Once there was a sultan who had only one son. When the son was grown up and had become a young man his father, the sultan, began to go blind. They called in all the physicians and the wise men, but noth¬ing could save the sultan from his blindness. Then, one day, a der¬wish went through the streets and passed by the palace caning, I heal the blind. I heal the blind.

The wife of the sultan said, Go quickly and call the derwish. Perhaps he can cure the sultan of his blindness.

They called the derwish and took him to the sultan and asked, Can you cure the sultan of his blindness?

Yes, I can, said the derwish, but first I must go down to the river to fish.

When the derwish went down to the river to fish, the son of the sultan went with him. The derwish took a net and put it down into the water, swish, and pulled up a pretty little gold fish. The son of the sultan said. What a pretty little fish! What a pity to kill it! And he threw it back into the river.

Again the derwish took the net and put it down into the water, swish, and again he pulled out the pretty little gold fish. And again the son of the sultan said, What a pretty little fish! What a pity to kill it! And he threw it back into the river.

Then the derwish became very angry and he went to the sultan and said, O Sultan, I could have cured you of your blindness, but your son threw the enchanted gold fish back into the water. Three times I caught it and three times he threw it back and now I cannot catch it again.

Then the sultan was very angry with his son, and said to him. You are no longer my son. Leave the palace and get out of the country at once.

When the son of the sultan went to say good-bye to his mother she said, My Son, I want to give you a piece of advice. If you want to test a man to know if he is good or bad, offer him a round loaf of bread. If he divides it into a big piece and a little piece and gives you the little piece, have nothing to do with him. If he divides it and gives you the big piece, you should make him your friend.

So the son of the sultan got on his horse and started out on his travels. One foot up and one foot down, across the earth he travelled. One day he stopped to eat his lunch near a stream of water. He met another traveller there and the son of the sultan offered him a round loaf of bread. The man divided it into a big piece and a little piece and gave the little piece to the son of the sultan, so, when they finished eating, the son of the sultan said good-bye and went on his way alone.

Another day he stopped to eat beside a stream and he met an old derwish. The son of the sultan gave him a round loaf of bread and the derwish divided it into a big piece and a small piece and gave the big piece to the son of the sultan. So, after eating, the son of the sultan said to the derwish, If you are going my way, would you like to ride behind me on my horse? And they travelled on together.

They travelled on until they came to a big city and they went to an inn. Tl1e derwish went to the market to buy some things, and the son of the sultan sat outside the inn to see the people. Soon a crier passed through the streets crying: Everybody go inside. The princess is going to bathe. Everybody go inside. The princess is going to bathe.

Everybody rushed inside and closed all the doors and windows, but not the son of the sultan. He thought to himself, I"d rather like to see the princess.

And soon she came walking through the street with her maids-in¬ waiting carrying her long golden hair on silver trays behind her, and she was as beautiful as the sun and the moon and the stars together. When the son of the sultan saw her he fell in love with her.

But not the princess. When she saw the son of the sultan she told her guards to take him and put him in prison.

When the derwish returned he said, Where is my son?

O, they said, he has been taken and put in prison.

So the derwish went back to the market and bought a large quan¬tity of wax and some clothes like those the son of the sultan was wearing. The derwish took them to his room and made a statue exactly like the son of the sultan and he dressed the statue and bought a big tray of baqlawa, which is a sweet, nut pastry, and put it on the"
head of the statue and made the statue move. He took the statue to the prison and said to the guard, This is my son and when he was ill I vowed that I would send a tray of baqlawa to the prisoners. So the guard let the statue enter the prison with the tray of sweets. The prisoners helped themselves and when the tray was empty the son of the sultan knew what he should do. He put the empty tray on his head and walked out of Ute prison.

He and the derwish went to another part of the city and rented a house: in which to live. Now the son of the sultan was free but he wasn"t happy. He kept on saying, Ah, the princess, the beautiful prin¬cess. I"ll die if I don"t see the beautiful princess.

So the derwish got some magic kohl for darkening the eyelashes, and put it on the eyes of the son of the sultan. Now, he said, you are invisible and you can enter the palace and see the princess.

