furniture, a few books, and a single slave to wait on him.
Camaralzaman, pleased to be free to enjoy his books, showed himself very
indifferent to his sentence.
When night came he washed himself, performed his devotions, and, having read
some pages of the Koran, lay down on a couch, without putting out the light near
him, and was soon asleep.
Now there was a deep well in the tower in which Prince Camaralzaman was
imprisoned, and this well was a favourite resort of the fairy Maimoune, daughter
of Damriat, chief of a legion of genii. Towards midnight Maimoune floated lightly
up from the well, intending, according to her usual habit, to roam about the upper
world as curiosity or accident might prompt.
The light in the prince's room surprised her, and without disturbing the slave, who
slept across the threshold, she entered the room, and approaching the bed was
still more astonished to find it occupied.
The prince lay with his face half hidden by the coverlet. Maimoune lifted it a little
and beheld the most beautiful youth she had ever seen.
"What a marvel of beauty he must be when his eyes are open!" she thought.
"What can he have done to deserve to be treated like this?"
She could not weary gazing at Camaralzaman, but at length, having softly kissed
his brow and each cheek, she replaced the coverlet and resumed her flight
through the air.
As she entered the middle region she heard the sound of great wings coming
towards her, and shortly met one of the race of bad genii. This genie, whose
name was Danhasch, recognised Maimoune with terror, for he knew the
supremacy which her goodness gave her over him. He would gladly have
avoided her altogether, but they were so near that he must either be prepared to
fight or yield to her, so he at once addressed her in a conciliatory tone:
"Good Maimoune, swear to me by Allah to do me no harm, and on my side I will
promise not to injure you."
"Accursed genie!" replied Maimoune, "what harm can you do me? But I will grant
your power and give the promise you ask. And now tell me what you have seen
and done to-night."
"Fair lady," said Danhasch, "you meet me at the right moment to hear something
really interesting. I must tell you that I come from the furthest end of China, which
is one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms in the world. The present king
has one only daughter, who is so perfectly lovely that neither you, nor I, nor any
other creature could find adequate terms in which to describe her marvellous
charms. You must therefore picture to yourself the most perfect features, joined
to a brilliant and delicate complexion, and an enchanting expression, and even
then imagination will fall short of the reality."
"The king, her father, has carefully shielded this treasure from the vulgar gaze,
and has taken every precaution to keep her from the sight of everyone except the
happy mortal he may choose to be her husband. But in order to give her variety
in her confinement he has built her seven palaces such as have never been seen
before. The first palace is entirely composed of rock crystal, the second of
bronze, the third of fine steel, the fourth of another and more precious species of
bronze, the fifth of touchstone, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of solid gold.
They are all most sumptuously furnished, whilst the gardens surrounding them
are laid out with exquisite taste. In fact, neither trouble nor cost has been spared
to make this retreat agreeable to the princess. The report of her wonderful beauty
has spread far and wide, and many powerful kings have sent embassies to ask
her hand in marriage. The king has always received these embassies graciously,
but says that he will never oblige the princess to marry against her will, and as
she regularly declines each fresh proposal, the envoys have had to leave as
disappointed in the result of their missions as they were gratified by their
magnificent receptions.
"Sire," said the princess to her father, "you wish me to marry, and I know you
desire to please me, for which I am very grateful. But, indeed, I have no
inclination to change my state, for where could I find so happy a life amidst so
many beautiful and delightful surroundings? I feel that I could never be as happy
with any husband as I am here, and I beg you not to press one on me."
"At last an embassy came from a king so rich and powerful that the King of China
felt constrained to urge this suit on his daughter. He told her how important such
an alliance would be, and pressed her to consent. In fact, he pressed her so
persistingly that the princess at length lost her temper and quite forgot the
respect due to her father. "Sire," cried she angrily, "do not speak further of this or
any other marriage or I will plunge this dagger in my breast and so escape from
all these importunities."
"The king of China was extremely indignant with his daughter and replied: "You
have lost your senses and you must be treated accordingly." So he had her shut
in one set of rooms in one of her palaces, and only allowed her ten old women, of
whom her nurse was the head, to wait on her and keep her company. He next
sent letters to all the kings who had sued for the princess's hand, begging they
would think of her no longer, as she was quite insane, and he desired his various
envoys to make it known that anyone who could cure her should have her to
wife.
"Fair Maimoune," continued Danhasch, "this is the present state of affairs. I never
pass a day without going to gaze on this incomparable beauty, and I am sure that
if you would only accompany me you would think the sight well worth the trouble,
and own that you never saw such loveliness before."
