238 THE WONDER-BOOK OF HORSES 



inquiring for news, but everywhere meeting with 

 disappointment. Coming at last into the capital 

 of Kashmir, he heard something which gave him 

 a ray of hope. 



" A princess of Bengal, is it ? " said a beggar to 

 whom he had given alms, and of whom he had 

 asked the usual question. " No, I have never seen 

 one — ^nor even an enchanted horse. But our sul- 

 tan was on the point of marrying a princess of 

 Bengal not long ago. She was wonderfully beau- 

 tiful, they said. The wedding feast was all ready, 

 and the guests were in the palace, when the 

 princess was suddenly stricken with madness. 

 She was as fierce as any Bengal tiger. It was 

 worth a man's life to go near her. All that could 

 be done was to shut her up in her room ; and there 

 she remains to this day, staring mad, although 

 as beautiful as ever. The sultan has offered a 

 great reward to any physician who will cure her 

 of her malady, but she is so wild that there is n't 

 a physician in Kashmir who dares enter her 

 room." 



Firouz did not wait to hear anything more. 

 He hurried away to his lodgings, and having ex- 

 changed his dervish costume for the dress of a 

 physician, he presented himself at the sultan's 



