THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, AUGUST 8, 1915.
IX ancient times there was a king named
Shahzaman, who ruled over a country
near Tenia called the island of Khaledan.
He was a powerful king, but he was not
happy, because he had no son to reign in his
place when the time came for him to die. But
at last, when the king was an old man, a son
was born to him who was the most beautiful
child ever seen. In honor of his great beauty
he was named Camaralzaman, which means
Moon of the Age. The king loved this hand
some son very dearly. He had him brought
zp by the best teachers, and was delighted to
nd that the boy was as clever as he was
handsome. His father loved him so that he
could hardly bear to be parted from him for
even an hour.
When Camaralzaman was 15 years old his
father wished him to mary, for he was an old
man, and wished his son settled in life before
he died. But when he spoke to .the prince
about it, Camaralzaman surprised everybody
very much by refusing. He said that he knew
few women, but that he had read a great deal
about them, and he thought they, were cruel
and treacherous, and he would not marry at
all. This grieved the king very much. But
his grand vizier counseled him to say no more
to the prince on the subject for one year, and
that then the young man might think very
differently of the matter.
So a year went by, and the king spoke to '
Camaralzaman again, and again the prince re
fused, and once more at the suggestion of the
grand vizier, his father was patient with him,
and waited. But the third year the king gath
ered together all his viziers and nobles and
"the great men of the court, and before them
all demanded of his son that he marry. He
had thought that before all these men his
on would not dare refuse again. But Ca
maralzaman refused, even more firmly than
before.
His father was so surprised and angry that
he could not forgive him as he had forgiven
him before. .
" Wretch !" he cried, " how dare you refuse
me before all my court ? You have never been
punished before, but you shall be now." And
he ordered his slaves to take his son and bind
him, and throw him into a lonely, dark prison,
and give him only the coarsest of food.
It was a most unhappy night for both father
and son. The father could not sleep thinking
of the punishment he had given his boy, and
the prince blamed himself, and wished he had
not refused, because even marrying might not
be so awful as was this prison. But he at last
fell asleep upon a benoh.
Now, the tower in which the prince lay was
very old, and at the foot of it was a well, yery
deep, in which lived a fairy named Maimouna.
Every night the fairy came out of the well to
see what was going on in the world, and on
this night she was much surprised when she
saw a light in the old tower, which had so long
been empty. Filled with curiosity, she entered,
saw the slave on guard before the door of an
inner room, and, passing him, came upon
Prince Camaralzaman lying fast asleep. The'
faiiy rested on her wings and gazed down on
him in astonishment. Never had she seen so
beautiful a young man. She remained for a
long time admiring the prince. Then at last
she rose and continued her flight up into the
sky until she heard a great flapping of wings
near by.
,She followed the sound until she came upon
another fairy, a strange creature named Dan
hash, who was flying as rapidly as she, but
who seemed quite willing to stop and talk
when he recognized Maimouna, whom he' had
known well for thousands of years.
" Tell me," demanded Maimouna, as the two
flew along together, " from whence have you
come tonight and what interesting things have
you found upon the earth? Nothing so won
derful as the sight I have just seen, I am cer
tain." " I do not think you can, at least, have found
a more beautiful thing than I have seen this
night, " answered Danhash. " I have come
from the interior islands, near China. They
are reigned over by King Giaiour, and he has
a daughter who, I am sure, is the most beauti-
"Never
had she seen
so beautiful a
young man."
ful being in all the world. There could be
none more lovely. But this beautiful and clev
er princess for she is as brilliant as she i3
lovely, and as good as brilliant is now in
great, trouble. Her father ha always loved
her very dearly and given her wonderful pal
aces and many jewels and slaves, but he is now
angry at her. For when it came time for her
to marry, and the king sent for her and told
her she was to be married soon to a man. of
his choice, she fell down before him and
begged him for her freedom. She said she
never wished to marry. That she hated and
distrusted all men but him, and wished never
to see any others. But when her father
laughed at her, she flew into a rage, and from
begging his kindness, defied him, and said she
would never marry. So now she is shut up, by
the command of her father, in a great lonely
tower, with only a dozen old wpmen slaves
to look after her and none of her beautiful
gowns or jewels about her. And unless she
will promise to change her mind and do as her
father wishes, there she must stay, shut up for
a year. It is a shame, for she i3 the most
beautiful being in the whole world."
" She is not," said the - fairy Maimouna.
