The youth was at once taken into the room where the Queen was lying stretched upon a couch, seemingly lifeless. The King, the court physician, and her attendants were with her.
“Have you brought it? The drug?” cried the King.
Hassan drew it forth from his bosom, where he carried it, and placed it in the hands of the Queen’s physician. He did not notice that the crow had followed him into the room.
The physician poured a few drops of the drug into a goblet and held it to the Queen’s lips. No sooner had she swallowed it than a wonderful change came over her. The colour returned to her cheeks and the life to her limbs. She opened her eyes and sat up and looked about her.
At once her eyes fell upon the crow, and it was to it that she addressed her first words.
“Oh, thou careless and disobedient one!” she cried, “into what danger didst thou not throw thy mistress.”
“Alas!” answered the crow, “thou hast indeed been near to death. But all that is over now. There is only happiness before thee. But for me, is my misery never to end?”
“Yes, and that right soon,” cried the Queen. “If I owe my danger to thee, so also do I owe to thee my happiness. Draw near to me.”
All in the room had listened in wonder to this talk between the Queen and the crow. But a still stranger thing was to happen.