"We have saved you," they said to him. "But for us you would have
died." The young prince thanked them and caressed them. "It is quite
true," he said; "without you I should have died." Then he filled his
jar with water, and mounted his horse and rode home. He made salaams
to his seven mothers, with whom all this time the demon's daughter had
stayed. He bathed his mothers' eyes with the water from the Glittering
Well, and then they saw perfectly once more.

He took a little of the water, and went to wait for the king's
servants by the dry jungle well, and he was very happy thinking that
now his mothers could see. He gave the water to the king's servants,
who took it to the king, and the king gave it to his demon-wife, and
she was very sad and angry, for she knew the boy must have killed her
sister, the guardian of the Glittering Well.

When a whole month had passed, and he had not been sent on any more
errands, the king's son said to himself, "Good; now nothing more is
going to happen to me. I am not to be sent anywhere else." So he
bought a fine horse and grand clothes, and rode to the king's
court-house. He went in, and seated himself at the king's right hand;
but he made no salaam to the king, and spoke to no one. This he did
every day for three days. Everybody was wondering who this boy was,
and why he never made any salaam to the king.

On the fourth day, as he sat at the king's right hand, the king asked
him, "Whose child are you? Where do you come from? Where are you
going?" The young prince answered, "See, king, I am a merchant's son;
my ship has been wrecked, and I want to find service with some one."
"What can you do?" asked the king. "I don't know any trade," said his
son; "but I can tell you a story." "What wages do you want?" said the
king. "One thousand rupees a day," answered the boy. "I shall only
stay a short time in your country." "Good," said the king; "I will
give you one thousand rupees a day, and a servant to wait on you
besides. So come every day to my court-house, and tell me your story."

The prince told the king his own story. He began from where the king
found the beautiful demon-girl crying in the jungle, and ended it
where his demon-wife cried and cried for her sister Jangkatar. It took
him three weeks to tell the story; and when he had finished it, the
king knew that he himself was the king in the story, and that this boy
was his own son. "How can I find my seven queens again?"