whole army to be held m the same place where the review in his father's time had been held. On the appointed day he and all the court attended to watch the proceedings. They had not been present very long before the seven-legged beast came again, and growling fiercely at them, walked away. When the chief wazír saw this he laughed aloud.
"What is the matter?" asked the king.
"I laughed," replied the íwazír, "because this is none other than the beast that allured your late father from our midst."
"Is it so? Then I must slay it, for I shall not have any peace till this enemy is killed." Saying this, the king whipped his horse and rushed after it. The beast led him on and on for some distance, as it did his father, and then stopping, shook itself, resumed its original shape, and prepared to spring. In his distress the king called earnestly on the great God to save him; and God sent an angel to direct him how to fight with the jinn.
"This is a most powerful jinn," said the angel. "Should a drop of his blood fall to the ground, while life is in him, another jinn will be quickly formed therefrom, and spring up and slay you.[1] But fear not. Take this double-headed arrow and pierce the two eyes of the monster, so that he fall down and die." Then the angel departed.
Thus strengthened, the king dashed forward. He fought with the jinn for forty minutes. At last he plunged the double-headed arrow into both of his eyes, and thus slew him. When he saw that his enemy was dead the king drew his sword and cut off his head, and fixing it on his arrow, took it with him to the palace, where he placed it in one of the twelve thousand rooms of that building; and gave his mother the keys, bidding her not to open the doors thereof.
But as he did not tell his mother what he had so care-
- ↑ Cf. Folk-Tales of Bengal, pp. 85, 253; Indian Fairy Tales, p. 187; also a note on the "revivifying and healing powers of blood," in Wide-Awake Stories, p. 418.
