fakeer

Instantly the ground opened, and the astonished king, peeping in, saw a flight of rough steps, and, at the bottom of them, the fakeer sitting, just as he used to sit, on his rickety bedstead, reading the Koran!

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

The fakeer was seated on a little old bedstead reading the Koran, with his patched cloak thrown over his shoulders.

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

The fakeer replied that he was asking a very difficult, and perhaps

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

At first the king was so surprised and frightened that he could only stare; but the fakeer beckoned to him to come down, so, mustering up his courage, he boldly stepped down into the grave.

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

Instantly he hurried off himself, and found that it was really true, and that the fakeer was even then breathing his last.

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

Then they began to talk, and, by-and-bye, the king asked the fakeer if he could show him a glimpse of Paradise, for he found it very difficult to believe in what he could not see.

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

The fakeer rose, and, making a sign to the king to follow, walked a few paces along a dark passage.

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

After a year or two had passed by, the king heard one day that the fakeer was very ill — indeed, he was believed to be dying.

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

No one knows what was there shown to the king, nor did he ever tell anyone; but, when the fakeer at length dropped the curtain, and the king turned to leave the place, he had had his glimpse of Paradise!

The Orange Fairy Book 2003

Once upon a time there was king who, one day out hunting, came upon a fakeer in a lonely place in the mountains.

The Orange Fairy Book 2003