me a kindly work.” Hereupon the Prince left
all that was with him in that place and the ’Aun
said to him, “O son of the Sultan, come mount
upon my shoulders.” The youth did accordingly,
after he had filled his ears with cotton, and the
’Aun rose from earth and towered in air and after
the space of an hour he descended again and the rider
found himself in the grounds about the capital of
the Camphor Islands. So he dismounted from the
Jinni’s shoulders and looked about that wady
where he espied pleasant spots and he descried trees
and blooms and rills and birds that trilled and shrilled
with various notes. Then quoth the ’Aun
to him, “Go forth to yonder garden and thence
bring thy need;” so he walked thither and, finding
the gates wide open, he passed in and fell to solacing
himself with looking to the right and the left.
Presently he saw bird-cages suspended and in them
were fowls of every kind, to each two, so he walked
up to them and whenever he noted a bird that pleased
him he took it and caged it till he had there six
fowls and of all sorts twain. Then he designed
to leave the garden when suddenly a keeper met him
face to face at the door crying aloud, “A thief!
a thief!” Hereat all the other gardeners rushed
up and seized him, together with the cage, and carried
him before the King, the owner of that garden and
lord of that city. They set him in the presence
saying, “Verily we found this young man stealing
a cage wherein be fowls and in good sooth he must
be a thief.” Quoth the Sultan, “Who
misled thee, O Youth, to enter my grounds and trespass
thereon and take of my birds?” Whereto the Prince
returned no reply. So the Sultan resumed, “By
Allah, thou hast wilfully wasted thy life, but, O
Youngster, an it be thy desire to take my birds and
carry them away, do thou go and bring me from the
capital of the Isles of the Sudan[FN#365] bunches of
grapes which are clusters of diamonds and emeralds,
when I will give thee over and above these six fowls
six other beside.” So the Prince left him
and going to the ’Aun informed him of what had
befallen him, and the other cried, “’Tis
easy, O Mohammed;” and mounting him upon his
shoulders flew with him for the space of two hours
and presently alighted. The youth saw himself
in the lands surrounding the capital of the Sudan
Islands which he found more beautiful than the fair
region he had left; and he designed forthright to
approach the garden containing great clusters of diamonds
and emeralds, when he was confronted by a Lion in the
middle way. Now it was the wont of this beast
yearly to visit that city and to pounce upon everything
he met of women as well as of men; so seeing the Prince
he charged down upon him, designing to rend him limb
from limb—And Shahrazad was surprised by
the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her
permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad,
“How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister
mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth
she, “And where is this compared with that I
should relate to you on the coming night an the King
suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next
night, and that was