The fairy only answered with a peal of laughter, and when at length she had
control of her voice she cried, "Oh, come, you are making game of me! I thought
you had something really interesting to tell me instead of raving about some
unknown damsel. What would you say if you could see the prince I have just
been looking at and whose beauty is really transcendent? That is something
worth talking about, you would certainly quite lose your head."
"Charming Maimoune," asked Danhasch, "may I inquire who and what is the
prince of whom you speak?"
"Know," replied Maimoune, "that he is in much the same case as your princess.
The king, his father, wanted to force him to marry, and on the prince's refusal to
obey he has been imprisoned in an old tower where I have just seen him."
"I don't like to contradict a lady," said Danhasch, "but you must really permit me
to doubt any mortal being as beautiful as my princess."
"Hold your tongue," cried Maimoune. "I repeat that is impossible."
"Well, I don't wish to seem obstinate," replied Danhasch, "the best plan to test the
truth of what I say will be for you to let me take you to see the princess for
yourself."
"There is no need for that," retorted Maimoune; "we can satisfy ourselves in
another way. Bring your princess here and lay her down beside my prince. We
can then compare them at leisure, and decide which is in the right."
Danhasch readily consented, and after having the tower where the prince was
confined pointed out to him, and making a wager with Maimoune as to the result
of the comparison, he flew off to China to fetch the princess.
In an incredibly short time Danhasch returned, bearing the sleeping princess.
Maimoune led him to the prince's room, and the rival beauty was placed beside
him.
When the prince and princess lay thus side by side, an animated dispute as to
their respective charms arose between the fairy and the genius. Danhasch began
by saying:
"Now you see that my princess is more beautiful than your prince. Can you doubt
any longer?"
"Doubt! Of course I do!" exclaimed Maimoune. "Why, you must be blind not to
see how much my prince excels your princess. I do not deny that your princess is
very handsome, but only look and you must own that I am in the right."
"There is no need for me to look longer," said Danhasch, "my first impression will
remain the same; but of course, charming Maimoune, I am ready to yield to you if
you insist on it."
"By no means," replied Maimoune. "I have no idea of being under any obligation
to an accursed genius like you. I refer the matter to an umpire, and shall expect
you to submit to his verdict."
Danhasch readily agreed, and on Maimoune striking the floor with her foot it
opened, and a hideous, hump-backed, lame, squinting genius, with six horns on
his head, hands like claws, emerged. As soon as he beheld Maimoune he threw
himself at her feet and asked her commands.
"Rise, Caschcasch," said she. "I summoned you to judge between me and
Danhasch. Glance at that couch, and say without any partiality whether you think
the youth or the maiden lying there the more beautiful."
Caschcasch looked at the prince and princess with every token of surprise and
admiration. At length, having gazed long without being able to come to a
decision, he said
"Madam, I must confess that I should deceive you were I to declare one to be
handsomer than the other. There seems to me only one way in which to decide
the matter, and that is to wake one after the other and judge which of them
expresses the greater admiration for the other."
This advice pleased Maimoune and Danhasch, and the fairy at once transformed
herself into the shape of a gnat and settling on Camaralzaman's throat stung him
so sharply that he awoke. As he did so his eyes fell on the Princess of China.
Surprised at finding a lady so near him, he raised himself on one arm to look at
her. The youth and beauty of the princess at once awoke a feeling to which his
heart had as yet been a stranger, and he could not restrain his delight.
"What loveliness! What charms! Oh, my heart, my soul!" he exclaimed, as he
kissed her forehead, her eyes and mouth in a way which would certainly have
roused her had not the genie's enchantments kept her asleep.
"How, fair lady!" he cried, "you do not wake at the signs of Camaralzaman's love?
Be you who you may, he is not unworthy of you."
It then suddenly occurred to him, that perhaps this was the bride his father had
destined for him, and that the King had probably had her placed in this room in
order to see how far Camaralzaman's aversion to marriage would withstand her
charms.
"At all events," he thought, "I will take this ring as a remembrance of her."
So saying he drew off a fine ring which the princess wore on her finger, and
replaced it by one of his own. After which he lay down again and was soon fast
asleep.
Then Danhasch, in his turn, took the form of a gnat and bit the princess on her
lip.
She started up, and was not a little amazed at seeing a young man beside her.
From surprise she soon passed to admiration, and then to delight on perceiving
how handsome and fascinating he was.
"Why," cried she, "was it you my father wished me to marry? How unlucky that I
did not know sooner! I should not have made him so angry. But wake up! wake
up! for I know I shall love you with all my heart."
So saying she shook Camaralzaman so violently that nothing but the spells of
Maimoune could have prevented his waking.
"Oh!" cried the princess. "Why are you so drowsy?" So saying she took his hand
and noticed her own ring on his finger, which made her wonder still more. But as
he still remained in a profound slumber she pressed a kiss on his cheek and
soon fell fast asleep too.
