Page:Princess Badoura, a tale from the Arabian nights.djvu/142

108 Camaralzaman saw her he uttered a cry and ran into her arms and held her with kisses as if he could never let her go. And when at last he spoke of things other than his joy—'How,' he inquired, 'has the King accomplished this miracle? Surely when he spoke I understood nothing of what he said.'

Badoura smiled as she answered: 'When the King put the talisman into thy hand, then did his kingship cease, and he returned once more to his true form. O my lord, look upon thy king, who is now become thy slave. Surely hadst thou loved me a little more thou wouldst have known me.'

Then she told Camaralzaman of all that had happened to her from first to last; and on the morrow she went to King Amanos, and to him also made her story plain. Nor would she allow that any deception had been used, 'For truly,' she said, 'I and my beloved are one; and I did but come before and prepare for him the place which