wives within his harem-door and concubines galore [far too many, no doubt!], he had not been blessed with a son,” and so forth.  This is the “regulation” opening of by far the greater number of Asiatic stories, even as it was de rigueur for the old pagan Arab poets to begin their kasidas with a lamentation for the departure of a fair one, whether real or imaginary.  The Sultan of our story is constantly petitioning Heaven for the boon of a son (who among Easterns is considered as the “light of the house"), and at length there appears to him in his slumbers a comely man who bids him go on the morrow to his chief gardener and get from him a pomegranate, of which he should eat as many seeds as he pleases, after which his prayers for offspring should be granted.  This remedy for barrenness is very common in Indian fictions (to which I believe Khudadad belongs), only it is usually the king’s wives who eat the seeds or fruit.[FN#399] A few parallels to the opening of our tale from Indian sources may prove somewhat interesting, both to students of popular fictions and to those individuals who are vaguely styled “general readers.”

A Kashmiri tale, entitled “The Four Princes,” translated by the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles, in the “Indian Antiquary,” 1886,[FN#400] thus begins:  In days long since gone by there lived a king most clever, most holy, and most wise, who was a pattern king.  His mind was always occupied with plans for the improvement of his country and people; his darbar was open to all; his ear was ever ready to listen to the petition of the humblest subject, he afforded every facility for trade; he established hospitals for the sick, inns (sara’e) for travellers, and large schools for those who wished to learn.  These and many other such things he did.  Nothing was left undone that ought to be done, and nothing was done that ought not to have been done.  Under such a wise, just, and beneficent ruler the people of course lived very happily.  Few poor or unenlightened or wicked persons were to be found in the country.  But the great and good king had not a son.  This was an intense sorrow to him—­the one dark cloud that now and again overshadowed his otherwise happy and glorious life.  Every day he prayed earnestly to Siva to grant him an heir to sit upon the throne after him.  One day Siva appeared to him in the garb of a yogi,[FN#401] and bade him ask a boon and it should be granted.  “Take these four fruits,” said Siva, “and give them to your wife to eat on such a day before sunrise.  Then shall your wife give birth to four sons who will be exceedingly clever and good.”  The king follows these instructions and in due course his wife is delivered of four sons at one birth and thereupon dies.  The rest of the story is a variant of the Tamil romance “Alakesa Katha,’’[FN#402] and of “Strike, but hear!” in Rev. Lal Behari Day’s “Folk-Tales of Bengal.”