Dear love, I have done what you
required; nothing now prevents your rising and giving me the
satisfaction of which I have so long been deprived."

The sultan, still counterfeiting the pronunciation of the blacks,
said, "What you have now done is by no means sufficient for my
cure; you have only removed a part of the evil; you must cut it
up by the root." "My lovely black," resumed the queen, "what do
you mean by the root?" "Wretched woman," replied the sultan,
"understand you not that I allude to the town, and its
inhabitants, and the four islands, destroyed by thy enchantments?
The fish every night at midnight raise their heads out of the
lake, and cry for vengeance against thee and me. This is the true
cause of the delay of my cure. Go speedily, restore things to
their former state, and at thy return I will give thee my hand,
and thou shalt help me to arise."

The enchantress, inspired with hope from these words, cried out
in a transport of joy, "My heart, my soul, you shall soon be
restored to your health, for I will immediately do as you command
me." Accordingly she went that instant, and when she came to the
brink of the lake, she took a little water in her hand, and
sprinkling it, had no sooner pronounced some words over the fish
and the lake, than the city was immediately restored. The fish
became men, women, and children; Mahummedans, Christians,
Persians, or Jews; freemen or slaves, as they were before: every
one having recovered his natural form. The houses and shops were
immediately filled with their inhabitants, who found all things
as they were before the enchantment. The sultan's numerous
retinue, who found themselves encamped in the largest square,
were astonished to see themselves in an instant in the middle of
a large, handsome, well-peopled city.

To return to the enchantress: As soon as she had effected this
wonderful change, she returned with all expedition to the Palace
of Tears, that she might receive her reward. "My dear lord,"
cried she, as she entered, "I come to rejoice with you in the
return of your health: I have done all that you required of me,
then pray rise, and give me your hand." "Come near," said the
sultan, still counterfeiting the pronunciation of the blacks. She
did so. "You are not near enough," he continued, "approach
nearer." She obeyed. He then rose up, and seizing her by the arm
so suddenly, that she had not time to discover him, he with a
blow of his cimeter cut her in t