Part 22

Having said this, the princess shook prince Camaralzaman by the arm in so violent a manner, that he must have awoke, if Maimounè had not at that very instant heightened his sleep by means of enchantment. She shook him in this manner several times; then, as she found she could not prevent him from sleeping, she called out, “What can possibly have happened to you? What rival, jealous of our mutual happiness, has had recourse to magic; and thus thrown you into this insurmountable fit of stupefaction, from whence it seems almost impossible you should ever be roused.” She then took hold of his hand, and tenderly kissing it, she perceived the ring which he had on his finger. It appeared so like her own, that she was convinced it was the very same; and at the same moment observed, that she herself had on a different one. She could not comprehend how this exchange had been effected; but she did not for an instant doubt, that it was a sure proof of her marriage. Fatigued with the useless efforts she had made to wake him; and satisfied, as she thought, that he could not leave her; “Since I am unable to rouse you out of your sleep,” she cried, “I will continue no longer to attempt to interrupt it. We shall see each other again.” Then kissing his cheek as she pronounced these last words, she lay down, and in a short time fell asleep.”

When Maimounè perceived that she might speak without any danger of waking the princess of China; “Well, wretch,” she said to Danhasch, “hast thou observed, then, and art thou convinced, that thy princess is less beautiful than my prince? Get along, I forgive thee the wager thou hast lost; but another time, believe me, when I assert any thing.” Then turning towards Caschcasch, “As for you,” added she, “I thank you. Do you and Danhasch take the princess, and carry her to her bed, where he brought her from.” Danhasch and Caschcasch executed the orders of Maimounè, while the latter retired to her well.

When prince Camaralzaman awoke the next morning, he looked on each side of him to see if the lady, whom he had found by him in the night, was still there; but when he perceived she was gone, he said to himself, “It is as I suspected; the king, my father, wished to surprise me: I am, however, happy that I was aware of it.” He then called the slave, who was still asleep, and desired him to make haste and dress himself, without saying a word to him on what account he was in such a hurry. The slave brought a bason and water; the prince then washed himself, and after saying his prayers, he took a book and continued to read for some time.

After he had thus finished his usual occupations, Camaralzaman called the slave towards him, “Come here,” he said, “and be sure you do not tell me a falsehood. Inform me how the lady, who slept with me last night, came here, and who brought her.”

“Prince,” replied the slave, in the greatest astonishment, “of what lady are you speaking?”--“Of her, I tell you,” answered the prince, “who either came or was brought here, and who passed the night with me.”--“Prince,” returned the slave, “I swear to you, that I know nothing about the matter. How could any lady possibly get in, as I slept at the door?”--“Thou art a lying rascal,” replied the prince, “and art in league with some one to vex and distress me.” Saying this he gave him a blow, and knocked him down; then, after having trampled on him, he tied the rope of the well round his body, and let him down into it, and plunged him several times in the water: “I will drown thee,” cried he, “if thou dost not immediately acquaint me who the lady is, and who brought her.”

The poor slave extremely embarrassed, and half in and half out of the water, thought the prince had certainly lost his senses through grief, and that he could only escape by telling an untruth. “Prince,” said he, in a supplicating tone, “grant me my life, I conjure you, and I promise to tell you exactly how the matter stands.”

The prince drew up the slave, and commanded him to speak. When he was out of the well, “Prince,” said the slave, trembling, “You must be sensible that I cannot satisfy you in the state I am now in; allow me time to change my dress.”--“I grant it thee,” replied the prince, “but be quick; and take care thou dost not disguise the truth from me.”

The slave went out, and after having fastened the door on the prince, he ran to the palace, wet as he was. The king was engaged in conversation with his grand vizier; and was complaining of the restless night he had passed in consequence of the disobedience and ill-judged rashness of the prince his son, in thus opposing his will.

The minister endeavoured to console him, and convince him, that the prince, by his disrespectful behaviour, had justly merited the punishment he endured; “Sire,” said he, “your majesty ought not to repent of having arrested him. If you will have the patience to suffer him to remain in prison, you may be assured that he will lose this youthful impetuosity, and that he will at length submit to whatever you may require of him.”

The grand vizier had just uttered these words, when the slave presented himself before king Schahzaman: “Sire,” said he, “I am sorry to be obliged to announce to your majesty a piece of intelligence that will no doubt occasion you great sorrow. What the prince says of a lady, who slept with him last night, together with the manner in which he treated me, as your majesty may perceive, too plainly prove that he is not in his senses.” He then gave a detail of every thing that prince Camaralzaman had said, and of the excesses he had committed on his person, in terms which confirmed the truth of the account.

