The Magical Horse
His name was Malik. He was young, courageous, and handsome. He had a pride possession - a magical horse! What was very special about it was that this horse could fly! Many had tried to buy this horse from him. But Malik did not sell it to anyone.
With that horse, he flew to many countries. Wherever he went, he made the news! One day, while flying amidst the clouds, he spotted a kingdom below. At once, he altered his course and flew to that country. Flying in circles, he looked for the king’s palace. Then he landed on the terrace of the palace.
Just then the king came up. On seeing the flying horse, he at first recoiled in fear thinking that it was some evil force. But after seeing the young Malik, he went ahead. He and Malik exchanged pleasantries.
The king became crazy to own the flying horse. He said, “You have come to the right place. I have a passion for antiques and other rare items. Your horse interests me. I wish to buy it. Tell your price!” he made a direct approach.
“The price of this horse is the princess' hands,” said Malik. The king hesitated. He decided to cheat Malik and grab the horse!
“All right,” he agreed “But before that, I want my son, the prince to test it!”
Accordingly, the young prince hopped onto its back and shot off into the air!
It was an unmatched thrilling experience for the prince! He was delighted to see many countries, people, hills, valleys, oceans, deserts, forests, rivers, animals, waterfalls, and clouds. Everything went past him!
He decided to return. He pulled the reins left and right. But the horse did not respond. It flew straight! And it continued to fly even for days together!
Meanwhile, the king became anxious! He began to worry if anything untoward had happened to his son. When the prince did not return even after two days, the king put Malik in prison!
“This is no way to treat me. Wait for a day or two. My horse will never harm any riders. I have lent it to so many fellows. After a few days, it brought all of them back safely!” he protested. But the king was in no mood “Wait until my son has come back safely. Then I will release you!” the king said and walked back!
The next day, the prince returned. The king was pleased. He released Malik but retained the horse with him.
“Give me my horseback,” demanded Malik.
“Be glad that I have spared your life! I doubt that you are a spy! How dare you had trespassed into my country and landed on the palace? Go and get lost!” he snapped.
Malik left. He wanted to teach a lesson to the crafty king. So wearing a disguise, he roamed around the streets. One day he came to know that the sick princess’ health was deteriorating! The king summoned a maximum number of physicians. But none could cure her.
On hearing it, Malik changed his appearance once again. He took the appearance of a physician. He went to the palace and said that he had come to cure the princess. They allowed him in. Moments later, he was taken to the king.
“If you can cure my daughter, I will reward you with 10, 000 gold coins!” said the kind. Then the king took him to the princess.
Malik, under the disguise of a physician, saw the prince who was very pretty. He wanted to marry her. At the same time, he longed to settle the score with the cunning king.
However, keeping cool, he sat beside her bed, took some herbals from his bag, powdered them, and fed the medicine to the princess.
Then he did another strange thing! “This is no ordinary sickness. It is the curse of an evil spirit. I think I will have to do some special Mamas! Besides, I need a high breed horse!”
“Why you want a horse?” asked the king.
Malik said, “This is the work of some seitan! She is under the influence of an evil spirit! We have to tie fresh hair plucked from the horse’s tail. But mind you, the horse should be a very high breed and not an ordinary horse!”
At once, they brought Malik’s magical horse. Malik plucked a hair from its tail and tied it around the princess’ neck. Then he began chanting some verses from the Holy Quran! When everybody was taking it easy, Malik quickly bundled the princess and carried her away on his magical horse!
Circling above, he said to all of them, “I am Malik and this is my horse. You have seized it. Now I am abducting your princess because you have agreed to get her married to me. Try to catch me if you can!”
The next instant, the flying horse shot off into space and disappeared from their sight!