Tell us what we shall do to acquit
ourselves to his satisfaction."
"Good mistress," replied the bird, "you have excellent cooks; let them
do the best they can. But above all things, let them prepare a dish of
cucumbers stuffed full of pearls, which must be set before the emperor
in the first course, before all the other dishes."
"Cucumbers stuffed full of pearls!" cried Princess Perie-zadeh, with
amazement. "Surely, bird, you do not know what you say. It is an
unheard-of dish! Besides, all the pearls I possess are not enough for
such a dish."
"Mistress," said the bird, "do what I say, and as for the pearls, go
early to-morrow morning to the foot of the first tree on your right
hand in the park, dig under it, and you will find more than you want."
The princess immediately ordered a gardener to be ready to attend her
in the morning, and led him at daybreak to the tree which the bird had
told her of, and bade him dig at its foot. When the gardener came to a
certain depth, he found some resistance to the spade, and presently
discovered a gold box, about a foot square, which he gave into the
princess's hands. As it was fastened only with neat little hasps, she
soon opened it, and found it full of pearls. Very well satisfied with
having found this treasure, after she had shut the box again she put
it under her arm, and went back to the house; while the gardener threw
the earth into the hole at the foot of the tree as it had been before.
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