Before the table was uncovered, I espied a writing-desk, which I made a sign should be brought me: having got it, I wrote upon a large peach some verses after my way, which testified my acknowledgment to the sultan, which increased his astonishment. When the table was uncovered, they brought him a particular liquor, of which he caused them to give me a glass. I drank, and wrote upon it some new verses, which explained the state I was reduced to after many sufferings. The sultan read them likewise, and said, 'A man that was capable of doing so much would be above the greatest of men.'
The sultan caused them to bring in a chess-board, and asked me, by a sign, if I understood the game, and would play with him. I kissed the ground, and laying my hand upon my head, signified that I was ready to receive that honour. He won the first game, but I won the second and third; and perceiving he was somewhat displeased at it, I made a poem to pacify him; in which I told him that two potent armies had been fighting furiously all day, but that they made up a peace towards the evening, and passed the remaining part of the night very peaceably together upon the field of battle.
So many circumstances appearing to the sultan far beyond whatever any one had either seen or known of the cleverness or sense of apes, he determined not to be the only witness of those prodigies himself; but having a daughter, called the Lady of Beauty, on whom the chief of the chamberlains, then present, waited, 'Go,' said the sultan to him, 'and bid your lady come hither: I am desirous she should share my pleasure.'
The chamberlain went, and immediately brought the princess, who had her face uncovered; but she had no sooner come into the room than she put on her veil, and said to the sultan, 'Sir, your majesty must needs have forgotten yourself: I am very much surprised that your majesty has sent for me to appear among men.'
'Nay, daughter,' said the sultan, 'you do not know what you say: here is nobody but the little slave, the chamberlain your attendant and myself, who have the liberty to see your face; and yet you lower your veil, and blame me for having sent for you hither.'
'Sir,' said the princess, 'your majesty shall soon understand that I am not in the wrong. That ape you see before you, though he has the shape of an ape, is a young prince, son of a great king; he has been metamorphosed into an ape by enchantment. A genie, the son of the daughter of Eblis, has maliciously done him this wrong, after having cruelly taken away the life of the Princess of the Isle of Ebony, daughter to the King Epitimarus.'
The sultan, astonished at this discourse, turned towards me and asked no more by signs, but in plain words if it was true what his daughter said? Seeing I could not speak, I put my hand to my head to signify that what the princess spoke was true. Upon this the sultan said again to his daughter, 'How do you know that this prince has been transformed by enchantments into an ape?'
'Sir,' replied the Lady of Beauty, 'your majesty may remember that when I was past my infancy, I had an old lady to wait upon me; she was a most expert magician, and taught me seventy rules of magic, by virtue of which I can transport your capital city into the midst of the sea in the twinkling of an eye, or beyond Mount Caucasus. By this science I know all enchanted persons at first sight. I know who they are, and by whom they have been enchanted. Therefore do not be surprised if I should forthwith relieve this prince, in spite of the enchantments, from that which hinders him from appearing in your sight what he naturally is.'
'Daughter,' said the sultan, 'I did not believe you to have understood so much.'
'Sir,' replied the princess, 'these things are curious and worth knowing, but I think I ought not to boast of them.'