and he was introduced, but in a
mean habit. The two princesses whom he had delivered from the
monsters and married immediately recognized him, and exclaimed
together, "This is truly our beloved husband!" He was then
embraced by the sultans, and admitted to his wives; who fell upon
his neck in transports of joy and rapture, kissing him between
his eyes, while the princess who had lost the bird prostrated
herself before him, covered with a veil, and kissed his hand.

After this scene the young prince returned to his father, and the
other sultans, who received him respectfully, and seated him by
them, at which the father was astonished; but more so, when,
turning to his brothers, he addressed them, saying, "Which of you
first found the string of emeralds and pearls?" To this they made
no reply: when he continued, "Who of you killed the monster,
destroyed the elephant, or, fortifying his mind, dared to enter
the palace of this sultan, and bring away the cage with the bird?
When you both, coward-like, rushed upon me, robbed me of my
prizes, and wounded me, I could easily have overcome you; but I
felt that there was a season appointed by Providence for justice
upon you and my wretched father, who rejected my mother and
myself, depriving us of our just claims." Having thus spoken, he
drew his sabre, and rushing upon the two guilty princes struck
them dead, each at one blow. He would, in his rage, have attacked
his father; but the sultans prevented him, and having reconciled
them, the old sultan promised to leave him his heir, and to
restore his mother to her former rank and consequence. His
nuptials with the third princess were then celebrated; and their
fathers, after participating for forty days in the magnificent
entertainments given on the occasion, took leave, and returned to
their several kingdoms. The old sultan finding himself, from age,
incapable of the cares of government, resigned the throne to his
son, whose authority was gladly submitted to by the people, who
admired his prowess and gallantry.

Some time after his accession to the kingdom, attended only by
some select courtiers, and without the cumbrous appendages of
royalty, he left his capital upon a hunting excursion. In the
course of the sport, passing over a desert plain, he came to a
spot where was the opening of a cave, into which he entered, and
observed domestic utensils and other marks of its being
inhabited; but no one was then within it.

The cu