When he visited the King the following day he was again led into the garden, and the other wife of the King, looking from her window saw the lad and recognised him.  She at once sent for the old midwife, and said to her, “I bade you kill the children, yet they are still living upon the earth.”  Replied the old woman, “Have patience with me, O Queen for three days, and I will kill him.”  Then she went away, and having procured a pitcher tied it to her girdle, bewitched it, mounted on it, and struck it with a whip, and forthwith the pitcher flew away with her and descended upon the island near the fisherman’s cottage.[FN#430] She found the young girl, Muhammed’s sister, sitting alone, and thus addressed her:  “My dear, why are you thus alone and sad?  Tell your brother to fetch you the rose of Arab Zandyk, that it may sing to you and amuse you, instead of your being thus lonely and low-spirited.”  When her brother came home, he found her displeased and asked her, “Why are you vexed, my sister?” She replied, “I should like the rose of Arab Zandyk, that it may sing to me and amuse me.”  “At your command,” said he; “I am going to bring it to you.”

He mounted his horse and travelled into the midst of the desert, where he perceived an ogress seated and pounding wheat with a millstone on her arm.  Alighting, he came up to her and saluted her saying, “Peace be with you, mother ogress.”  She replied, “If your safety did not prevail over your words, I would eat the flesh from off your bones.”  Then she asked, “Where are you going, Muhammed the Discreet?” He answered, “I am in quest of the singing rose of Arab Zandyk.”  She showed him the way, saying, “You will find before the palace a kid and a dog fastened, and before the kid a piece of meat and before the dog a bunch of clover:  lift the meat and throw it to the dog, and give the clover to the kid.[FN#431] Then the door will open for you:  enter and pluck the rose; return immediately without looking behind you, because, if you do so, you will be bewitched and changed into stone, like the enchanted ones who are there.”  Muhammed the Discreet carefully followed the instructions of the ogress:  plucked the rose, went out by the door, put back the meat before the kid and the clover before the dog, and carried the rose home to his sister.

Then he again went to the house of the King, who saluted him and said, “Where hast thou been, discreet one?  Why hast thou absented thyself so long from my house?” And he answered, “I was sick, O King.”  Then the King took him by the hand and entered the garden, and both sat down.  The wife of the King saw them seated together, and sending for the midwife she angrily asked, “Why do you befool me, old woman?” She replied “Have patience with me for three days more, O Queen.”  Then she mounted her pitcher and arriving at the house of the young girl, she said, “Has thy brother fetched thee the rose?” “Yes,” answered the girl, “but it does not sing.”  Quoth the old woman, “It only sings with its looking-glass,” and then went away.  When the youth returned he found his sister vexed, and he asked, “Why are you so sad, my sister?” She replied, “I should like the looking-glass of the rose, by means of which it sings.”  Quoth he, “I obey your orders, and will bring it to you.”