we landed in a country (said bird-of-gold, continuing her story) that was three days’ voyage from the river’s mouth. then the sailors put swords into their belts and marched toward a mountain that was half a day’s journey from the coast. they pitched black tents and they built a citadel, and they made themselves into a band of robbers. he who had been the captain of the king’s ships was the chief of this band.
every day they went off to rob caravans and to make war upon the men who guarded the caravans. and always they came back, my master and his forty robbers, with no man of their band slain and with no man wounded. very rich and powerful did they grow with the plunder they took from the caravans, and my master, the man with the hooked nose and the purple beard, grew to be a king almost. men far and near sent him presents and men came to him promising obedience, and he had state such as had the king of my country. but he kept no men with him except his forty robbers.
[pg 81]
every one said of my master, the captain of the band, that nothing could come to him except good fortune, so great and so prosperous did he grow. men marveled that so many good things came to him and so many evil things were staved off from him. and all his band swore by his good fortune. but one day a wise king who liked him greatly sent my master a message that said: “i rejoice in your good fortune, friend, but am also troubled by it. he who is so lucky must pay a great price sooner or later for his luck. pay the price now, before it is exacted from you, and remain great and prosperous. let the price you pay be that possession that is dearest to you.”
my master, having received this message, paid heed to what was said in it, for the king who sent it was renowned for his wisdom. he made up his mind to sacrifice the possession that was dearest to him so that he might remain great and prosperous. and the possession that he considered dearest was the ring that he wore with the great emerald in it. he went down to the seaboard taking me with him, for he would let none of the[pg 82] forty men know what he was about to do, and he took a boat and he went, i being with him, over the depths of the sea. then he drew from off his finger the ring that had the great emerald in it, and he let it drop down into the depths of the sea. afterward he sent a message back to the king, his friend, saying that he had paid the price before it was exacted of him, and that his prosperity now would never fail, and that men would ever swear by his good fortune.
after that he and his forty men went forth and won more plunder than ever they had won before. also more men came from far and near, bringing him presents and promising him obedience.
and now, being so prosperous and so feared, my master planned to attack a city and make himself the master of the king’s treasure. he told his plan to his forty men and they rejoiced one and all, and they talked to each other as if that treasure was already in their hands. i prepared the meal that was to be given him before he collected his men for the march.
the meal was of fish. the fisherman who had[pg 83] just come from the sea laid his net before me and i took out of it an exceedingly large and beautiful fish. i divided the fish and began to make it clean. i found within the fish something it had swallowed. it was a ring. and when i cleaned the ring i found that it was of gold and that in it was a most precious stone—a stone of emerald.
i brought the fish to my master cooked. and to make him rejoice i brought at the same time the ring to him. i told him that for the ring he had dropped into the depths of the sea another ring had come back to him, and that this was on account of the great good fortune that was ever with him.
he took the ring from me and he looked it all over. he cried out that this was not another ring but the same ring, and that the characters of his name were engraved upon it. and he said that it was by no means on account of his good fortune that this ring had come back to him. thereupon he rose up and went outside, and gave command to his band that they were to disarm themselves and tie up their horses, and hold themselves back[pg 84] from making any attack that day. he then went into his tent and sat at the darkest part of it, his purple beard touching the ground, and all the while lamenting that his dearest possession had come back to him out of the depths of the sea.
the forty men disarmed themselves and tied up their horses and sat in little bands playing games together. i would have stayed about the encampment making bread for the band, only that as i came near the tent where the kneading board was i heard a bird’s cry.
i looked, and i saw on the wellhead near the bird of gold. the bird fluttered and flew as if she wanted me to watch her. i followed where she went and i was led far from the encampment. at the edge of the wilderness she went amongst low bushes, and after that i could not see her any more.
because i had seen the bird of gold once more i went back toward the encampment thinking about the days when i had lived in the hut of my father, the bramble gatherer, and about the day when i had left that hut, and had gone across the[pg 85] wilderness, and had seen the pillar on which was written that if i followed the road to the right i should come to my fortune, and about how i had come, not to my fortune, but back to the hut i had left; and i went on, thinking of how i had first heard of the bird of gold, and of how i had given her liberty when i might have held her for the great reward the king would have given. i went toward the encampment thinking these thoughts about myself, and thinking, too, of my master who had such fortune that men swore by the goodness of it.
i made my way toward the tent where the kneading board was. and then i saw tents overturned and lying upon the ground. i saw the horses of the band straying over the plain. and when i looked to the citadel i saw it smoking with a fire that was burning it.
there was no stir in all the encampment. i knew then that an army had come and had attacked my master and his forty men in the time that i was following the bird of gold or coming back from the place where she had led me. i went[pg 86] amongst the tents and i saw that the men had been killed. and i saw the purple beard of my master, cut off by some insolent enemy and left lying upon the ground.
then i ran over the trampled grass and made for the wilderness. and when i came into the wilderness i hid myself amongst the bushes that the bird of gold had flown into. i thought that a great army was pursuing me, and in truth i was very fearful.
