The Goldsmith's Wife

Once upon a time there lived a handsome goldsmith in the fair capital of Kashmir. He was the head of his guild and was very popular. And, mind you, he was the royal goldsmith. When he made ornaments for the royal household, his wife used to take them to the palace.

One day the Princess said to the goldsmith's wife, "Let the goldsmith himself come here." And, so he did. When he displayed the shining ornaments before her, she pouted her lips and said, "These trinkets are no good." But their eyes met and they fell in love with each other.

Reaching home, the goldsmith found no rest. His clever wife understood the cause of his sickness. She asked him to forge two golden balls and to throw them into the chamber of the Princess. When he did so, the Princess peered out of the window, showed him a mirror. poured water in the drain and threw a nosegay at him. He could not understand her gesture. Coming back home, he consulted his wife.

She said to him, "When the Princess showed you a mirror, she meant that someone else was in the room. When she threw the water, she wanted you to come through the drain. Indicated by the nosegay the meeting place was to be her rose garden:"

Next evening, accordingly, the goldsmith went into the garden There he lay on a bed. The cool breeze from the cascades lulled him to sleep. The Princess came out but he did not wake up. In the morning he returned home, disappointed. Seeing him woebegone, his wife said, "Let me search your pockets." She found the two golden balls. The goldsmith then understood that the Princess had come into the garden while he slept.

Once again, the goldsmith made preparations to enter the private garden of the Princess in the night. His wife pared his nails but gave one a slash and it bled. He was angry with her, but she said, "Am I a barber that I should not go wrong when handling the razor?"

She gave him a packet admonishing him that should he fall asleep that night he should put the powder on the nail as it would "soothe the pain." The credulous goldsmith did not know that the packet contained powdered pepper and salt.

The goldsmith felt asleep in the garden. So he opened the packet and sprinkled its contents on the hurt finger. The 'medicine' only caused him pain. Sleep forsook him. But all this was a blessing in disguise.

The lovely Princess came and found him awake this time. They made love to each other till the small hours and then fell asleep in each other's arms. At dawn the chief constable found them and arrested them. They were thrown inside the palace jail and were to be produced before the King in the judgement hall in the afternoon.

When the goldsmith's wife heard of her husband's detention in the jail, she went there. She was carrying a huge basket containing loaves on her head. She got the jailor's permission to distribute the loaves among the prisoners. Reaching the cell of her husband and the Princess, she made the Princess exchange her clothes with her own. She also inverted the empty basket on the Princess to hide her face. The Princess's disguise thus complete, she left the jail unnoticed.

The King of Kashmir sat on the throne in the judgement hall. He commanded that the Princess and the goldsmith be produced before him. Lo! it was the goldsmith and his wife. The case was dropped against the goldsmith. But the palace constable lost his job.


After some time the King gave the right of Soyambar to his daughter so that she could choose in an open durbar the man she desired to marry. Advised by his wife and dressed for the occasion, the goldsmith took his place among the suitors. The Princess garlanded him in the durbar. So she was married to him. The goldsmith's first wife was still faithful to him and he gave her the first place in his household.