The king, who was not prepared for this new cause for affliction, exclaimed to the grand vizier, “This is, indeed, an incident of the most distressing nature, and very different from the hopes you flattered me with just now. Go, lose not a moment, and examine yourself the whole of this affair, and then come and inform me of what you discover.” The grand vizier immediately obeyed. When he entered the chamber of the prince, he found him seated with a book in his hand, which he was reading with apparent composure. He saluted him: and seating himself by his side, “I am very angry with the slave that attends you,” said he, “for having alarmed your father by the intelligence he has just now brought him.”--“What is this intelligence,” inquired the prince, “that has occasioned my father so much alarm? I have much more reason to complain of my slave.”

“Prince,” replied the vizier, “Heaven avert that what he has just said of you be true! The tranquil state in which I find you, and in which may God preserve you, convinces me there is no truth in his report.”--“Perhaps,” replied the prince, “he has not explained himself properly; but as you are here, I am glad to have an opportunity of asking you, who must know something about the matter, where the lady is who slept with me last night.”

The grand vizier was quite astonished at this inquiry. “Prince,” said he, “do not be surprised at the astonishment you see me in at this question. How can it be possible, not only that any lady, but that any man whatever, could have penetrated into this place in the night, to which there is no other entrance but by the door, and even then he must trample over your slave, who was guarding it? I entreat you to collect your thoughts, and I am persuaded you will find it is only a dream that has left a strong impression on your mind.”

“I shall pay no attention to your arguments,” resumed the prince, in a more elevated tone of voice: “I will absolutely know what is become of this lady; I am here in a situation to make you obey me.” This firmness of speech and manner embarrassed the grand vizier more than can be expressed; and he now only thought of the best means to extricate himself. He tried the prince with gentle means, and asked him, in the most humble and conciliating manner, if he had himself seen the lady.

“Yes, yes,” replied the prince, “I saw her, and soon perceived that you had instructed her in ways to tempt me. She played the part you allotted her vastly well; not to say a word, to pretend to sleep, and to take herself away, as soon as I fell asleep again. You know it all, I dare say; she has not failed giving you an account of the whole transaction.”--“Prince,” resumed the grand vizier, “I swear to you, that all you have been relating was unknown to me, and that neither the king, your father, nor I, sent you the lady you mention; we should never have had such an idea. Allow me once more to say, that this lady could only appear to you in a dream.”

“You come to mock me too,” cried the prince angrily, “and to tell me that what I have seen was only a dream!” He then seized him by the beard, and beat him most unmercifully, till his strength quite failed him. The poor grand vizier bore all this treatment from prince Camaralzaman very respectfully. “Here am I,” said he to himself, “precisely in the same situation as the slave; happy shall I be, if, like him, I can escape from so great a danger.”’ While the prince was still employed in beating him, he cried, “I entreat you, prince, to listen to me for one moment.” The prince, tired of this occupation, suffered him to speak.

“I own to you, prince,” said the grand vizier, as soon as he had liberty to speak, “that your suspicions are not unfounded; but you well know, that a minister is compelled to execute the orders of the king his master. If you will have the goodness to suffer me to go, I am ready to take any message to him with which you will entrust me.”--“I give you leave to go,” replied the prince. “Tell my father that I will marry the lady whom he sent, or brought me, and who slept with me last night. Be expeditious, and bring me the answer.” The grand vizier made a profound reverence on quitting him; but he could hardly be satisfied of his safety, till he was out of the tower, and had fastened the door after him. He presented himself before king Schahzaman with an air of sorrow which alarmed him. “Well,” said the monarch, “in what state did you find my son?”--

“Sire,” replied the vizier, “what the slave related to your majesty is but too true.” He then gave him an account of the conversation he had had with Camaralzaman, of the rage the prince had been in, when he attempted to convince him that the lady he spoke of could not possibly have slept with him, of the cruel treatment he had met with from him, and of the excuse by which he had escaped from his fury.

Schahzaman, who was the more grieved at this circumstance, as he had always loved the prince with the greatest tenderness, wished to investigate the truth of it himself: he repaired to the tower, and took the grand vizier with him. Prince Camaralzaman received his father with the greatest respect. The king sat down, and having made the prince sit next him, he asked him many questions, to which he replied with perfect good sense, and from time to time he looked at the vizier, as if to say, that the prince, his son, was not deranged in his intellects as he had asserted; but that he must himself be deficient in this respect.

At length the king mentioned the lady. “My son,” said he, “I beg you to tell me who this lady is, who they say slept with you last night.”--“Sire,” replied Camaralzaman, “I entreat your majesty not to add to the vexation I have already encountered on this subject; rather do me the favor to bestow her on me in marriage. Whatever aversion I may hitherto have evinced against women, this young and beautiful lady has so charmed me, that I feel no difficulty in avowing my weakness. I am ready to receive her from your hands, with the deepest sense of my obligation to you.”

