ing you also more happy than you are.” I then related my story to her from beginning to end. “Alas! prince,” she replied, sighing, “the most enchanting spots cannot afford delight when we are there against our wills. But hear now my history. I am a princess, the daughter of a sultan, king of the Ebony Island, so called because of the precious wood found in it.
“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. 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 mean time, 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 as befits your merit and dignity.”
The princess then conducted me to a bath, the most commodious and sumptuous imaginable; and when I came forth, instead of my own clothes I found waiting a costly
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