hile, if I have occasion for him by day or night, as soon as
I touch a talisman, which is at the entrance into my chamber, the
genie appears. It is now the fourth day since he was here, and I
do not expect him before the end of six more; so, if you please,
you may stay five days, and I will endeavour to entertain you
according to your quality and merit." I thought myself too
fortunate, to have obtained so great a favour without asking, to
refuse so obliging an offer. The princess made me go into a bath,
the most commodious, and the most sumptuous imaginable; and when
I came forth, instead of my own clothes I found another very
costly suit, which I did not esteem so much for its richness, as
because it made me appear worthy to be in her company. We sat
down on a sofa covered with rich tapestry, with cushions of the
rarest Indian brocade; and some time after she covered a table
with several dishes of delicate meats. We ate, and passed the
remaining part of the day with much satisfaction, as also the
evening, together.

The next day, as she contrived every means to please me, she
brought in, at dinner, a bottle of old wine, the most excellent
that ever was tasted, and out of complaisance drank some part of
it with me. When my head grew warm with the agreeable liquor,
"Fair princess," said I, "you have been too long thus buried
alive; follow me, enjoy the real day, of which you have been
deprived so many years, and abandon this artificial though
brilliant glare." "Prince," replied she, with a smile, "leave
this discourse; if you out of ten days will grant me nine, and
resign the last to the genie, the fairest day would be nothing in
my esteem." "Princess," said I, "it is the fear of the genie that
makes you speak thus; for my part, I value him so little, that I
will break in pieces his talisman, with the conjuration that is
written about it. Let him come, I will expect him; and how brave
or redoubtable soever he be, I will make him feel the weight of
my arm: I swear solemnly that I will extirpate all the genies in
the world, and him first." The princess, who knew the
consequence, conjured me not to touch the talisman. "For that
would be the means," said she, "of ruining both you and me; I
know what belongs to genies better than you." The fumes of the
wine did not suffer me to hearken to her reasons; but I gave the
talisman a kick with my foot, and broke it in several pieces.

The talisman was no sooner broken than the p