If the carpeting,"
said he to the crier, "has the virtue you attribute to it, I
shall not think forty purses too much; but shall make you a
present besides." "Sir," replied the crier, "I have told you the
truth; and it will be an easy matter to convince you of it, as
soon as you have made the bargain for forty purses, on condition
I shew you the experiment. But as I suppose you have not so much
with you, and to receive them, I must go with you to the khan
where you lodge; with the leave of the master of this shop we
will go into the back warehouse, where I will spread the
carpeting; and when we have both sat down, and you have formed
the wish to be transported into your apartment at the khan, if we
are not conveyed thither, it shall be no bargain, and you shall
be at your liberty. As to your present, as I am paid for my
trouble by the seller, I shall receive it as a favour, and feel
much obliged by your liberality."

On this assurance of the crier, the prince accepted the
conditions, and concluded the bargain; then having obtained the
master's leave, they went into his back-shop, where they both sat
down on the carpeting; and as soon as the prince had formed his
wish to be transported into his apartment at the khan, he in an
instant found himself and the crier there: as he wanted not a
more convincing proof of the virtue of the carpeting, he counted
to the crier forty purses of gold, and gave him twenty pieces for
himself.

In this manner prince Houssain became the possessor of the
carpeting, and was overjoyed that at his arrival at Bisnagar he
had found so rare a curiosity, which he never doubted must of
course gain him the possession of Nouronnihar. In short, he
thought it impossible for the princes, his younger brothers, to
meet with any thing to be compared with it. It was in his power,
by sitting on this carpeting, to be at the place of rendezvous
that very day; but as he would be obliged to wait there for his
brothers, as they had agreed, and as he was desirous of seeing
the maharajah of Bisnagar and his court, and to inform himself of
the strength, laws, customs, and religion of the kingdom, he
chose to make a longer abode in this capital, and to spend some
months in satisfying his curiosity.

It was the custom of the maharajah of Bisnagar to give all
foreign merchants access to his person once a week; so that in
his assumed character prince Houssain saw him often: and as this
prince was of an engaging pre