Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/111

93 little box and took thereout the sparrow. Then he and the princess returned to the castle and sat down on the throne. Hardly had they done this, when there arose a terrible great cloud of dust and some huge thing came flying and saying, ‘Spare me, O king’s son, and slay me not; but make me thy freedman, and I will bring thee to thy desire!’ Quoth Dauleh Khatoun, ‘The genie cometh; kill the sparrow, lest the accursed wretch enter the palace and take it from thee and slay thee and me after thee.’ [sic] So the prince wrung the sparrow’s neck and it died, whereupon the genie fell down at the door of the palace and became a heap of black ashes.

Then said the princess, ‘We are delivered from the hand of yonder accursed wretch; what shall we do now?’ ‘It behoves us to ask aid of God the Most High, who hath afflicted us,’ answered Seif; ‘belike He will direct us and help us to escape from this our strait.’ So saying, he arose and pulling down half a score of the doors of the palace, which were wroughten of sandal and aloes-wood, with nails of gold and silver, bound them together with ropes of silk and sendal, which were there, and wrought of them a raft, which he made shift, he and the princess, to drag down to the sea-shore. They cast it into the water and making it fast to the beach, returned to the palace, whence they removed all the dishes of gold and silver and jewels and precious stones and metals and what not else was light of carriage and heavy of worth and freighted the raft therewith. Then they fashioned two pieces of wood into the likeness of oars, with which they embarked on the raft and casting off the moorings, let it drift out to sea with them, committing themselves to God the Most High, who contenteth those that put their trust in Him and disappointed them not.

They fared on thus four months, and when they lay down to sleep, the prince set Dauleh Khatoun behind him