天方夜谭英文故事：The Dead Father and His Wish

Long ago in the land of Persia there ruled a Sultan called Mustafa in the kingdom of Nasra. He ruled the kingdom wisely and just. The people in the kingdom were in peace and prosperity. The Sultan had a very beautiful wife but had no child. 

 

The Sultan and his wife prayed to god. "Oh God! I have enough wealth. My people are in peace. But I have no heir to my kingdom". He prayed to God again and again. After long years, his wife had a child of beauty. The king was in joy. They called the child as Zakir. The child grew in to an intelligent young man. He loved his father and mother most. He learned war fare also. Mustafa considered that he was suitable to be a King. 

 

So he conducted a ceremony and declared him as his prince. Some days later Mustafa tell ill and died suddenly. Zakir burled his father in a grave and he came to the throne as a Sultan. He also ruled the kingdom peacefully. One day in his dream his father asked him to dig his grave. Zakir told his mother about it. His mother thought that it would disagree his father. But her son insisted on digging up the grave of his father. 

 

He thought that his father's orders must be obeyed. So he decided¹ to dig the grave. The next morning he went to the grave and dug it with the spade. He was praying to god and his father. Suddenly he heard a different sound from the space. There he found some steps in the grave. He was surprised a while and stepped down slowly. There he saw a big room below the grave. He moved inside the room with watchful² eyes in the darkness. To his surprise he saw some statues in the corner of the room. They were eight in number. All of them were made of gold, their dress glittering with diamonds and other precious stones. They were arranged in a straight line. He counted them. They were eight. 

 

Zakir never had heard of the statues he had seen there. When he went near the eighth statue, it said. "There is a ninth one out side the cave in the kingdom. You go and get it!" He thought that the ninth one would be more precious and beautiful than those. So he came out of the grave. When he came out, he met an old man on the way. The old man told Zakir. 'Are you the king? If it is right I am waiting for you majesty³". 

 

When Zakir said "yes", the old man asked him to hurry and find the ninth statue saying that it was his father's wish. He also gave him a magical mirror. He said "It will reflect only one girl in the kingdom and that is your ninth statue." 

 

Zakir took the mirror from the old man. Soon the old man disappeared from there. Zakir took the mirror and entered each and every house to find his ninth statue. He showed the mirror to all the maidens⁴ one by one. But no one was figured in the mirror. Days passed he continued his searching. Finally one day he passed by a house. He heard a melodious⁵ song that made him to stay there for a while. He wanted to see the girl for a while. So he entered the house. There he saw her father and asked him permission to meet his daughter. He said, “Your majesty" It is my luck that you are in my house. You can see her now". 

 

The old noble man asked his daughter to come out. When she came out Zakir showed the mirror in front of her. There he saw a wonderful figure of beauty in the mirror. 

 

“Yes! Yes! I have found the ninth statue here! No! No, my princess" he shouted in joy. He was amazed at her beauty and fell in love with her. 

 

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