AHMED AND PARI-BANOU, 481

might be carried in the hand, and yet so large that your whole
army might encamp under it? I need not say any more te
your majesty. If the prince should procure you this pavilion,
there are many other requests of a similar nature, which you
can make, till at last he will be obliged to sink under either the
difficulty or the impossibility of executing them, however fertile
the genius and invention of the fairy may be, who has thus taken
him from you by her spells and enchantments. He will then
be so struck with shame, that he will not dare to appear here
any more, and will be compelled to pass the remainder of his
life with the fairy, excluded from all commerce with the world ;
and your majesty will have nothing more to fear from his enter-
prises, and will not have to reproach yourself with so hateful a
crime as that of shedding the blood of a son, or of confining
him in perpetual imprisonment.”

When the enchantress had finished her speech, the sultan
asked the favourites if they had anything better to propose.
And as he observed that they were quite silent, he determined
to follow the advice of the enchantress, as it seemed to him to
be the most rational, and as it was also much the best suited to
that mildness of disposition he always shewed in his general
conduct.

The next day, when Prince Ahmed presented himself before
the sultan, who was consulting with his favourites, and when
he had taken his seat by his side, as his presence did not cause
any restraint, the conversation continued, for some time, to turn
upon several indifferent topics. At last the sultan, addressing
himself to Prince Ahmed, said, “ When you first appeared, and
relieved me from the misery in which the great length of your
absence had plunged me, you made a mystery of the place you
had chosen for your retreat. Satisfied with seeing you, and
being told by yourself that you were contented with your situa-
tion, I did not desire to penetrate into your secret, when I found
that you did not wish it. I know not what reason you may have
had to pursue this conduct towards a father who, like me, has
always shewn that he took the most lively interest in your happi-
ness. 1 now know, indeed, in what that happiness consists ;
and I sincerely rejoice in it with you. I heartly approve the
steps you have taken in marrying a fairy, so worthy of being be-

loved, so rich, and so powerful, as my information, which is very
28