seize him, seize him!" cried the voice, just as he came up to the furnace.
"I can't," answered the first furnace, "for he has put me out!" But the other furnace was grateful to him for kindling it into a blaze again, so it let him pass by too.
"Lion, lion, tear him to pieces!" cried the mighty voice from the depths of the palace, when the youth came up to the two beasts.
"Not I," answered the lion, "for he helped me to a good meal of flesh!"—Nor would the sheep hurt him either, because he had given it the grass.—"Open door! let him not out!" cried the voice from within the palace.—"Nay, but I will!" replied the door; "for had he not opened me I should be closed still!"—and so the golden-haired youth was not very long in getting home, to the great joy of his sister. She snatched at the mirror and instantly looked into it, and—Allah be praised!—she saw the whole world in it. Then the damsel thought no more of the Peri-*branch, for her eyes were glued to the mirror.
Again the youth went a-hunting, and again he caught the eye of the Padishah. But the sight of the youth this third time so touched the fatherly heart of the Padishah that they carried him back to his palace half fainting. Then the witch guessed only too well how matters stood.
