and the Fairy | | eee:

but a small part of my palace, and you will say so when you

_ have seen all the apartments. Then she sat down on a sofa; and
when the prince at her entreaty had seated himself, she said, ‘You
are surprised, you say, that I should know you, and not be known
by you; but you will no longer be surprised when I inform you
who I am. You cannot be ignorant that the world is inhabited
by genies as well as men: I am the daughter of one of the most
powerful and distinguished of these génies, and my name is Pari
Banou: therefore I know you, the sultan your father, the princes
your brothers, and the Princess Nouronnihar.. I am no stranger
to your love or your travels, of which I could tell you all the
circumstances, since it was I myself who exposed for sale the
artificial apple which you bought at Samarcand, the carpet which
Prince Houssain met with at Bisnagar, and the tube which Prince
Ali brought from Schiraz.. This is sufficient to let you know that
I am not unacquainted with anything that relates to you. The
only thing I have to add is, that you seemed to me worthy of a
still better fortune than that of marrying the Princess Nouronnihar.
I was present when you drew your arrow, and foresaw it would
not go beyond Prince Houssain’s. .I took it in the air, and made
it strike’ against the rocks’ near which you found it. It is in your
power to avail yourself of this favourable opportunity,’

_ As the fairy Pari Banou pronounced these words Prince Ahmed
began to consider that the Princess Nouronnihar could never be his,
and that the fairy Pari Banou excelled her infinitely in beauty and
agreeableness, and, so far as he could judge from the magnificence of
the palace where she resided, in immense riches. ‘Madam,’ replied
he, ‘should I,-all my life, have had the happiness of being your slave,
I should think myself the happiest of men. Pardon me my boldness,

_ and do not refuse to admit into your court a prince who is entirely
devoted to you.’ -
‘Prince, answered the fairy, ‘ as I have been a long time my own