Kupti and Imani - Page 2

'Two gold pieces,' said the fakir. And the princess gladly paid them, after which the old fakir hobbled home with the money. As she had done before so Imani did again day after day. Always she spent a penny upon oil and flax, always she tended the old man's lame limb, and spun and wove the most beautiful cloths and sold them at high prices. Gradually the city became famous for her beautiful stuffs, the old fakir's lame leg became straighter and stronger, and the hole under the floor of the hut where they kept their money became fuller and fuller of gold pieces. At last, one day, the princess said:

'I really think we have got enough to live in greater comfort.' And she sent for builders, and they built a beautiful house for her and the old fakir, and in all the city there was none finer except the king's palace. Presently this reached the ears of the king, and when he inquired whose it was they told him that it belonged to his daughter.

'Well,' exclaimed the king, 'she said that she would make her own fortune, and somehow or other she seems to have done it !'

A little while after this, business took the king to another country, and before he went he asked his elder daughter what she would like him to bring her back as a gift.

'A necklace of rubies,' answered she. And then the king thought he would like to ask Imani too; so he sent a messenger to find out what sort of a present she wanted. The man happened to arrive just as she was trying to disentangle a knot in her loom, and bowing low before her, he said:

'The king sends me to inquire what you wish him to bring you as a present from the country of Dûr ?' But Imani, who was only considering how she could best untie the knot without breaking the thread, replied:

'Patience !' meaning that the messenger should wait till she was able to attend to him. But the messenger went off with this as an answer, and told the king that the only thing the princess Imani wanted was 'patience.'

'Oh !' said the king, 'I don't know whether that's a thing to be bought at Dûr; I never had it myself, but if it is to be got I will buy it for her.'

Next day the king departed on his journey, and when his business at Dûr was completed he bought for Kupti a beautiful ruby necklace. Then he said to a servant:

'The princess Imani wants some patience. I did not know there was such a thing, but you must go to the market and inquire, and if any is to be sold, get it and bring it to me.'

The servant saluted and left the king's presence. He walked about the market for some time crying: 'Has anyone patience to sell ? patience to sell ?' And some of the people mocked, and some (who had no patience) told him to go away and not be a fool; and some said: 'The fellow's mad ! As though one could buy or sell patience !'

At length it came to the ears of the king of Dûr that there was a