well enough that there was something extraordinary in his
fall, which must otherwise have cost him his life; whereas he neither
saw nor felt any thing. But he soon heard a voice, which said, "Do you
know what honest man this is to whom we have done this piece of
service?" Another voice answered, "No." To which the first replied,
"Then I will tell you. This man, out of charity, the greatest that ever
was known, left the town he lived in, and has established himself in
this place, in hopes to cure one of his neighbours of the envy he had
conceived against him; he has acquired such general esteem, that the
envious man, not able to endure it, came hither on purpose to ruin him,
which he had performed, had it not been for the assistance which we have
given this honest man, whose reputation is so great, that the sultan,
who keeps his residence in the neighbouring city, was to pay him a visit
tomorrow, and to recommend the princess, his daughter, to his prayers."

Another voice asked, "What need had the princess of the dervise's
prayers?" To which the first answered, "You do not know, it seems, that
she is possessed by Genie Maimoun, the son of Dimdim, who is fallen in
love with her. But I know well how this good head of the dervises may
cure her; the thing is very easy, and I will tell it you. He has a black
cat in his convent, with a white spot at the end of her tail, about the
bigness of a small piece of English money; let him only pull seven hairs
out of this white spot, burn them, and smoke the princess's head with
the fume, she will not only be presently cured, but be so safely
delivered from Maimoun, the son of Dimdim, that he will never dare
to come near her a second time."

The head of the dervises remembered every word of the discourse between
the fairies and the genies, who were very silent all the night after.
The next morning, by break of day, when he could discern one thing from
another, the well being broken down in several places, he saw a hole,
by which he crept out with ease.

The other dervises, who had been seeking for him, were rejoiced to see
him. He gave them a brief account of the wickedness of that man to whom
he had given so kind a reception the day before, and retired to his
cell. It was not long till the black cat, of which the fairies and the
genies had made mention in their discourses the night before, came to
fawn upon her master, as she was accustomed to do: he took her up, and
pulled seven h