Then Maimoune turning to the genie said: "Well, are you satisfied that my prince
surpasses your princess? Another time pray believe me when I assert anything."
Then turning to Caschcasch: "My thanks to you, and now do you and Danhasch
bear the princess back to her own home."
The two genii hastened to obey, and Maimoune returned to her well.
On waking next morning the first thing Prince Camaralzaman did was to look
round for the lovely lady he had seen at night, and the next to question the slave
who waited on him about her. But the slave persisted so strongly that he knew
nothing of any lady, and still less of how she got into the tower, that the prince
lost all patience, and after giving him a good beating tied a rope round him and
ducked him in the well till the unfortunate man cried out that he would tell
everything. Then the prince drew him up all dripping wet, but the slave begged
leave to change his clothes first, and as soon as the prince consented hurried off
just as he was to the palace. Here he found the king talking to the grand-vizir of
all the anxiety his son had caused him. The slave was admitted at once and
cried:
"Alas, Sire! I bring sad news to your Majesty. There can be no doubt that the
prince has completely lost his senses. He declares that he saw a lady sleeping
on his couch last night, and the state you see me in proves how violent
contradiction makes him." He then gave a minute account of all the prince had
said and done.
The king, much moved, begged the vizir to examine into this new misfortune, and
the latter at once went to the tower, where he found the prince quietly reading a
book. After the first exchange of greetings the vizir said:
"I feel really very angry with your slave for alarming his Majesty by the news he
brought him."
"What news?" asked the prince.
"Ah!" replied the vizir, "something absurd, I feel sure, seeing how I find you."
"Most likely," said the prince; "but now that you are here I am glad of the
opportunity to ask you where is the lady who slept in this room last night?"
The grand-vizir felt beside himself at this question.
"Prince!" he exclaimed, "how would it be possible for any man, much less a
woman, to enter this room at night without walking over your slave on the
threshold? Pray consider the matter, and you will realise that you have been
deeply impressed by some dream."
But the prince angrily insisted on knowing who and where the lady was, and was
not to be persuaded by all the vizir's protestations to the contrary that the plot
had not been one of his making. At last, losing patience, he seized the vizir by
the beard and loaded him with blows.
"Stop, Prince," cried the unhappy vizir, "stay and hear what I have to say."
The prince, whose arm was getting tired, paused.
"I confess, Prince," said the vizir, "that there is some foundation for what you say.
But you know well that a minister has to carry out his master's orders. Allow me
to go and to take to the king any message you may choose to send."
"Very well," said the prince; "then go and tell him that I consent to marry the lady
whom he sent or brought here last night. Be quick and bring me back his
answer."
The vizir bowed to the ground and hastened to leave the room and tower.
"Well," asked the king as soon as he appeared, "and how did you find my son?"
"Alas, sire," was the reply, "the slave's report is only too true!"
He then gave an exact account of his interview with Camaralzaman and of the
prince's fury when told that it was not possible for any lady to have entered his
room, and of the treatment he himself had received. The king, much distressed,
determined to clear up the matter himself, and, ordering the vizir to follow him,
set out to visit his son.
The prince received his father with profound respect, and the king, making him sit
beside him, asked him several questions, to which Camaralzaman replied with
much good sense. At last the king said: "My son, pray tell me about the lady who,
it is said, was in your room last night."
"Sire," replied the prince, "pray do not increase my distress in this matter, but
rather make me happy by giving her to me in marriage. However much I may
have objected to matrimony formerly, the sight of this lovely girl has overcome all
my prejudices, and I will gratefully receive her from your hands."
The king was almost speechless on hearing his son, but after a time assured him
most solemnly that he knew nothing whatever about the lady in question, and
had not connived at her appearance. He then desired the prince to relate the
whole story to him.
Camaralzaman did so at great length, showed the ring, and implored his father to
help to find the bride he so ardently desired.
"After all you tell me," remarked the king, "I can no longer doubt your word; but
how and whence the lady came, or why she should have stayed so short a time I
cannot imagine. The whole affair is indeed mysterious. Come, my dear son, let
us wait together for happier days."
So saying the king took Camaralzaman by the hand and led him back to the
palace, where the prince took to his bed and gave himself up to despair, and the
king shutting himself up with his son entirely neglected the affairs of state.
The prime minister, who was the only person admitted, felt it his duty at last to tell
the king how much the court and all the people complained of his seclusion, and
how bad it was for the nation. He urged the sultan to remove with the prince to a
lovely little island close by, whence he could easily attend public audiences, and
where the charming scenery and fine air would do the invalid so much good as to
enable him to bear his father's occasional absence.
