recover his strength; and although King Beder was very anxious to know why he had taken the precaution to make him enter the shop, the old man nevertheless would not tell him anything till he had done eating, for fear the sad things he had to relate might take away his appetite. At last he said to him, 'You have great reason to thank God you got hither without any misfortune.'
'Alas! why?' replied King Beder, very much surprised and alarmed.
'Because,' answered he, 'this city is called the City of Enchantments, and is governed not by a king, but by a queen, who is a notorious and dangerous sorceress. You will be convinced of this,' added he, 'when you know that these horses, mules, and other animals that you have seen are so many men, like you and me, whom she has transformed by her diabolical art. And when young men like you enter the city, she has persons stationed to stop and bring them, either by fair means or force, before her. She receives them in the most obliging manner; she caresses them, regales them, and lodges them magnificently. But she does not suffer them long to enjoy this happiness. There is not one of them whom she has not transformed into some animal or bird at the end of forty days. You told me all these animals opposed your landing and entering the city. This was the only way they could make you comprehend the danger you were going to expose yourself to, and they did all in their power to save you.'
This account exceedingly afflicted the young King of Persia. 'Alas!' cried he, 'to what extremities has my ill-fortune reduced me! I am hardly freed from one enchantment, which I look back upon with horror, but I find myself exposed to another much more terrible.' This gave him occasion to relate his story to the old man more at length, and to acquaint him with his birth, quality, his falling in love with the Princess of Samandal, and her cruelty in changing him into a bird the very moment he had seen her and declared his love to her.
When the prince came to speak of his good fortune in finding a queen who broke the enchantment, the old man, to encourage him, said, 'Notwithstanding all I told you of the magic queen, that ought not to give you the least disquiet, since I am generally