King Schahzaman was thunder-struck at this answer from the prince, which, as it appeared to him, was so inconsistent with the good sense he had shown in former answers. “You speak to me in a way, my son,” said he, “that astonishes me beyond measure. I swear to you, by the crown which is to adorn your brow when I shall be no more, that I know nothing of the lady you talk of. I have not been accessary to her visit, if any one has been with you; but, how is it possible that she should have penetrated into this tower without my consent? as to what my grand vizier said to you, he only invented a story to appease you. It must have been a dream; recollect yourself, I conjure you, and be careful to ascertain the fact.”

“Sire,” resumed the prince, “I should be for ever unworthy of the goodness of your majesty, if I refused to give faith to the solemn assurance you have given me; but I request you to have the patience to listen to me, and then judge, if what I shall have the honor of relating to you can be a dream.”

Prince Camaralzaman then told the king, his father, in what manner he had waked in the night. He gave him an exaggerated description of the beauty and charms of the lady he had found by his side, confessed the love which had so instantaneously inflamed his breast, and related all his fruitless endeavours to awaken her. He did not even conceal what had made him awake; and that he fell asleep again after he had made the exchange of his ring for that of the lady. When he concluded, he took the ring from his finger, and presented it to the king, “Sire,” added he, “mine is not unknown to you, for you have seen it several times. After this, I hope you will be convinced that I have not lost my senses, as they would fain persuade you is the case.”

The king was so fully convinced of the truth of what the prince had recounted to him, that he had nothing to reply. Added to which, his astonishment was so excessive, that he remained a considerable time incapable of uttering a single word.

The prince took advantage from these moments of silent wonder. “Sire,” continued he, “the passion I feel for this charming person, whose precious image is so deeply engraven on my heart, has already risen to so violent a pitch, that I am sure I have not strength to endure it. I humbly supplicate you to feel compassion for the state I am in, and to procure me the unspeakable happiness of possessing and calling her mine.”

“After what I have now heard, my son,” replied king Schahzaman, “and what I see by this ring, I can no longer doubt the reality of your love, and that you did absolutely see the lady who gave birth to it. Would to God I knew her! You should be gratified this very day, and I should be the happiest of fathers. But where am I to seek her? How, and by what means, could she enter here, without either my consent or knowledge? Why did she come only to sleep with you, to show you her beauty, to inflame you with love while she slept, and disappear as soon as you fell asleep again? I cannot comprehend this strange adventure, and if Heaven does not assist us, it will be the means of reducing both you and me to the grave.” He then took the prince by the hand, and added, in a mournful accent, “Come, my son, let us go and mingle our lamentations together; you, for loving without hope; I, for seeing your affliction, without possessing the means of relieving it.”

Schahzaman took the prince out of his prison, and conducted him to the palace, where the prince, quite in despair at feeling so violent a passion for an unknown lady, instantly took to his bed. The king shut himself up from all society for several days, to weep with his son, and desisted entirely from attending to the usual concerns of his kingdom.

His prime minister, who was the only one to whom he had allowed free entrance, came one day to represent to him, that his whole court, as well as the people, began to murmur at not seeing him, as usual, administering justice, as was his daily custom; and that he would not be answerable for the discontents and disorders that might arise in consequence of his seclusion. “I entreat your majesty,” continued he, “to pay some attention to these complaints. I am persuaded, that your presence only serves to nourish the affliction of the prince, as his presence increases yours; but you must not suffer every thing to go to decay. Allow me to propose to you, to remove with the prince to the castle on the little island, that is at a short distance from the port, and to have an audience twice a-week only. This avocation will oblige you to quit the prince occasionally, while the beauty of the spot, the delicious air, and the charming prospects of the surrounding country, will enable him to support these short absences with more patience.”

The king approved of this advice, and as soon as the castle, which had not been inhabited for some time, was furnished and prepared for his reception, he removed thither with the prince, whom he never left, excepting for the two stipulated audiences. He passed the rest of the time by the side of his pillow, sometimes endeavouring to console him, and sometimes sharing his affliction.

While these things were passing in the capital of king Schahzaman, the two Genii, Danhasch and Caschcasch, had reconducted the princess of China to the palace, where the king, her father, had confined her, and placed her in her bed.

The next morning, when she awoke, the princess of China looked about on each side of her, and when she perceived that prince Camaralzaman was no longer near her, she called her women, in a voice which made them all run quickly to her, and surround her. Her nurse approached her pillow, and asked her what she desired, and if any thing had befallen her.

“Tell me,” replied the princess, “what is become of the young man who slept with me last night, and whom I love so tenderly.”--“My princess,” said the nurse, “we cannot comprehend your meaning, unless you explain yourself more clearly.”--“The fact is,” resumed the princess, “that a young man of the most beautiful and elegant form that can be conceived, slept by my side last night; I caressed him for a considerable time, and did all I could to wake him, without effect. I ask you where he is?”