The king approved the plan, and as soon as the castle on the island could be
prepared for their reception he and the prince arrived there, Schahzaman never
leaving his son except for the prescribed public audiences twice a week.
Whilst all this was happening in the capital of Schahzaman the two genii had
carefully borne the Princess of China back to her own palace and replaced her in
bed. On waking next morning she first turned from one side to another and then,
finding herself alone, called loudly for her women.
"Tell me," she cried, "where is the young man I love so dearly, and who slept
near me last night?"
"Princess," exclaimed the nurse, "we cannot tell what you allude to without more
explanation."
"Why," continued the princess, "the most charming and beautiful young man lay
sleeping beside me last night. I did my utmost to wake him, but in vain."
"Your Royal Highness wishes to make game of us," said the nurse. "Is it your
pleasure to rise?"
"I am quite in earnest," persisted the princess, "and I want to know where he is."
"But, Princess," expostulated the nurse, "we left you quite alone last night, and
we have seen no one enter your room since then."
At this the princess lost all patience, and taking the nurse by her hair she boxed
her ears soundly, crying out: "You shall tell me, you old witch, or I'll kill you."
The nurse had no little trouble in escaping, and hurried off to the queen, to whom
she related the whole story with tears in her eyes.
"You see, madam," she concluded, "that the princess must be out of her mind. If
only you will come and see her, you will be able to judge for yourself."
The queen hurried to her daughter's apartments, and after tenderly embracing
her, asked her why she had treated her nurse so badly.
"Madam," said the princess, "I perceive that your Majesty wishes to make game
of me, but I can assure you that I will never marry anyone except the charming
young man whom I saw last night. You must know where he is, so pray send for
him."
The queen was much surprised by these words, but when she declared that she
knew nothing whatever of the matter the princess lost all respect, and answered
that if she were not allowed to marry as she wished she should kill herself, and it
was in vain that the queen tried to pacify her and bring her to reason.
The king himself came to hear the rights of the matter, but the princess only
persisted in her story, and as a proof showed the ring on her finger. The king
hardly knew what to make of it all, but ended by thinking that his daughter was
more crazy than ever, and without further argument he had her placed in still
closer confinement, with only her nurse to wait on her and a powerful guard to
keep the door.
Then he assembled his council, and having told them the sad state of things,
added: "If any of you can succeed in curing the princess, I will give her to him in
marriage, and he shall be my heir."
An elderly emir present, fired with the desire to possess a young and lovely wife
and to rule over a great kingdom, offered to try the magic arts with which he was
acquainted.
"You are welcome to try," said the king, "but I make one condition, which is, that
should you fail you will lose your life."
The emir accepted the condition, and the king led him to the princess, who,
veiling her face, remarked, "I am surprised, sire, that you should bring an
unknown man into my presence."
"You need not be shocked," said the king; "this is one of my emirs who asks your
hand in marriage."
"Sire," replied the princess, "this is not the one you gave me before and whose
ring I wear. Permit me to say that I can accept no other."
The emir, who had expected to hear the princess talk nonsense, finding how
calm and reasonable she was, assured the king that he could not venture to
undertake a cure, but placed his head at his Majesty's disposal, on which the
justly irritated monarch promptly had it cut off.
This was the first of many suitors for the princess whose inability to cure her cost
them their lives.
Now it happened that after things had been going on in this way for some time
the nurse's son Marzavan returned from his travels. He had been in many
countries and learnt many things, including astrology. Needless to say that one of
the first things his mother told him was the sad condition of the princess, his
foster-sister. Marzavan asked if she could not manage to let him see the princess
without the king's knowledge.
After some consideration his mother consented, and even persuaded the eunuch
on guard to make no objection to Marzavan's entering the royal apartment.
The princess was delighted to see her foster-brother again, and after some
conversation she confided to him all her history and the cause of her
imprisonment.
Marzavan listened with downcast eyes and the utmost attention. When she had
finished speaking he said,
"If what you tell me, Princess, is indeed the case, I do not despair of finding
comfort for you. Take patience yet a little longer. I will set out at once to explore
other countries, and when you hear of my return be sure that he for whom you
sigh is not far off." So saying, he took his leave and started next morning on his
travels.
Marzavan journeyed from city to city and from one island and province to
another, and wherever he went he heard people talk of the strange story of the
Princess Badoura, as the Princess of China was named.
After four months he reached a large populous seaport town named Torf, and
here he heard no more of the Princess Badoura but a great deal of Prince
Camaralzaman, who was reported ill, and whose story sounded very similar to
that of the Princess Badoura.
Marzavan was rejoiced, and set out at once for Prince Camaralzaman's
residence. The ship on which he embarked had a prosperous voyage till she got
within sight of the capital of King Schahzaman, but when just about to enter the
harbour she suddenly struck on a rock, and f