Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales -- Arab countries; Tales -- Arab countries
The enchantress then returned to the Palace of Tears; and on
entering said to him whom she supposed to be the black, “I have
done, my love, what you ordered me; nothing, therefore, now prevents
your getting up, and affording me the satisfaction I have so long
been deprived of.” The sultan, still imitating the language of the
blacks, answered in rather a sharp tone, “What you have yet done
is not sufficient for my cure. You have destroyed only a part of the
evil: but you must strike at the root.”--“What do you mean by
the root, my amiable black?” answered she.--“What can I
mean,” he cried, “but the city and its inhabitants, and the four
isles, which you have destroyed by your magic? Every day towards
midnight the fish constantly raise their heads out of the pond, and
call for vengeance against us both. This is the real cause of the
delay of my recovery. Go quickly and re-establish every thing in its
former state; and on thy return I will give you my hand, and you
shall assist me in rising.”
The queen, exulting in the expectations these words produced,
joyfully exclaimed, “You shall soon then, my life, recover your
health; for I will instantly go and do what you have commanded.”
In fact she went the very next moment, and when she arrived on the
border of the pond, she took a little water in her hand and
scattered it about. She had no sooner done so, and pronounced
certain words over the fish and the pond, than the city instantly
appeared. The fish became men, women, and children; Mahometans,
Christians, Persians, and Jews; freemen or slaves; in short, each
took his natural form. The houses and shops became filled with
inhabitants, who found every thing in the same situation and order
in which they were previous to the change. The officers and
attendants of the sultan, who were very numerous, and who were
encamped directly where the great place, or square, happened to be,
were astonished at finding themselves on a sudden in the midst of a
large, well-built, and inhabited city.
But to return to the enchantress: as soon as she had completed this
change she hastened back to the Palace of Tears, to enjoy the reward
of her labours. “My dear lord,” she cried on entering, “I am
returned to participate in the pleasure of your renewed health, for
I have done all you have required of me; arise, and give me your
hand.”--“Come near then,” said the sultan, still imitating
the manner of the blacks. She did so. “Nearer still,” he cried.
She obeyed. Then raising himself up, he seized her so suddenly by
the arms, that she had no opportunity of recognizing who it was; and
with one stroke of his sabre, he separated her body in two, which
fell on each side of him. Having done this, he left the carcase in
the same place, and went to seek for the prince of the Black Isles,
who waited with the greatest impatience for him. “Rejoice,
prince,” said he, embracing him, “you have nothing more to fear;
for your cruel enemy no longer exists.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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