“No doubt you do this to joke us, my princess,” replied the nurse; “will you please to rise now?”--“I speak seriously,” said the princess, “and I will know where he is.”--“But, my dear princess,” rejoined the nurse, “you were alone when we put you to bed last night; and no one has entered this place to sleep with you, at least that we know of.”

The princess of China’s patience was quite exhausted, she seized her nurse’s head, and gave her repeated slaps and blows. “Thou shalt tell me, thou old witch,” cried she, “or I will murder thee.” The nurse exerted herself to get out of her hands; she at length succeeded, and instantly ran to find the queen of China, the mother of the princess. She presented herself before her, with tears in her eyes, and her face swelled and disfigured: this excited great surprise in the queen, who inquired what was the cause of her being in such a condition.

“Madam,” said the nurse, “you see the effects of the treatment I have just received from the princess; she would have destroyed me entirely if I had not escaped as I did.” She then related to her the cause of her anger, and subsequent violent behaviour, at which the queen was no less surprised than afflicted. “You see, madam,” added she, “that the princess is out of her senses. You may judge of it yourself, if you will take the trouble of coming to see her.”

The queen of China was too tenderly attached to her daughter, not to feel extremely interested in what she had just heard from the nurse; and immediately went to the princess. She seated herself next her, when she got into the apartment where she was confined; and, after having inquired if she was in good health, she asked her what subject for discontent she had with her nurse, to induce her to treat her so cruelly as she had done. “Indeed, my daughter,” said she, “you acted wrong, and a princess of your rank ought never to suffer herself to be so led away by passion, as to commit such excesses.”

“Madam,” replied the princess, “I plainly perceive that your majesty also is come to mock me; but I solemnly declare, that I shall have neither peace nor rest till I have married the amiable and charming youth who slept with me last night. You certainly must know who he is; and I beg you to let him come again.”

“My dear daughter,” replied the queen, “you astonish me; and I cannot understand what you mean.” The princess forgot the respect she owed to her mother, and answered, “Madam, the king, my father, and you have persecuted me for some time, to compel me to marry, when I had no wish of changing my state; this wish has at length taken possession of my breast, and I will absolutely either marry the young man I told you of, or kill myself.”

The queen attempted to succeed by gentle methods. “You well know, my dear child,” said she, “that you are alone in your chamber, and that no man can possibly enter it. But instead of listening to, the princess interrupted her, and was guilty of such extravagant excesses, that the queen was obliged to leave her to indulge her grief, and acquaint the king with what had happened.

The king of China wished to be personally convinced of the truth of this business. He, therefore, immediately repaired to the apartment of the princess, and asked her if what he had been informed of was true. “Sire,” replied she, “let us not talk of that; only do me the favor to suffer the husband, who slept with me last night, to return to me.”

“What!” exclaimed the king, “has any one slept with you the last night?”--“How can you ask me, sire, if any one slept with me?” interrupted the princess, without allowing him time to continue; “your majesty cannot be ignorant of it. He is the handsomest young man that was ever beheld under heaven. I entreat you to send him to me again; do not refuse me, I conjure you. That your majesty may not entertain any doubts of my having seen this youth,” added she, “of my having slept with him, caressed him, used every effort to awaken him, without success, look, if you please, at this ring.” She held out her hand, and the king of China knew not what to think, when he perceived that it was the ring of a man. But as he could not comprehend the least what she said, and he had confined her originally because she was mad, he had now thought her still worse than before. So without saying any thing more to her, lest he should enrage her to commit violence on her own person, or on any one who might approach her, he had her chained and more closely confined, and ordered, that no one, except her nurse, should attend her, and that a strong guard should be placed at her door.

The king of China, quite inconsolable for the misfortune that had befallen the princess, his daughter, which he believed to be madness, considered what methods should be taken to effect her recovery. He assembled his council, and after having made known the state in which she was, he added, “If any one who is here present, is sufficiently skilful to undertake her cure, and succeeds, I will bestow her on him in marriage; and will make him the heir of my crown and dominions.”

The desire of possessing so beautiful a princess, together with the hope of governing, at some future period, so large and powerful a kingdom as that of China, made a strong impression on the mind of an emir, who was present, although he was already far advanced in years. As he was well-skilled in magic, he flattered himself he should succeed; and, therefore, offered his services to the king. “I consent,” replied the monarch, “but I must first inform you, that it is on condition of your losing your head if you do not succeed: it would not be fair that you should be able to acquire so great and enviable a recompense without any risk on your part. What I propose to you will, in the same way, be proposed to all who shall present themselves after you, in case you do not agree to the condition, or do not succeed.”