The queen returned from the bath; we supped together, and before we went to bed she presented me the cup of water, which it was usual for me to take; but instead of drinking it, I approached a window that was open, and threw it out without her perceiving me. I then returned the cup into her own hands, that she might suppose I had drank the contents. We soon retired to rest, and shortly after, supposing that I was asleep, although I was not, she got up with so little precaution, that she said aloud, “Sleep, and mayst thou never wake more.” She dressed quickly, and left the chamber. The queen had no sooner quitted me than I got up, and dressed myself as quickly as possible, and taking my scimitar, I followed her so closely, that I heard her footsteps just before me, when, regulating my steps by hers, I walked softly for fear of being heard. She passed through several doors, which opened by virtue of some magic words she pronounced; the last she opened was that of the garden, which she entered. I stopped at this door that she might not see me, while she crossed a parterre; and following her with my eyes, as well as the obscurity of the night would permit, I remarked, that she went into a little wood, the walks of which were enclosed by a thick hedge. I repaired thither by another way, and hiding myself behind the hedge of one of the paths, I perceived that she was walking with a man. I did not fail to listen attentively to their discourse, when I heard what follows: “I do not deserve,” said the queen to her lover, “your reproaches for my want of diligence; you well know the reason of it; but if all the marks of love which I have hitherto given you are not sufficient to persuade you of my sincerity, I am ready to give you still more convincing proofs of it; you have only to command, you know my power. I will if you wish it, before the sun rises, change this great city and this beautiful palace into frightful ruins, which shall be inhabited only by wolves, and owls, and ravens. Shall I transport all the stones, with which these walls are so strongly built, beyond Mount Caucasus, and farther than the boundaries of the habitable world? You have only to speak, and all this place shall be transformed.” As the queen finished this speech, she and her lover, having reached the end of the walk, turned to enter another, and passed before me; I had already drawn my scimitar, and as the lover was next me, I struck him on the neck, and he fell. I believed I had killed him, and with this persuasion, I retired precipitately, without discovering myself to the queen, whom I wished to spare, as she was my cousin.