The enchantress went immediately out of the Palace of Tears: she
took a cup of water, and pronounced words over it, which caused it
to boil, as if it had been on the fire. She went afterwards to the
hall to the young king, her husband, and threw the water upon him,
saying, “If the Creator of all things did form thee so as thou art
at present, or if he be angry with thee, do not change: but if thou
art in that condition merely by virtue of my enchantments, resume
thy natural shape, and become what thou wast before.” She had
scarce spoken these words, when the prince, finding himself restored
to his former condition, rose up freely, with all imaginable joy,
and returned thanks to God. The enchantress then said to him, Get
thee gone from this castle, and never return here on pain of death!
The young king, yielding to necessity, went away from the
enchantress, without replying a word, and retired to a remote place,
where he patiently awaited the success of the design which the
sultan had so happily begun. Meanwhile the enchantress returned to
the Palace of Tears; and, supposing that she still spoke to the
black, says, Dear lover, I have done what you ordered; let nothing
now hinder you from giving me that satisfaction of which I have been
deprived so long.
The sultan continued to counterfeit the language of the blacks: That
which you have just now done, said he, is not sufficient to my cure.
You have only eased me of part of my disease; you must cut it up by
the roots. My lovely black, replies she, what do you mean by the
roots? Unfortunate woman, replies the sultan, do not you understand
that I mean the town, and its inhabitants, and the four islands,
which thou hast destroyed by thy enchantments? The fishes every
night at midnight raise their heads out of the pond, and cry for
vengeance against thee and me. This is the true cause of the delay
of my cure. Go speedily, restore things as they were, and at thy
return I will give thee my hand, and thou shalt help me to rise.
The enchantress, filled with hopes from these words, cried out in a
transport of joy, My heart! my soul! you shall soon be restored to
your health, for I will immediately do what you command me.
Accordingly she went that moment; and when she came to the brink of
the pond, she took a little water in her hand, and sprinkling it
--Here Scheherazade saw day, and stopped.
Dinarzade says to the sultaness, Sister, I am much rejoiced to hear
that the young king of the four Black Islands was disenchanted, and
I already consider the town and the inhabitants as restored to their
former state; but I long to know what will become of the
enchantress. Have a little patience, replies the sultaness; you
shall have the satisfaction you desire tomorrow, if the sultan, my
lord, will consent to it. Schahriar, having resolved on this
already, as was said before, rose up, and went about his business.
TWENTY-SEVENTH NIGHT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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