"Alas! prince," she replied, sighing, "the most enchanting spots
cannot afford delight when we are there against our will. But hear now
my history. I am a princess, the daughter of a sultan, the king of the
Ebony Island, to which the precious wood found in it has given its
name.
"The king, my father, had chosen for my husband a prince, who was my
cousin; but on the very night of the bridal festivities, in the midst
of the rejoicings of the court, a genie took me away. I fainted with
alarm, and when I recovered I found myself in this place. I was long
inconsolable; but time and necessity have reconciled me to see the
genie. Twenty-five years I have passed in this place, in which I have
everything necessary for life and splendor.
"Every ten days," continued the princess, "the genie visits me. In the
meantime, if I have any occasion for him, I have only to touch a
talisman, and he appears. It is now four days since he was here, and I
have therefore to wait six days more before he again makes his
appearance. You, therefore, may remain five with me, if it be
agreeable to you, in order to keep me company; and I will endeavor to
regale and entertain you equal to your merit and dignity."
The princess then conducted me to a bath, the most commodious, and the
most sumptuous imaginable; and when I came forth, instead of my own
clothes I found a costly robe, which I did not esteem so much for its
richness as because it made me appear worthy to be in her company. We
sat down on a sofa covered with rich tapestry, with cushions of the
rarest Indian brocade; and some time after she covered a table with
several dishes of delicate meats. We ate, and passed the remaining
part of the day, as also the evening, together very pleasantly.
The next day I said to her, "Fair princess, you have been too long
buried alive in this subterranean palace; pray rise--follow me and
enjoy the light of day, of which you have been deprived so many
years."
"Prince," replied she, with a smile, "if you out of ten days will
grant me nine, and resign the tenth to the genie, the light of day
would be nothing to me."
"Princess," said I, "the fear of the genie makes you speak thus. For
my part, I regard him so little that I will break in pieces his
talisman, with the spell that is written about it. Let him come; and
how brave or powerful he be, I will defy him." On saying this I gave
the talisman a kick with my foot, and broke it in pieces.
The talisman was no sooner broken than the whole palace shook as if
ready to fall to atoms, and the walls opened to afford a passage to
the genie. I had no sooner felt the shock than, at the earnest
request of the princess, I took to flight. Having hastily put on my
own robe, I ascended the stairs leading to the forest, and reached the
town in safety. My landlord, the tailor, was very glad to see me.
In my haste, however, I had left my hatchet and cord in the princess's
chamber.
Shortly after my return, while brooding over this loss and lamenting
the cruel treatment to which the princess would be exposed, the tailor
came in and said, "An old man, whom I do not know, brings your hatchet
and cords, and wishes to speak to you, for he will deliver them to
none but yourself."
At these words I changed color, and fell a-trembling. While the tailor
was asking me the reason, my chamber door opened, and the old man,
having no patience to stay, appeared with my hatchet and cords.
"I am a genie," said he, speaking to me, "a grandson of Eblis,[15]
prince of genies. Is not this your hatchet and are not these your
cords?"
[Footnote 15: Eblis, or Degial, the evil spirit, who, according to the
Koran, betrayed Adam to transgression, and yet seeks to inflict injury
on his race.]
After the genie had put these questions to me he gave me no time to
answer. He grasped me by the middle, dragged me out of the chamber,
and mounting into the air carried me up to the skies with
extraordinary swiftness. He descended again in like manner to the
earth, which on a sudden he caused to open with a stroke of his foot,
when I found myself in the enchanted palace, before the fair princess
of the Isle of Ebony. But, alas! what a spectacle was there! I saw
what pierced me to the heart; this poor princess was weltering in her
blood, and lay upon the ground, more like one dead than alive, with
her cheeks bathed in tears.
The genie, having loaded us both with many insults and reproaches,
drew his scimitar and declared that he would give life and liberty to
either of us who would with his scimitar cut off the head of the
other. We both resolutely declined to purchase freedom at such a
price, and asserted our choice to be to die rather in the presence of
each other.
"I see," said the genie, "that you both outbrave me, but both of you
shall know by my treatment of you of what I am capable."
At these words the monster took up the scimitar and cut off one of her
hands, which left her only so much life as to give me a token with the
other that she bade me forever adieu; and then she died.