will
give you everything you desire, and I will establish a city here for
you, and will furnish it with every requisite; I will give you the
land of the Caucasus, and will make its princes subject to you. Give
up the journey to Waq, it is full of risk, and the jins there will
certainly kill you.' But nothing could move the prince, and seeing
this the bird went on: 'Well, so be it! When you wish to set forth you
must go into the plain and take seven head of deer, and must make
water-tight bags of their hides and keep their flesh in seven
portions. Seven seas lie on our way--I will carry you over them; but
if I have not food and drink we shall fall into the sea and be
drowned. When I ask for it you must put food and water into my mouth.
So we shall make the journey safely.'

The prince did all as he was told, then they took flight; they crossed
the seven seas, and at each one the prince fed the Simurgh. When they
alighted on the shore of the last sea, it said: 'O my son! there lies
your road; follow it to the city. Take thee three feathers of mine,
and, if you are in a difficulty, burn one and I will be with you in
the twinkling of an eye.'

The prince walked on in solitude till he reached the city. He went in
and wandered about through all quarters, and through bazaars and lanes
and squares, in the least knowing from whom he could ask information
about the riddle of Mihr-afruz. He spent seven days thinking it over
in silence. From the first day of his coming he had made friends with
a young cloth-merchant, and a great liking had sprung up between them.
One day he said abruptly to his companion: 'O dear friend! I wish you
would tell me what the rose did to the cypress, and what the sense of
the riddle is.' The merchant started, and exclaimed: 'If there were
not brotherly affection between us, I would cut off your head for
asking me this!' 'If you meant to kill me,' retorted the prince, 'you
would still have first to tell me what I want to know.' When the
merchant saw that the prince was in deadly earnest, he said: 'If you
wish to hear the truth of the matter you must wait upon our king.
There is no other way; no one else will tell you. I have a well-wisher
at the Court, named Farrukh-fal,[12] and will introduce you to him.'
'That would be excellent,' cried the prince. A meeting was arranged
between Farrukh-fal and Almas, and then the amir took him to the
king's presence and introduced him as a stranger and traveller wh