Asraf-el-Kaum plunged the emerald pitcher into the pond, and filled it with
water. Then he asked permission to return.
Arriving near the King Chah Djouhou he presented the pitcher to the prince, who
seized it quickly and drank.
"Asraf-el-Kaum," said the prince, "where did you find such fresh and delicious
water? In all my life I have never drunk the like."
Asraf-el-Kaum answered: "O my lord, sovereign of the world, there is a garden
in the middle of the plain, and in this garden there is a very large and bushy fig-
tree, and at the foot of this tree there is a pond, and near this pond there is an
oratory. At this oratory there was a woman who was reading the Koran. This
charmingly beautiful woman has no equal in this world. I saluted her and then
returned to the presence of the sovereign of the world. That is what I saw, my
lord."
"Conduct me to this place," said the King.
"O sovereign of the world, if your Majesty wishes to go thither, let it be with me
alone. Let not my lord take his people with him, for it is a woman, and naturally
she would be ashamed."
The prince set out then on horseback with Asraf-el-Kaum. The princess Djouher-
Manikam, seeing two cavaliers approach, thought in her heart: "I must hide
myself, so that I may not be seen." So she left the oratory and went toward the
fig-tree. She addressed a prayer to God the most high and worthy of all praise, in
these terms:
"O God, I beseech thee, give me a refuge in this tree, for thy servant,
O Lord, is ashamed to look upon the faces of these infidels."
Then by the will of God the most high, the tree opened in two and the princess
Djouher-Manikam entered by the split, and the tree closed and became as it was
before. The King Chah Djouhou and Asraf-el-Kaum arrived at the oratory, but
the prince saw nothing of the princess Djouher-Manikam. He was astonished and
said:
"O Asraf-el-Kaum, the woman has gone. But just a moment ago I saw her from
afar, seated at the oratory, and now she has suddenly disappeared." The prince