You cannot know what yotx are talking
about. I myself have seen tonight the most
beautiful being in the world. And it is a
young man, as lovely as the full moon, and he,
too, has been imprisoned by a heartless father
because he will not marry."
Of course, Danhash did not believe Mai
mouna any more than she believed him, and
- they got to quarreling about it, until, suddenly,
Danhash said, " To settle this dispute, I will
now fly to the interior of China and bring back
with me the sleeping Princess Badoura. Then
we can lay them side by side, and you shall
judge whether I am right or not."
" Very well," said Maimouna, and Danhash
flew away, to return almost immediately with
Badoura, whom he had thrown into a deep
sleep.
The two fairies descended with the young
woman and placed her by the side of Ca
maralzaman. Then they drew back the veil
from her face and the sheet from his and
stood gazing down upon the two beautiful
young people. But still they could not decide
which was the more lovely. So they decided
to wake each in turn, and the. one of the two
who admired the other most should be de
cided to be the least beautiful.
Prince Camaralzamanwas to be roused first,'
so Maimouna turned herself into a mosquito
and, flying down, bit him so sharply upon tha
neck that the young man woke with a great
start and saw, to his surprise, that a beautiful
young woman had been laid upon the couch
beside him during the night. For a long time
he looked upon her, admiring her hair, her
long, black lashes, her mouth, her round, white
neck, and the beautiful hands. He tried to
wake her, but the fairies had thrown her into
such a deep sleep that she never stirred nor
heard Prince Camaralzaman when he called to
her.
"If this," said the prince, "is the woman,
whom my father wished me to marry, why,
could he not have shown her to me before ?
Then I should not have refused and much
trouble would have been avoided. I admire
this girl more than I can say, and I know that
I should love her if I knew her. I cannot
waken her, but I know a way to show both her
and my father that I am willing to marry her."
And, drawing a rich ring from his finger, ha
put it upon the girl's hand. Then he lay down
and went sound asleep again.
" It is your turn," said Maimouna to the
other fairy. " Wake your princess."
(To le continued next SundaJ
CAN
TDMATD
I AY, Turk," said the Cook as he shook out a dish towel and hung
it on the edge of the Teenie Weenie sink to dry. "I wish you
KJr would go over to the garden next door with me, I want to see
if the tomatoes are ripe, for it's about time I was getting them
put up, if we expect to have any next winter."
" Sure I'll go with you," cried the Turk, and putting his arm over
the Cook's shoulder the two Teenie Weenies hurried away to the place
where the tomatoes grew.
"That's a fine one up there," cried the Cook, pointing to a big red
tomato, hanging high above his head.
" It's going to be a pretty hard job to get, it over to the house," said
the Turk. " IH bet that tomato weighs at least eight tons." (One ounce
is a Teenie "Weenie ton.) . -
"I've got an idea," said the Cook, "you remember the mouse we
rescued from a trap some time ago? Well, he said that if he could ever
be of service to us we were to let him know and he would gladly help us.
Now if we had a good strong wagon we could get Mr. Mouse to pull the
tomato over for us."
" That's easy " shouted the Turk. " I know where there's four small
spools, and by using a coupje of lead pencils for axles I can make a
wagon strong enough to carry half a dozen tomatoes."
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" Fine ; I'll go right over to the mouse's house and ask him if he will
help us," cried the Cook as he disappeared into the tall grass.
Half an hour later the Cook came running up to the Teenie Weenie
house and announced that the mouse would be glad to help his little friends.
The Turk, with the help of the rest of the Teenie Weenies, soon built tho
wagon, and early next morning, when the mouse had arrived, he was
hitched up to it. -
M Get on everybody," yelled the Cowboy, "and have a rid out to the
garden.
The Teenie Weenies, big and little, tumbled onto the wagon and rode
ut to the tomato plant. The big tomato was cut down, loaded onto
the wagon, and very quickly hauled up near the Teenie Weenie kitchen.
" I want to thank you for your kindness, Mr. Mouse," said the Gen
eral after the mouse had refreshed himself with twenty-one teenie wee
nie wash tubs filled with bread and cheese,
" O, that's all right, that's all right," cried the mouse. " Glad to do
it. Glad to help you," and bidding the Teenie Weenies good-hy, the
mouse hurried away down the garden walk.
It took several day of hard work to can the tomato - and the teenie
weenie cellar was almost filled with the shining little cans.
By Wm. .Donafcey.
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