"What have you seen?" inquired the princess.
"The waters flowing, the grasses growing, and in the limbs of the trees I heard the breezes murmuring."
"Return and look again."
So the woman went, and when she had come back the princess said:
"What have you seen?"
"Away in the distance, on the dusty road, I saw horsemen coming."
"It is the prince," said Mirza; and, sure enough, the prince, followed by his retainers, his huntsmen, and his dogs, soon made his appearance. Suddenly, the prince, seized with admiration, paused and looked around him. Here, where there had been only briars and brambles, there arose before his view the marvellous palace that had been erected by the little gray man.
"To whom does this dazzling palace belong?" asked the prince, but no one could answer him. "Await me here," said the prince to his followers, "I will go and inquire, but I will return immediately."
He approached the door and knocked, but there was no response, and one would have supposed the palace was uninhabited. He knocked again, but everything was silent except the clamorous echoes which he himself had aroused. Then the prince climbed up to the nearest window, opened the blinds, and found himself in a marvellous saloon which was uninhabited. He pursued his way through beautiful halls and apartments, until he came to a room more beautiful than the rest.