“Well then,” said he to his nurse, “out of regard for you I will grant her life; but I am determined she shall carry some marks to make her remember her crime.” Having said this, one of the slaves, by his order, gave me so many blows with a small pliant cane on my sides and bosom, that the skin and flesh were torn in every part. I remained quite senseless. After this, the same slaves who were the agents of his rage, carried me into another house, where I was taken all possible care of by the old woman. I was obliged to keep my bed four months; at length I was cured; but the scars which I could not prevent you from seeing yesterday, have remained there ever since. As soon as I was able to walk about and go out, I wished to return to the house which I possessed by my first husband, but I could only discover its situation, for my second husband, in the excess of his fury, was not satisfied with having that pulled down; he had even caused the whole street where it stood to be razed to the ground. This no doubt was a most unjustifiable and unheard-of revenge; but against whom could I lodge my complaint? Its author had taken such measures to conceal himself that I could not discover him. Besides, if I should have found him out, I might easily conjecture, from the manner in which he had treated me, that his power was almost absolute. How then dare I have complained?
Entirely desolate, and deprived of every succour, I had recourse to my dear sister Zobeidè, who has already related her history to your majesty; and I informed her of my misfortune. She received me with her accustomed goodness, and exhorted me to bear my afflictions with patience. “Such is the world,” she said: “it generally deprives us either of our fortunes, our friends, or our lovers, and sometimes even of all.” To prove, at the same time, the truth of what she said to me, she gave me an account of the death of the young prince, which was occasioned by her two sisters’ jealousy. She then informed me in what manner they had been transformed into dogs. After having, in short, given me a thousand proofs of her friendship and regard, she presented my youngest sister to me, who after the death of her mother had come to live with her.
Having returned our thanks to God for thus again uniting us, we resolved for the future to live free, and never again to separate. We have for a long time continued to pass this tranquil kind of life, and as I have the whole management of the house, I take a pleasure in sometimes going out myself to purchase the provisions we may have occasion for. I went out yesterday for this purpose, and ordered them to be brought home by a porter, who proved to be possessed of some wit and humour, and we detained him in order to divert us. The three calenders arrived about the beginning of the evening, and requested us to afford them an asylum till the morning. We received them upon one express condition, which they agreed to; and after placing them at our own table, they amused us with some music in a manner peculiar to themselves. At this particular time we heard a knock at our gate; and we saw there were three merchants of Moussoul, of a good handsome appearance, who requested the same favour of us which the calenders had before done; and we granted it them on the same condition, but not one of them observed their promise. Although we had the power to punish them, and with the greatest justice, we were satisfied with only requiring the recital of each of their histories; and we confined our revenge to the act of immediately dismissing them, and thus depriving them of the retreat they had requested.
The caliph Haroun Alraschid was very well satisfied with the account he thus received, and for which he was so anxious. And he publicly expressed the pleasure and astonishment which these narratives had afforded him. When the caliph had thus satisfied his curiosity, he wished to give some proofs of his generosity and magnificence to the calenders who were princes; and also to make the three ladies feel the consequences of his bounty. Without therefore employing the intervention of his grand vizier, he himself said to Zobeidè, “Has not that fairy, madam, whom you first beheld under the form of a serpent, and who has imposed so rigorous a law upon you, given you any information were she lives; or rather, has she not promised to see you again, and suffer the two dogs to re-assume their natural form?”
“I ought not to have forgotten, Commander of the Faithful,” replied Zobeidè, “to have informed you, that the fairy put a small packet of hair into my hand; saying, at the same time, that I should one day have occasion for her presence; and then, if I only burnt two single hairs she would instantly be with me, although she should happen to be beyond Mount Caucasus.”—“Where, madam,” replied the caliph, “is this packet of hair?” She replied, that she had from that time always carried it about with her very carefully. She then took it out of her pocket, and opening the lid of the box in which she kept it, she showed it to him. “Let us then,” cried the caliph, “make the fairy appear now; you cannot, since I wish it, call her more opportunely.”
Zobeidè having agreed to it, they brought some fire, and she directly put the contents of the packet upon it. At the same moment the whole palace shook, and the fairy, in the shape of a lady most magnificently dressed, appeared before the caliph. “Commander of the Faithful,” said she to the prince, “you see me here, ready to receive your commands. The lady who has called me here at your desire, has rendered me a very important service; to give her a proof of my gratitude, I have punished the perfidy of my sisters by transforming them into dogs, but if your majesty desires it, I will restore them to their natural shape.”
“Beautiful fairy,” answered the caliph, “you cannot afford me a greater pleasure than by granting me that favour. I will then find some means of consoling them for so severe a punishment: but in the first place I have another request to make to you in behalf of the lady who has been so ill-treated by her husband. As you are acquainted with almost every thing, I do not believe you can be ignorant of that. And you will oblige me very much if you mention the name of the cruel wretch who was not satisfied with executing so much cruelty towards her, but even most unjustly deprived her of all her fortune which belonged to her. I am really astonished that so criminal and inhuman an act, and one which flies in the very face of my power and authority, has never come to my knowledge.”
“For the sake of obliging your majesty,” replied the fairy, “I will restore the two dogs to their original form; I will cure the lady of all her scars so perfectly, that no one shall be able to tell that she has ever been wounded; and I will then inform you of the name of him who has treated her so ill.”
The caliph instantly sent to Zobeidè’s house for the two dogs; when they were come, the fairy asked for a cup-full of water, which they gave her. She pronounced some words over it, which they did not understand, and then threw some of it over Aminè and the two dogs. The latter were immediately changed into two females of most extraordinary beauty, and the scars of the former disappeared. The fairy then addressed the caliph as follows: “I have, O Commander of the Faithful, only now to discover to you what is the name of the unknown husband, which you require. He is very nearly related to you, since indeed it is Prince Amin, your eldest son, and brother to Prince Mamoun. He, having become enamoured of this lady from the description he had heard of her beauty, made use of that pretence to get her into his power, and married her. With regard to the blows he ordered her, he is in some measure to be excused. His wife was too easily prevailed on; and the different excuses she invented were enough to make him think that she was much more criminal than she really was. This is all that I can tell you for your satisfaction.” Having concluded this speech, she saluted the caliph and disappeared.
This prince, filled with wonder and astonishment, and well satisfied at the alterations and changes that he had been the means of effecting, performed some actions which will be eternally spoken of. He first of all called his son, Prince Amin, and told him he was acquainted with the secret of his marriage, and informed him of the cause of the wound in Aminè’s cheek. The prince did not wait till his father ordered him to take her again, but immediately received her.