If I had been surprised to find so beautiful a person in this castle, she was not less astonished to see me. ‘Ah! young man,’ she said to me, ‘how did you get in here? What have you done to surmount all the obstacles which should have prevented your entering this castle, and which are beyond the reach of human power? I cannot believe you to be a man. You are doubtless the prophet Elias?’

‘No, madam,’ I said to her, ‘I am only a simple man, and I can assure you I have come here without any difficulty. The door of this castle opened as soon as I had touched the key. I mounted to this apartment without any power resisting me. I have not awakened you with ease; that is what I found most difficult.’

‘I cannot believe what you tell me,’ replied the lady. ‘I am so persuaded that it is impossible to men to do what you have done, that I do not believe, whatever you may say, that you are merely a man.’

‘Madam,’ I said, ‘I am perhaps something more than an ordinary man. A sovereign is the author of my being, but I am only a man for all that. I have much more reason to think that you are a superior being to myself.’

‘No,’ she replied, ‘I am, like you, of the race of Adam. But tell me why you have left your father’s court, and how you came to this island.’

I then satisfied her curiosity. I ingenuously admitted that I had become enamoured of Bedy-Aljemal, daughter of the king Achahbal, on seeing her portrait, which I showed her. The lady took the portrait, looked at it very attentively, and said; ‘I have heard speak of the King Achahbal. He reigns in a neighbouring island to Serendib. If his daughter is as beautiful as her portrait, she indeed deserves that you should love her ardently, but one must not trust in the portraits which are taken of princesses; they are usually painted beautiful. Finish telling me your his­tory,’ she added; ‘after that I will relate mine to you.’

I gave her a long and detailed account of all my adventures, and then I begged her to relate hers to me. She began thus:

‘I am the only daughter of the King of Serendib. One day as I was with my women in a castle of my father’s near the town of Serendib, the fancy took me to bathe in a white marble basin which was in the garden. I was undressed, and entered the basin with my favourite slave. We had hardly entered the water than a wind arose. A whirlwind of dust formed in the air above us, and from the midst of this whirlwind there suddenly flew a great bird who pounced on me, took me in his claws, carried me off and brought me to this castle, where, immediately changing its shape, it appeared before me in the form of a young genie. “Princess,” he said to me, “I am one of the most considerable genii in the world. As I was passing the island of Serendib to-day, I saw you in your bath. You charmed me. ‘There is a beautiful princess,’ I said to myself, ‘it would be a pity she should make the happiness of a son of Adam; she deserves the attachment of a genie. I must carry her off and transport her to a desert island.’ So, princess, forget the king, your father, and think only of responding to my love. You shall want for nothing in this castle. I will take care to provide you with everything you need.”

‘Whilst the genie was speaking thus to me, I only wept and lamented. “Unfortunate Malika,” I said to myself, “is this the fate which was reserved for you? Has the king, my father, brought me up with so much care only to have the sorrow to lose me so miserably? Alas! he does not know what has become of me, and I fear my loss will be fatal to him.” “No, no,” said the genie to me, “your father will not succumb to his grief; and as for you, my princess, I trust you will yield to the evidences of affection which I propose to give you.” “Do not flatter yourself,” I said, “with this false hope. I shall have all my life a mortal aversion to the man who has carried me off.” “You will change your sentiment,” he replied; “you will accustom yourself to me; time will produce this effect.” “It will not work this miracle,” I interrupted with bitterness, “it will rather increase the hatred that I feel for you.” The genie, instead of appearing offended, smiled, and, persuaded that I should accustom myself by degrees to listen to him, he spared nothing to please me. He went, I know not where, to get magnificent clothes which he brought me. He did his best to inspire in me an inclination for him; but, perceiving that far from making any progress in my heart, he became daily more odious to me, he finally lost patience, and resolved to revenge himself for my contempt. He threw me into a magic sleep; he stretched me on the sofa in the attitude in which you have found me, and put beside me this marble table on which he had traced talismanic characters to keep me in a deep sleep through the centuries. He also made two other talismans; one to make this castle invisible, the other to prevent the door being opened. Then he left me in this apartment and quitted the castle. He returns hither from time to time. He wakes me up and asks me whether I wish at last to become sensible to his passion, and as I persist in refusing him, he plunges me anew in the uncon­sciousness which he has invented for my punish­ment.

‘Nevertheless, my lord,’ continued the daughter of the King of Serendib, ‘you have awakened me, you have opened the door of this castle which has not remained invisible to you. Have I not reason to doubt your being a man? I will even tell you that it is surprising that you still live; for I have heard the genie say that the wild beasts devour all those who wish to stop in this island, and that it is on that account deserted.’

Whilst the princess Malika was speaking thus, we heard a great noise in the castle. She ceased speaking in order to hear better, and soon terrible cries met our ears.

‘Great Heaven!’ then said the princess, ‘we are lost. It is the genie; I recognise him by his voice. You will perish; nothing can save you from his fury. Ah! unhappy prince; what fatality has brought you to this castle?’

I thought my death inevitable. The genie entered looking furious. He had a steel club in his hand; his body was enormous. He shuddered at the sight of me; but instead of giving me a blow on the head, or adopting a threatening tone, he approached me trembling, threw himself at my feet, and spoke thus:

‘Oh! prince, son of a king, you have only to command me as you please; I am prepared to obey you.’

This speech surprised me. I could not under­stand why this genie was so grovelling to me, and spoke as a slave. But my surprise vanished when, continuing to speak to me, he said:

‘The ring which you have on your finger is the seal of Solomon; whoever possesses it cannot perish from accident. He can cross the most stormy seas in a simple skiff without fearing that the waves will swallow him up. The most ferocious beasts cannot hurt him, and he has a sovereign power over genii. Talismans and all charms yield to his marvellous seal.’

‘It is then by virtue of this ring that I still live,’ I said to the genie.

‘Yes, my lord,’ he replied, ‘it is that ring which has saved you from the beasts which are on this island.’

‘Tell me,’ I said to him, ‘if you know what has become of the companion I had on arriving?’

‘I know the present and the past,’ replied the genie, ‘and I will tell you that your comrade has been eaten by the ants, who devoured him at night at your side. Those sort of ants are in great numbers and make this island uninhabitable. They do not prevent, however, the neighbouring peoples, and above all the inhabitants of the Maldives, coming here every year to cut sandal-wood; but they do not carry it away without difficulty; they come here during the summer; they have on board their vessels very swift horses, which they disembark, and on which they mount; they gallop in whatever direction they see sandal-wood, and as soon as they see the ants approaching they throw them great pieces of meat with which they are provided for the purpose. Whilst the ants are occupied in eating these pieces of meat, the men mark the trees they wish to cut, after which they return. They come back in the winter and cut the trees without fear of the ants, who do not show themselves at this season.’

I could not hear the strange fate of Saed without feeling grieved. Then I asked the genie where the dominion of the king Achahbal was and if the princess Bedy-Aljemal his daughter still lived.

‘My lord,’ he replied, ‘there is in these seas an island where there reigns a king named Achahbal, but he has no daughter. The princess Bedy-Aljemal of whom you speak, was indeed the daughter of a king called Achahbal, who lived in the time of Solomon.’

‘What!’ I replied, ‘Bedy-Aljemal lives no longer?’