The next day Zeyn said to Mobarec: “I have taken rest enough. I came not to Cairo for pleasure. My design is to obtain the ninth statue. It is time for us to set out in search of it.”
“Sir,” said Mobarec, “I am ready to comply with your desires; but you know not what dangers you must encounter to make this precious acquisition.”
“Whatsoever the danger may be,” answered the prince, “I have resolved to make the attempt. I will either perish or succeed. Do you but bear me company and let your resolution be equal to mine.”
Mobarec, finding him determined to go, called his servants and ordered them to make ready his equipage. The prince and he then set out. They travelled many days. At length, being come to a delightful spot, they alighted from their horses. Mobarec then said to the servants that attended them, “Do you remain here till we return.”
Then he said to Zeyn: “Now, sir, let us advance by ourselves. You will stand in need of all your courage.”
They soon came to a vast lake. Mobarec sat down on the brink of it, saying to the prince, “We must cross this water.”
“How can we,” asked Zeyn, “when we have no boat?”
“You will see one appear in a moment,” replied Mobarec. “The enchanted boat of the Sultan of the Genii will come for us. But you must observe a profound silence. Do not speak to the boatman, and whatever extraordinary circumstance you observe, say nothing; for I tell you beforehand that if you utter one word when we are embarked, the boat will sink.”
“I shall take care to be silent,” said the prince. “You need only tell me what I am to do, and I will strictly comply.”
Whilst they were talking, he spied a boat made of red sandalwood on the lake. It had a mast of fine amber and a blue satin flag. There was only one boatman in it, and he had the head of an elephant and the body of a tiger. When the boat was come to the prince and Mobarec, the monstrous boatman took them up one after the other with his trunk, put them into his boat, and carried them over the lake in a moment. He then again took them up with his trunk, set them ashore, and immediately vanished with his boat.