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it, he shall then and there lose his life." Having uttered this, that voice also ceased, and then the third said— " If he escape this also, then, if he enter a house to be married, it shall fall on him and slay him." Having said so much, that voice also ceased, and the fourth said, " If he escape this also, when he enters that night into his private apartments, he shall sneeze a hundred times; and if some one there does not a hundred times say to him, ' God bless you,' he shall fall into the grasp of death. And if the person, who has heard all this, shall inform him of it in order to save his life, he also shall die," having said this, the voice ceased.*[1] And the merchant's son having heard all this, terrible as a thunderstroke, being agitated on account of his affection for the prince, reflected— " Beshrew this tale that was begun, and not finished, for divinities have come invisible to hear it, and are cursing him out of disappointed curiosity. And if this prince dies, what good will my life do to me? So I must by some artifice deliver my friend whom I value as my life. And I must not tell him what has taken place, lest 1 too should suffer." Having thus reflected, the merchant's son got through the night with difficulty.
And in the morning the prince set out with him on his journey, and he saw a necklace in front of him, and wished to lay hold of it. Then the merchant's son said, " Do not take the necklace, my friend, it is an illusion, else why do not these soldiers see it?" When the prince heard that, he let the necklace alone, but going on further he saw a mango-tree, and he felt a desire to eat its fruit. But he was dissuaded by the merchant's son, as before. He felt much annoyed in his heart, and travelling on slowly he reached his father-in-law's palace. And he was about to enter a building there for the purpose of being married, but just as his friend had persuaded him not to do so, the house fell down. So he escaped this danger by a hair's breadth, and then he felt some confidence in his friend's prescience. Then the prince and his wife entered at night another building. But the merchant's son slipped in there unobserved. And the prince, when he went to bed, sneezed a hundred times, but the merchant's son underneath it said a hundred times— " God bless you"— and then the merchant's son, having accomplished his object, of his own accord left the house in high spirits. But the prince, who was with his wife, saw him going out, and through jealousy, forgetting his love for him, he flew into a passion and said to the sentinels at his gate: " This designing wretch has entered my
- ↑ * Cp. Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, pp. 69 and 71, for the three dangers. The custom of saying " God bless you," or equivalent words, when a man sneezes, is shewn by Tylor (Primitive Culture, Vol. I, pp. 88-94) to exist in many parts of the world. He quotes many passages from classical literature relating to it. " Even the emperor Tiberius, that saddest of men, exacted this observance."
