After conferring with her, the sultan next day said to the prince,
in the midst of all his courtiers, 'Son, I have one thing more to
ask of you; after which, I shall expect nothing more from your
obedience, nor your influence with your wife. This request is, to
bring me a man not above a foot and a half high, whose beard is
thirty feet long, who carries upon his shoulders a bar of iron of
five hundredweight which he uses as a quarterstaff, and who can
speak.'
Prince Ahmed, who did not believe that there was such a man in the
world as his father described, would gladly have excused himself;
but the sultan persisted in his demand, and told him that the fairy
could do more incredible things.
Next day the prince returned to the subterranean kingdom of Pari
Banou, to whom he told his father's new demand, which, he said, he
looked upon as more impossible than the first two; 'for,' added he,
'I cannot imagine that there is or can be such a man in the world:
either he has a mind to try whether I am silly enough to go and
seek him; or if there is such a man, he seeks my ruin. How can he
suppose that I should get hold of a man so small, armed as he
describes? What arms could I make use of to reduce him to
submission?'
'Do not affright yourself, prince,' replied the fairy; 'you ran a
risk in fetching the water of the fountain of lions for your
father; but there is no danger in finding this man.
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