The son of, the sultan went to the palace gates and walked right past the guards because they couldn"t see him, and he went into the apartment of the princess. She was having supper, so the son of the sultan began to eat with her. The princess was very much surprised to see dishes moving and food disappearing although she could see no one. She called the sultan and said, O Father, I can see no one, but the dishes on my table move, and the food disappears.

He said, Someone invisible must be in the room. And he called all the wise men and wise women and said, Can you make the invisible one appear?

One old woman said, Yes, I can make him appear. Only bring me a brazier and some cow dung. She made a very smokey fire in the brazier and everyone"s eyes began to water. The eyes of the son of the sultan began to water, too, and the tears washed away the magic kohl so he began to appear. The sultan called the guards and ordered the son of the sultan to be put in prison and executed the next morn¬ing.

The derwish began to worry when the son of the sultan did not come back. Then he heard a crier going through the street crying, Tomorrow morning early, a public execution. Tomorrow morning early, a public execution.

The derwish knew that the son of the sultan must be a prisoner again, so he went to the market and bought a bun with some sugar on the top of it. He made some magic and the bun became a silk handkerchief with the emblem of the sultan embroidered in the corner of it. He went to the prison and said, The sultan orders you to release the prisoner who was to have been executed tomorrow morning.

What sign have you that you come from the sultan? asked the guard. The derwish gave him the embroidered handkerchief and the son of the sultan was released.

The next morning the sultan appeared to see the execution and the guard said, But a messenger came and demanded the release of the prisoner in your exalted name.

What sign did he show? asked the sultan.

A handkerchief embroidered with your emblem, said the guard and he put his hand in his pocket to take out the handkerchief, but all that he found was a bun with some sugar on it.

Well, the son of the sultan was free, but he wasn"t happy. He sighed, Ah, the princess, the beautiful princess. I"ll die if I don"t see the beautiful princess.

So the derwish said, I"ll arrange it so that you will see the beauti¬ful princess. That night while the princess was sleeping in her bed he made magic and the bed with the princess in it rose up and floated through the window of the palace to the house of the derwish, and the son of the sultan gazed at the sleeping princess until almost dawn, when the bed returned with her to the palace.

The next morning the princess told her father, Last night, when I was asleep in my bed, I felt as if my bed with me in it flew through the sky to a place, I don"t know where, and brought me back again before morning.

I"ll see about that, said the sultan. That night he put guards to keep watch in Ute room of the princess, and he had lanterns hung on the four corners of the bed. But, when the derwish made the bed fly, he filled the sky with thousands of lights so that no one could tell where the bed went.

Now the sultan was really worried and he sent a crier through the street to say:
Whoever"s making magic on the princess
Let him come to the palace tomorrow
To receive half the wealth of the sultan
Or the hand of the princess in marriage.

The next day the derwish went to the palace of the sultan. He told the sultan, I am the one who made magic on the princess.

Stop it, said the sultan, and I will give you half my wealth.

I do not want your wealth, said the derwish, but I have a son and I want you to give him your daughter in marriage.

The sultan agreed and he made a party every night for forty nights to celebrate the wedding.

A few months later the son of the sultan told the princess. You are the daughter of a sultan, but I am the son of a sultan. I have not seen my father for a long time and he is old and blind. I want to return to my own country.

The sultan agreed to let his daughter go with her husband and everything was prepared and they set out with a long caravan of camels and horses and mules loaded with riches. Many slaves and guards went with them. When they reached the palace of the sultan he forgave his son. The derwish cured the sultan of his blindness, and the sultan and his wife and the son of the sultan and the princess, and the der¬wish, all lived happily for many years.

Then one day the derwish said to the son of the sultan, Let us go down to the river ~o bathe. When they reached the river ~e der¬wish said, Now I must leave you, but before I go I want to ten you that I am the little gold fish whose life you saved so long ago. And it was a good thing that you spared my life for I had the power to make you and the whole country disappear from the face of the earth. But I found that you are a kind-hearted person so I decided to help you.

The son of the sultan said. Please do not go. But the derwish dived into the water, turned into a little gold fish and swam away. And when the old sultan died, his son ruled in his place.