Lake Saiful Muluk, 3,224 metres up at the head of the Kaghan valley, is named after the prince of a legend: Saiful Malook, who crossed the world for a fairy he had seen in a dream.
Saiful Malook, whose name means 'Sword of the Kings', was a prince of Egypt. Among the treasures he inherited from his forefathers were two seals, one bearing his own image and one the image of a fairy princess, Badi-ul-Jamala. One night the prince dreamed of a lake and of that fairy. He told his father, and then set out to find the place and the princess.
After long years of wandering and many trials, the legend brings him to this lake ringed by snow peaks, where at last he meets Badi-ul-Jamala. Local storytellers still say that on full-moon nights the fairies come down to bathe in its waters.
From the Thousand and One Nights to Punjab
The Story of Prince Saiful Maluk is an Arabic fable, a later addition to the One Thousand and One Nights, with manuscripts dating from the 17th century. In South Asia it was put into Punjabi verse in the 19th century by the Sufi poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, and it has been retold in Balochi, Bengali, Urdu, Turkish and many other languages.
Visiting: The lake is about 9 km north of Naran, reached by jeep in summer. Malika Parbat, the highest peak in the valley, rises above it. In winter, snow and landslides can cut the road.
Sources: Wikipedia: Lake Saiful Muluk (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Saiful_Muluk); Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, Saif-ul-Malook.
