As the sultan was consulting with his councillors when he was told of the sorceress’s arrival, he ordered her to follow him into the council chamber. After having informed his councillors of all he had learned, and of his fears of the influence of the fairy over his son, one of them said, “The author of this mischief is in your majesty’s power. You ought to put him under arrest; I will not say take away his life, but make him a close prisoner.”
This advice all the other councillors unanimously applauded.
The sorceress asked of the sultan leave to speak, which being granted, she said, “If you arrest the prince, you must also detain his retinue. But they are all genii. Will they not at once disappear by the power they possess of rendering themselves invisible, and transport themselves instantly to the fairy, and give her an account of the insult offered her husband? And can it be supposed she will let it go unrevenged? Would it not be better to turn the prince’s alliance to your advantage by imposing on him some hard task, which, if he performs, will benefit you, and which, if he cannot perform, may give you an honorable pretext for your accusations against him? Request the prince to procure you a tent, which can be carried in a man’s hand, and yet be large enough to shelter your whole army.”
When the sorceress had finished her speech, the sultan asked his councillors if they had anything better to propose; and finding them all silent, determined to follow her advice.
The next day, when the prince came into his father’s presence, the sultan thus addressed him, “My son, I congratulate you on your marriage with a fairy, who I hear is worthy of your love. It is my earnest wish that you would use your influence with your wife to obtain her assistance to do me a great service. You know to what a great expense I am put, every time I engage in war, to provide mules, camels, and other beasts of burden to carry the tents of myself and of my army. Now I am persuaded you could easily procure from the fairy, your wife, a tent that might be carried in a man’s hand, and which would protect my whole army. Pray oblige me in this matter.”
Prince Ahmed, hearing this request, was in the greatest trouble what answer to make. At last he replied, “Though I know not how this mystery has been revealed to you, I cannot deny that your information is correct. I have married the fairy you speak of. But I can say nothing as to the influence I have over her. However, I will not fail, though it be with great reluctance, to ask my wife the favor you desire. If I should not come again to pay you my respects, it will be the sign that I have not been able to succeed in my petition; but beforehand, I desire you to forgive me, and consider that you yourself have reduced me to this extremity.”
“Son,” replied the Sultan of the Indies, “your wife would show that her love to you was very slight if, with the power she possesses as a fairy, she should refuse so trifling a request as that I have begged you to make. Go; only ask her. If she loves you, she will not deny you.”
All these reasons of the Sultan of the Indies could not satisfy Prince Ahmed; and so great was his vexation, that he left the court two days sooner than usual.
When he returned, the fairy, to whom he always before had appeared with a gay countenance, at once observed his melancholy, and asked the cause of the change she perceived in him. After much pressing, Ahmed confessed that the sultan had discovered his abode and his marriage with the fairy, though he could not tell by what means. The fairy reminded him of the old woman on whom he had compassion, and said that she was the spy of the sultan, and had told him all she had seen and heard. “But,” she said, “the mere knowledge of my abode by the sultan would not so trouble you. There is something else which is the cause of your grief and vexation.”
“Perie Banou,” said Prince Ahmed at last, “it is even so. My father doubts my fidelity to him, unless I can provide a tent large enough to shelter him, his court, and army when he goes to war, and small enough for a man to carry in his hand.”