whom thou deemedst mine
uncle, and but for God the Most High, who delivered me from him, [I had
perished]. Marry, both I and thou, O my mother, suffered ourselves to be
deluded by him after the measure of that which the accursed promised
to do with me of good and of the love which he professed for me. Know,
then, O my mother, that this man is an accursed Maugrabin enchanter,
a liar, a deceiver, an impostor and a hypocrite; methinketh the devils
that be under the earth are not his match, may God put him to shame in
every book! [271] Hear, O my mother, what this accursed did; nay, all
I shall tell thee is truth and soothfastness. Do but see the villain's
duplicity; bethink thee of the promises he made me that he would do me
all manner of good [272] and the love he professed to me, and how he did
all this that he might accomplish his purpose; nay, his intent was to
kill me, and praised be God for my deliverance! Hearken, O my mother,
and learn what this accursed one did."

Then he told her all that had befallen him from the time of his leaving
her, weeping the while for excess of joy; how the Maugrabin brought
him to the hill, wherein was the treasure, and how he conjured and
fumigated. "And indeed. O my mother," said he, "there overcame me
exceeding fear, whenas the hill clove in sunder and the earth opened
before me by his enchantments; and I quaked with terror at the voice of
the thunder which I heard and the darkness which befell of his spells
and fumigations, and of my dismay at these portents, I would have fled.
When he saw me offer to flee, he reviled me and smote me, dealing me
a buffet which caused me swoon for pain [273] but, inasmuch as the
treasure was opened and he could not go down into it himself, seeing he
had opened it by my means and that it was in name and not for him, he
knew, being a foul sorcerer, that it might [only] be achieved through me
and that this adventure was [reserved] for me. [274] Accordingly [275]
he applied himself to make his peace with me, that he might send me down
into the treasure, now it was opened, and attain his object by my means;
and when he sent me down, he gave me a ring, which he had on his hand,
and put it on my finger. So I descended into the treasure and found four
chambers, all full of gold and silver and the like; but this all was
nothing and the accursed one charged me take nought thereof. Thence I
entered a magnificent garden, [276] all full of high trees, whose
frui