the Talisman ees 3

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embraced them, and having desired the prince to be kind to his
daughter, and to love her always, he left them to proceed on their
journey, and, to divert his thoughts, hunted all the way home.

Prince Camaralzaman and the Princess Badoura travelled for
about a month, and at last came to a meadow of great extent,
planted with tall trees, forming an agreeable shade. The day
being unusually hot, Camaralzaman thought it best to encamp there.
They alighted in one of the finest spots, and the prince ordered
his servants to pitch their tents, and went himself-to give directions.
The princess, weary with the fatigue of the journey, bade her women
untie her girdle, which they laid down by her, and when she fell
asleep, her attendants left her. by herself,

Prince Camaralzaman having seen all things in order came
to the tent where the princess was sleeping; he entered, and sat
down without making any noise, intending to take a nap himself ;
but observing the princess’s girdle lying by her, he took it up,
and looked at the diamonds and rubies one by one. In doing
this, he saw a little purse hanging to it, sewed neatly on to the stuff,
and tied fast with a ribbon , he felt it, and found there was
something solid inside it. Desirous to know what it was, he opened
the purse, and took out a cornelian, engraven with unknown
figures and characters. ‘This cornelian, said the prince to himself,
‘must be something very valuable, or my princess would not carry it
with so much care” It was Badoura’s talisman, which the Queen of
China had given her “daughter as a charm, to keep her, as she
said, from any harm as long as she had it. about her.

The prince, the better to look at the talisman, took it out to
the light, the tent being dark; and while he was holding it up
in his hand, a bird darted down from the air and ‘snatched it
away from him. :

Imagine the concern and grief of Prince Camaralzaman when
he saw the bird fly away with the talisman. He: was more