The air was very still, and the voice of the young girl, though not loud, was clear. “Bring me a beautiful slave girl,” she said, “and I will give you these ten thousand piasters.”
The boat returned to the ship. Very soon it came back. In it was another person. The watcher saw that it was a young girl, like herself. Overjoyed, she let down a rope, made from the silken coverings of the divan. At the end of this rope she had fastened the money.
When the men had secured the gold they tied the rope about the body of the slave girl, and with great difficulty she was drawn up far enough to enable her to climb within. Her young mistress greeted her with kindness, and, because of her joy, took the string of gold coins from her own neck and fastened them around the neck of the newcomer. And she said, “Thanks be to Allah! I have found a companion.”
The slave girl had been cruelly treated by the captain of the ship. But she did not tell her mistress that she was glad to be rescued.
Now, the fortieth night was completed, though the young girl knew not that it was so. After she and the slave had both bathed in an inner chamber, [[51]]and after they had eaten of the delicate food upon the golden salver, the mistress said to her slave: “Now, do thou watch here a little, while I go to walk through the rooms of the palace. After my return thou canst do likewise.”
Thereupon she went out; and had barely gone when the body upon the bier returned to life. It was that of a young man, very tall and worthy to be looked upon. He threw off the covering, and disclosed the embroidered garments of royalty. He stretched out his hands and opened his eyes. They fell upon the slave girl. After his long torpor she seemed beautiful to him. And the gold coins about her neck were not such as one sees upon a slave.
“Maiden,” he asked, “was it thou who watched beside me through the forty nights?”
“Yes,” answered the slave; “for forty nights have I watched beside thee.”
Now, it so chanced that the person who had been lying upon the bier was a young prince. And before the evil spell was cast upon him by an enemy of his father, he had made a vow, saying, “Whoso watches by me during the forty days of my enchantment, her will I marry immediately upon waking.”
It was because of this vow that he asked the question. And because within his heart he had felt [[52]]another presence, he called the slave to him and asked whether any other beside herself had been there.