“Let us suppose,” continued he, “that I had consented to form a matrimonial engagement, as the sultan my father so impatiently wishes; what wife would he give me? a princess, in all probability, whom he would request of some neighbouring prince, and who would, no doubt, think it a great honor. Handsome or ugly, she must be received; but even supposing she excels every other princess in beauty, who can ensure that her mind will be equal to her person? That she will be gentle, obliging, affable, and engaging? that her conversation will not be frivolous; of dress, of ornaments, of appearance, and a thousand other trifles, which must create contempt in a man of good sense? In a word, that she is not proud, haughty, irascible, disdainful, and one who will ruin a whole kingdom by her frivolous expenses in dresses, jewels, trinkets, or in tasteless and empty magnificence.
“Now you see, madam, on one subject only, how many things there are to give rise to my antipathy to matrimony; but even if this princess be so perfect and so accomplished, that she is irreproachable on all these points, I have a great number of reasons still stronger than any I have expressed, to make me continue in the same opinion, and adhere to my resolution.”
“What, my son!” exclaimed Fatima, “can you add more objections to those you have already stated? I was going to answer you, and refute your arguments with one word.”—“That need not prevent you, madam,” replied the prince, “I shall probably have some reply to make to your answers.”
“I was going to say, my son,” resumed Fatima, “that it is easy for a prince, who should have the misfortune to marry a princess, such as you describe, to leave her, and also to adopt such measures as might prevent her ruining the state.”
“Well, madam,” said prince Camaralzaman, “and do you not consider what a cruel mortification it must be to a prince to be under the necessity of having recourse to such extremities? Is it not much better both for his peace of mind, and for his reputation, not to expose himself to it?”
“But, my son,” replied Fatima, “from the way you treat this matter, I conclude that you intend to be the last king of the race from which you are descended; and which has so gloriously filled the throne of the island of the children of Khaledan.”
“Madam,” continued the prince, “I have no wish of surviving the king my father. Even should I die before him, he ought not to be surprised, since there are so many examples of children dying before their parents. But it is always glorious for a race of kings to finish with a prince so worthy of being a sovereign as I should endeavour to be, by imitating my predecessors and him, with whom the line began.”
After this, Fatima frequently had conversations of the same nature with the prince, her son: and she left no means untried, by which she hoped to eradicate his aversion. But he confuted all the reasons she could produce, by others equally strong, to which she knew not what to reply; and he remained unshaken in his determination.
The year passed on, and prince Camaralzaman, to the great regret of the sultan Schahzaman, did not show the least appearance of having altered his sentiments. At length one day, when the grand council met, and the first vizier, the other viziers, the principal officers of the crown, and the generals of the army were assembled, the sultan thus addressed the prince: “It is now a long time, my son, since I expressed to you the anxious desire I have of seeing you married: and I expected from you a greater attention to the wishes of a father who required of you nothing but what was reasonable. After so long a resistance on your part, which has entirely exhausted my patience, I now repeat the same thing to you, in the presence of my council. It is not only, that by persisting in your refusal, you disoblige your father, but the welfare of my dominions requires your compliance, and all these nobles join with me in requesting it. Declare your sentiments before them, that from the answer you make me, I may know what measures to adopt.
Prince Camaralzaman answered with so little temper, or rather with so much warmth, that the sultan, justly irritated by the behaviour of his son before the full council, exclaimed, “What, undutiful son! have you the insolence to speak thus to your father and your sultan?” He immediately ordered him to be arrested by the officers present, and to be conducted to an ancient tower which had been long neglected, where he was confined, with only a bed and very little furniture, a few books, and one slave to attend him.