As soon as the princess reached home, she placed the cage in the garden; and the bird no sooner began to warble than he was surrounded by nightingales, chaffinches, larks, linnets, goldfinches, and every species of birds of the country.  And the branch of the singing tree was no sooner set in the midst of the parterre, a little distance from the house, than it took root, and in a short time became a large tree, the leaves of which gave as harmonious a concert as those of the tree from which it was gathered.  A large basin of beautiful marble was placed in the garden; and when it was finished, the princess poured into it all the yellow water from the flagon, which instantly increased and swelled so much that it soon reached up to the edges of the basin, and afterwards formed in the middle a fountain twenty feet high, which fell again into the basin perpetually without running over.

The report of these wonders was presently spread abroad, and as the gates of the house and those of the gardens were shut to nobody, a great number of people came to admire them.

Some days after, when the princes Bahman and Perviz had recovered from the fatigue of their journey, they resumed their former way of living; and as their usual diversion was hunting, they mounted their horses and went for the first time since their return, not to their own demesne, but two or three leagues from their house.  As they pursued their sport, the emperor of Persia came in pursuit of game upon the same ground.  When they perceived by the number of horsemen in different places that he would soon be up, they resolved to discontinue their chase, and retire to avoid encountering him; but in the very road they took they chanced to meet him in so narrow a way that they could not retreat without being seen.  In their surprise they had only time to alight, and prostrate themselves before the emperor, without lifting up their heads to look at him.  The emperor, who saw they were as well mounted and dressed as if they had belonged to his court, had the curiosity to see their faces.  He stopped, and commanded them to rise.  The princes rose up, and stood before him with an easy and graceful air, accompanied with respeftful modest countenances.  The emperor took some time to view them before he spoke:  and after he had admired their good air and mien, asked them who they were, and where they lived.

“Sir,” said prince Bahman, “we are the sons of the late intendant of your majesty’s gardens:  and live in a house which he built a little before he died, till we should be fit to serve your majesty, and ask of you some employ when opportunity offered.”

“By what I perceive,” replied the emperor, “you love hunting.”  “Sir,” replied prince Bahman, “it is our common exercise, and what none of your majesty’s subjects who intend to bear arms in your armies ought, according to the ancient custom of the kingdom, to neglect.”  The emperor, charmed with so prudent an answer, said, “Since it is so, I should be glad to see your expertness in the chase; choose your own game.