and to
grant me pardon; but it was impossible to move his compassion.

"All that I can do for thee," said he, "is to grant thee thy life, but
I must place thee under enchantments." So saying, he seized me
violently, and carried me through the arched roof of the subterranean
palace, which opened to give him passage. He ascended with me into the
air to such a height that the earth appeared like a little white
cloud. He then descended again like lightning, and alighted upon the
summit of a mountain.

Here he took up a handful of earth, and, muttering some words which I
did not understand, threw it upon me. "Quit," said he, "the form of a
man, and take that of an ape."

He instantly disappeared, and left me alone, transformed into an ape,
and overwhelmed with sorrow, in a strange country, not knowing whether
I was near or far from my father's dominions.

I descended the mountain, and entered a plain, level country, which
took me a month to travel over, and then I came to the seaside. It
happened at the time to be perfectly calm, and I espied a vessel
about half a league from the shore. Unwilling to lose so good an
opportunity, I broke off a large branch from a tree, carried it into
the sea, and placed myself astride upon it, with a stick in each hand,
to serve me for oars.

I launched out on this frail bark, and rowed toward the ship. When I
had approached sufficiently near to be seen, the seamen and passengers
on the deck regarded me with astonishment. In the meantime I got on
board, and laying hold of a rope, jumped upon the deck, but having
lost my speech, I found myself in great perplexity. And indeed the
risk I ran was not less than when I was at the mercy of the genie.

The merchants, being both superstitious and scrupulous, thought if
they received me on board I should be the occasion of some misfortune
to them during their voyage. On this account they said, "Let us throw
him into the sea." Some one of them would not have failed to carry
this threat into execution had I not gone to the captain, thrown
myself at his feet, and taken hold of his skirt in a supplicating
posture. This action, together with the tears which he saw gush from
my eyes, moved his compassion. He took me under his protection, and
loaded me with a thousand caresses. On my part, though I had not power
to speak, I showed by my gestures every mark of gratitude in my power.

The wind that succeeded the calm continued to blow in the same
direc