royal turban, and in a few minutes dressed herself like a woman; and having the girdle round her which she wore on the day of their separation, she entered the chamber.
Prince Camaralzaman immediately knew his dear princess, ran to her, and tenderly embraced her, crying out, 'How much I am obliged to the king, who has so agreeably surprised me!'
'Do not expect to see the king any more,' replied the princess, embracing him in her turn, with tears in her eyes; 'you see him in me: sit down, and I will explain this enigma to you.'
They sat down, and the princess told the prince the resolution she came to, in the field where they encamped the last time they were together, as soon as she perceived that she waited for him to no purpose; how she went through with it till she arrived at the Isle of Ebony, where she had been obliged to marry the princess Haïatalnefous, and accept the crown which King Armanos offered her as a condition of the marriage: how the princess, whose merit she highly extolled, had kept the secret, and how she found the talisman in the pots of olives mingled with the gold-dust, and how the finding it was the cause of her sending for him to the city of the idolaters.
The Princess Badoura and Prince Camaralzaman rose next morning as soon as it was light, but the princess would no more put on her royal robes as king; she dressed herself in the dress of a woman, and then sent the chief chamberlain to King Armanos, her father-in-law, to desire he would be so good as to come to her apartment.
When the king entered the chamber, he was amazed to see there a lady who was unknown to him, and the high treasurer with her, who was not permitted to come within the inner palace. He sat down and asked where the king was.
The princess answered, 'Yesterday I was king, sir, and to-day I am the Princess of China, wife of the true Prince Camaralzaman, the true son of King Schahzaman. If your majesty will have the patience to hear both our stories, I hope you will not condemn me for putting an innocent deceit upon you.' The king bade her go on, and heard her discourse from the beginning to the end with astonishment. The princess on finishing it said to him, 'Sir, in
