The Genius replied only by reproaches, and by blows, which I could plainly distinguish the sound of. It distressed me, beyond measure, to hear the cries and sobbing of the princess, who was thus cruelly used. I had already taken off the habit, which she had made me put on, and resumed my own, which I had carried to the stair-case the day before, after I had been in the bath. I proceeded therefore up the stairs, as I was the more penetrated with grief and compassion on account of having been the cause of such a misfortune: and as I should become the most criminal and ungrateful of men in thus sacrificing the most beautiful princess on earth to the barbarity of an implacable Genius. “It is true,” said I to myself, “that she has been a prisoner for five and twenty years; but, excepting liberty, she had nothing to wish for, in order to be happy. My conduct has put an end to her happiness, and raised the cruelty of a merciless demon to its very summit. I then shut down the trap-door, covered it over with the earth, and returned to the city with a load of wood, which I collected, without even knowing what I was about, so much was I absorbed and afflicted at what had happened.
My host, the tailor, expressed great joy at my return. “Your absence,” said he, “has caused me much uneasiness on account of the secret of your birth, with which you have entrusted me. I knew not what to think, and began to fear some one might have recognized you. God be praised that you are come back.” I thanked him much for his zeal and affection, but did not inform him of any thing that had happened; nor of the reason why I returned without my hatchet and cord. I retired to my chamber, where I reproached myself a thousand times for my great imprudence. “Nothing,” I cried, “could have equalled the mutual happiness of the princess and myself, if I had been satisfied, and had not broken the talisman.”
While I was abandoning myself to these afflicting thoughts, the tailor entered my apartment, and said, that an old man, whom he did not know, had brought my hatchet and cord, which he had found on his way. “He has been informed by your companions,” added the tailor, “who went to cut wood with you, that you live here. Come and speak to him, as he wishes to deliver them into your own hands.” At this speech, I changed colour, and trembled from head to foot. The tailor inquired the cause, when suddenly the floor of my chamber opened. The old man, who had not the patience to wait, appeared, and presented himself to us with the hatchet and cord. This was in fact the Genius, who had ravished the beautiful princess of the Isle of Ebony, and who had thus come in disguise, after having treated her with the greatest barbarity. “I am a Genius,” he said to us, “a son of the daughter of Eblis, prince of the Genii. Is not this thy hatchet?” added he, addressing me, “and is not this thy cord?”
The Genius gave me no time to answer these questions; nor indeed should I have been able to do so, as his dreadful presence made me entirely forget myself. He took me by the middle of my body, and dragging me out of the chamber, sprang into the air, and carried me up towards heaven with so much force and celerity, that I was sensible of the great height to which I had ascended, before I was aware of the distance I had travelled in so short a space of time. He then descended towards the earth; and having caused it to open, by striking his foot against it, he sunk into it, and I instantly found myself in the enchanted palace, and in the presence of the beautiful princess of the Isle of Ebony. But alas! what a sight! It pierced my very inmost heart. This princess was naked and covered with blood, and lying along the ground more dead than alive, with her face bathed in tears.
“Perfidious wretch,” said the Genius, showing me to her, “is not this thy lover?” She cast her languid eyes upon me, and in a sorrowful tone, answered, “I know him not, nor have I ever seen him till this instant.”—“What,” cried the Genius, “dare you affirm you do not know him, although he is the cause of your being treated, and justly, in the manner you have been?”—“If I am ignorant of him,” replied she, “do you wish I should utter a falsehood, which would prove his destruction?”—“Well then,” exclaimed the Genius, drawing his scimitar, and presenting it to the princess, “if you have never seen him, take this scimitar and cut off his head.” “How, alas!” she answered, “can I execute what you require of me? My strength is so exhausted, that I cannot lift up my arm; and even were I able, do you think I could put to death an innocent person, whom I do not know?”—“This refusal, then,” added the Genius, “completely proves to me your crime.” And then turning to me, he said, “Are you too unacquainted with her?”
I should have been the most ungrateful and most perfidious of men, if I had not preserved the same fidelity towards her, which she had done for me; I therefore said, “how should I know her, when this is the first time I have ever set eyes upon her?”—“If that be true,” he replied, “take the scimitar and cut off her head. It is the price I set on your liberty, and the only way to convince me you have never seen her before, as you affirm.”—“With all my heart,” I answered, and took the scimitar in my hand. Do not, however, imagine, that I approached the beautiful princess of the Isle of Ebony, for the purpose of becoming the instrument of the barbarity of the Genius. I did it only to show her by my actions, as well as I could, that as she had the courage to sacrifice her life from love of me, neither could I refuse to immolate myself also from the same motive. The princess comprehended my meaning; and in spite of her pains and sufferings, gave me to understand by her looks, that she should willingly die, and was well satisfied with knowing that I was equally ready. I then drew back, and throwing the scimitar on the ground, said to the Genius, “I should be eternally condemned by all men, if I had the cowardice to murder, I will not say a person whom I do not know, but a lady, such as I now see, in the state in which she is, ready to expire. You may treat me as you please, since I am in your power, but I will never obey your barbarous commands.”
“I am well aware,” said the Genius, “that both of you brave my rage, and insult my jealousy; but you shall find what I am capable of by the manner in which I shall treat you. At these words, the monster took up the scimitar, and cut off one of the hands of the princess, who had barely time to bid me an eternal farewell with the other, before the great loss of blood from her other wounds, added to what flowed from the present, extinguished her life, not two moments after the perpetration of this last cruelty; the sight of which made me faint.
When I returned to my senses, I complained to the Genius for suffering me to remain in expectation of death. “Strike,” I cried, “I am ready to receive the mortal wound, and expect it from you as the greatest favour you can bestow.” Instead, however, of doing so, he said, “Observe in what manner Genii treat women, whom they suspect of infidelity. She received you here; and if I were convinced that she had done me any farther wrong, I would this instant annihilate you; but I shall content myself with changing you into a dog, an ass, a lion, or a bird. Make your choice; I wish not to control you.” These words gave me some hopes of softening him; I said, “Moderate, O powerful Genius, your wrath, and since you wish not to take my life, grant it me in a generous manner. If you pardon me, I shall always remember your clemency, as one of the best of men pardoned his neighbour, who bore him a most deadly envy.” The Genius then asked me, what had passed between these two neighbours, when I told him, if he would have the patience to listen to me, I would relate the history.