At last the princess Badr-oul-boudour broke silence with a great sigh, and said, “Alas! madam, most honoured mother, forgive me if I have failed in the respect I owe you. My mind is so full of the extraordinary things which have befallen me this night, that I have not yet recovered my amazement and fright, and scarce know myself.” Then she told her how the instant after she and her husband were in bed, the bed was transposed into a dark dirty room, where he was taken from her and carried away, where she knew not, and she was left alone with a young man, who, after he had said something to her, which her fright did not suffer her to hear, laid himself down by her, in her husband’s place, but first put his sabre between them; and in the morning her husband was brought to her again, and the bed was transported back to her own chamber in an instant. “All this,” said she, “was but just done, when the sultan my father came into my chamber. I was so overwhelmed with grief, that I had not power to make him one word of answer; therefore I am afraid that he is offended at the manner in which I received the honour he did me: but I hope he will forgive me, when he knows my melancholy adventure, and the miserable state I am in at present.”
The sultaness heard all the princess told her very patiently, but would not believe it. “You did well, child,” said she, “not to speak of this to your father: take care not to mention it to anybody, for you will certainly be thought mad if you talk at this rate.” “Madam,” replied the princess, “I can assure you I am in my right senses: ask my husband, and he will tell you the same story.” “I will,” said the sultaness; “but if he should talk in the same manner I shall not be better persuaded of the truth. Come, rise, and throw off this idle fancy; it will be a fine story indeed, if all the feasts and rejoicings in the kingdom should be interrupted by such a vision. Do not you hear the trumpets sounding, and drums beating, and concerts of the finest music? Cannot all these inspire you with joy and pleasure, and make you forget all the fancies you tell me of?” At the same time, the sultaness called the princess’s women, and after she had seen her get up, and set her toilet, she went to the sultan’s apartment, and told him that her daughter had got some old notions in her head, but that there was nothing in them.
Then she sent for the vizier’s son, to know of him something of what the princess had told her; but he, thinking himself highly honoured to be allied to the sultan, resolved to disguise the matter. “Son-in-law,” said the sultaness, “are you as much infatuated as your wife?” “Madam,” replied the vizier’s son, “may I be so bold as to ask the reason of that question?” “Oh! that is enough,” answered the sultaness; “I ask no more, I see you are wiser than her.”
The rejoicings lasted all that day in the palace, and the sultaness, who never left the princess, forgot nothing to divert her, and induce her to take part in the various diversions and shows: but she was so struck with the idea of what had happened to her that it was easy to see her thoughts were entirely taken up about it. Neither was the grand vizier’s son’s affliction less, but that his ambition made him disguise it, and nobody doubted but he was a happy bridegroom.
Aladdin, who was well acquainted with what passed in the palace, never disputed but that the new-married couple were to lie together again that night, notwithstanding the troublesome adventure of the night before; and therefore, having as great an inclination to disturb them, he had recourse to his lamp, and when the genie appeared, and offered his services, he said to him, “The grand vizier’s son and the princess Badr-oul-boudour are to lie together again to-night: go, and as soon as they are in bed, bring the bed hither, as thou didst yesterday.”
The genie obeyed Aladdin as faithfully and exactly as the day before: the grand vizier’s son passed the night as coldly and disagreeably as before, and the princess had the mortification again to have Aladdin for her bedfellow, with the sabre between them. The genie, according to Aladdin’s orders, came the next morning, and brought the bridegroom and laid him by his bride, and then carried the bed and new-married couple back again to the palace.
The sultan, after the reception the princess Badr-oul-boudour had given him that day, was very anxious to know how she passed the second night, and if she would give him the same reception, and therefore went into her chamber as early as the morning before. The grand vizier’s son, more ashamed and mortified with the ill success of this last night, no sooner heard him coming, but he jumped out of bed, and ran hastily into the wardrobe. The sultan went to the princess’s bed-side, and after the caresses he had given her the former morning, bid her good-morrow. “Well, daughter,” he said, “are you in a better humour than you were yesterday morning?” Still the princess was silent, and the sultan perceived her to be more troubled, in greater confusion than before, and doubted not but that something very extraordinary was the cause; but provoked that his daughter should conceal it, he said to her in a rage, with his sabre in his hand, “Daughter, tell me what is the matter, or I will cut off your head immediately.”
The princess, more frightened at the menaces and tone of the enraged sultan, than at the sight of the drawn sabre, at last broke silence, and said, with tears in her eyes, “My dear father and sultan, I ask your majesty’s pardon if I have offended you, and hope, that out of your goodness and clemency you will have compassion on me, when I have told you in what a miserable condition I have spent this last night and the night before.”
After this preamble, which appeased and affected the sultan, she told him what had happened to her in so moving a manner, that he, who loved her tenderly, was most sensibly grieved. She added, “If your majesty doubts the truth of this account, you may inform yourself from my husband, who, I am persuaded, will tell you the same thing.”
The sultan immediately felt all the extreme uneasiness so surprising an adventure must have given the princess. “Daughter,” said he, “you are very much to blame for not telling me this yesterday, since it concerns me as much as yourself. I did not marry you with an intention to make you miserable, but that you might enjoy all the happiness you deserve and might hope for from a husband, who to me seemed agreeable to you. Efface all these troublesome ideas out of your memory; I will take care and give orders that you shall have no more such disagreeable and insupportable nights.”