Next morning, Dinarzade made the same request to her sister as
formerly: My dear sister, says she, if you be not asleep, tell me
one of those pleasant stories that you have read. But the sultan,
willing to understand what followed between the merchant and the
genie, bid her go on with that, which she did, as follows:
Sir, while the merchant, and the old man who led the hind, were
talking, they saw another old man coming to them, followed by two
black dogs. After they had saluted one another, he asked them what
they did in that place. The old man with the hind, told him the
adventure of the merchant and genie, with all that had passed
between them, particularly the merchant’s oath. He added, that it
was the day agreed on, and that he was resolved to stay and see the
issue.
The second old man, thinking it also worth his curiosity, resolved
to do the like: he likewise sat down by them; and they had scarce
began to talk together, but there came a third old man, who
addressing himself to the two former, asked why the merchant that
sat with them looked so melancholy. They told him the reason of it,
which appeared so extraordinary to him, that he also resolved to be
witness to the result; and for that end sat down with them.
In a little time, they perceived in the field a thick vapour, like a
cloud of dust raised by a whirlwind, advancing towards them, which
vanished all of a sudden, and then the genie appeared; who, without
saluting them, came up to the merchant with a drawn scimitar, and
taking him by the arm, says, Get thee up, that I may kill thee, as
thou didst my son. The merchant and the three old men, being
frightened, began to lament, and to fill the air with their cries.
Here Scheherazade, perceiving day, left off her story; which did so
much whet the sultan’s curiosity, that he was absolutely resolved
to hear the end of it, and put off the sultaness’s execution till
the next day.
Nobody can express the grand vizier’s joy when he perceived that
the sultan did not order him to kill Scheherazade: his family, the
court, and all the people in general, were astonished at it.