Marzavan did not take Camaralzaman to his own house, but to a public khan, where for three days they remained recovering from the fatigues of their journey. Then, having clothed the Prince in the garb of a merchant-doctor with all the signs and instruments of his calling, he conducted him to the gates of the palace; standing before which Camaralzaman began, on the instructions of Marzavan, to cry in a loud voice, 'Look at me, for I am learned! Marvel at me, for I am wise! I am the healer, the calculator, the astrologer; I know the cause of all maladies and their cure. If any one, be he king or peasant, is in affliction, let him come to me!'
The people were greatly astonished to hear once more an astrologer so bold of tongue; and pitying him for his youth and wondering at the beauty of his form, they pointed to the heads which were over the palace gates, saying, 'While there is time save thyself; for if the King hear thee thy head will be joined to those.'
Nevertheless Camaralzaman continued to cry with a loud voice; till at last the King heard him, and said to his Vizier, 'Go down, and bring this astrologer in.'
So the Vizier went out and fetched him, and Camaralzaman came and bowed himself before the King. And when the King looked at him, his heart also was moved with pity toward the stranger, as the heart of the people had been, because of his youth and the beauty of his form. And he said to him, 'My son, comply not with my conditions; for I have bound myself with an oath, and whoso goes in to visit my daughter but cannot cure her, his head must I strike off; and of a truth you have but to look over my palace gate to see that her malady is obstinate. Nevertheless if you can cure her she is yours, and the half of my kingdom is yours also.'
Camaralzaman said, 'To those conditions, O King, I am agreed!' Then the King, sighing heavily, sent for the eunuch and bade him conduct the astrologer to the apartment of the Princess.
The eunuch led the way; but when they were come to the corridor wherein Badoura's chamber was situated, so great was the joy of the Prince that he hastened and went before; and the eunuch called after him, 'Tarry, good sir, and be not so hasty before the event, for I alone have the key that shall bring thee to thy death! Never was any other astrologer in such haste to depart from life as thou.'
'Friend,' answered Camaralzaman, 'they had not such science as I have to make them glad: for they could not tell what the end would be, but I know it already, nay, even without entering that door of which thou hast the key I can cure the Princess of her malady.'
The eunuch, astonished to be met with so much confidence, ceased from his taunts, and admitted the Prince to the ante-chamber. 'If thou canst do that,' he said, 'thou art indeed the wonder of the world. Truly were I only permitted to see such a marvel accomplished, I should account myself rich.'
Thereupon Camaralzaman seated himself against the curtain which divided the outer from the inner chamber and wrote the following prescription:
'He whom estrangement hath afflicted is cured when the vow of the beloved is accomplished; and the heart of exile findeth restoration in union with that which was lost. Love alone can heal those whom love hath persecuted.'