The Carpet And The Royal Command

Ranata took the carpet, turned it round, hung it over his arm, and went to the market place. A merchant saw him, ran up to him at once, and said to him:

"Hearken to me, honoured sir, will thou not sell me that carpet?"

"Willingly!"

"And what then is the price?"

"You are a frequenter of the marts, therefore will I leave the price to you!"

The merchant fell on thinking and thinking, he could not price the carpet. He was at his wits' end. Another merchant came running up, and after him a third and a fourth till a great crowd of them collected. They all looked at the carpet, marvelled at it, and could not fix the price. At that moment the royal steward passed by that way, saw the crowd, and wanted to know what all the merchants were talking about. So he went up to them and said,

"What is the matter?"

"We cannot price this carpet," said them.

The steward looked at the carpet, and he also was amazed.

"Hearken, hunter!" said he, "tell me the real truth; where didst thou get this lordly carpet?"

"My wife wrought it!"

"How much dost thou want for it?"

"I myself know not the value of it; my wife bade me not to haggle over it, but to take whatever was offered."

"Then what dost thou say to 10,000 coins?"

The hunter took the money and gave up the carpet. Now this steward was always by the King, and ate and drank at his table. So he went to dine with the King now also, and took the carpet with him. "Would it please your Majesty to look at the carpet I have bought today?" The King looked, and saw there his whole realm just as if it were on the palm of his hand, and he heaved a great sigh.

"Why, what a carpet is this! In all my life I have never seen such a wonderful craft. Say now, what wilt thou take for this carpet?"

And the King drew out 25,000 gold and gave them into the hand of the steward, and the carpet they hung up in the palace.

"That is a mere nothing," thought the steward, "I'll make a much better thing out of the second chance."

So he immediately went in search of the hunter, sought out his little hut, entered the dwelling room, and the moment he saw the hunter's wife, at that very instant he forgot all about himself and the errand on which he had come. Nevertheless the steward manned himself with a great effort and turned sullenly homewards. From henceforth he bungled over everything he took in hand, and whether asleep or awake, he thought only of one thing, the wonderfully lovely wife of the hunter.

The King observed the change in him, and asked him, "What ails thee? Has any great grief befallen thee?"

"Alas! My king and father, I have seen the wife of the hunter! She is such a beauty that the world knows not of nor has ever seen!"

The King himself was seized with a desire to fall in love with her, and he also went to the abode of the hunter. He entered the living room, and saw before him a lady of a loveliness unspeakable. Love's burning chilblain oppressed his heart.

"Why should I remain a bachelor any longer?" thought him.

"lo! Now, I'll marry this beauty, she's too good for a mere hunter. From her birth she was evidently meant to be a Queen!"

The King returned to his palace and said to the steward,

"Hearken! thou hast had wit enough to show me the hunter's wife, that unspeakable beauty. Thou must now have wit enough to remove her husband out of the way. I want to marry her myself. And if thou dost not remove him, look to yourself; although thou art my faithful servant, thou shalt be hanged upon a gallows!"

Then the steward went about much more afflicted than before, and think as he would, he could not devise a method of getting rid of the hunter. He wandered about the broad market-places and the narrow lanes, and there met him one day a miserable old hag.

"Stay, thou King's servant!" cried she.

"I can see all your thoughts, thou wantest help against your unavoidable woe."

"Ah, help me, dear little granny! I'll pay thee what thou wilt!"

"Thou hast received the royal command to get rid of Ranata the Hunter. The thing is not so very easy. He indeed is simple, but his wife is frightfully artful. Well now, we'll hit upon an errand which will not be accomplished so speedily. Go to the King and say that he must command the hunter to go to the end of the world and fetch one that can fulfill all wishes. Such a task as that he'll never accomplish, though he live for ever and ever; either he will vanish out of knowledge altogether, or if he does come back, it will be without arms or legs."

The steward rewarded the old hag with gold, and hastened back to the King, and the King sent and commanded the hunter to be brought before him.

"Well, Ranata! thou art my young warrior, and the first in my corps of hunters. Render me then this service: Go to the end of the world and fetch one that can fulfill all wishes! And mark me, if thou bring it me not back, 'tis I, the King, who say it to thee, your head shall be severed from your shoulders!"