So I thought, ‘Oh, cruel sorceress! the birds are men!’ And as I mused, my breast melted with pity at their desire to laugh, and the little restraint they had upon themselves notwithstanding her harshness; for could they think of their changed condition and folly without laughter? and the folly that sent them fresh mates in misery was indeed matter for laughter, fed to fulness by constant meditation on the perch.  Meantime, I uncharmed the youth and bade him retire quickly; but as he was going, he said, ‘Beware of the Genie Karaz!’ Then I held him back, and after a parley he told me what he had heard the Princess say, and it was that Karaz had seen me and sworn to possess me for my beauty.  ’Strangely smiled Goorelka when she spake that,’ said he.

Now, the City of Oolb fronts the sea, and behind it is a mountain and a wood, where the King met Ravaloke on his return victorious over the rebels.  So, to escape the eye of the King I parted with Ravaloke, and sought to enter the city by a circuitous way; but the paths wound about and zigzagged, and my slaves suffered nightfall to surprise us in the entanglements of the wood.  I sent them in different directions to strike into the main path, retaining Kadrab at the bridle of my mule; but that creature now began to address me in a familiar tone, and he said something of love for me that enraged me, so that I hit him a blow.  Then came from him sounds like the neighing of mares, and lo! he seized me and rose with me in the air, and I thought the very heavens were opening to that black beast, when on a sudden he paused, and shot down with me from heights of the stars to the mouth of a cavern by the Putrid Sea, and dragged me into a cavern greatly illuminated, hung like a palace chamber, and supported on pillars of shining jasper.  Then I fell upon the floor in a swoon, and awaking saw Kadrab no longer, but in his place a Genie.  O my soul, thou halt seen him!—­I thought at once, ‘’tis Karaz!’ and when he said to me, ’This is thy abode, O lady! and I he that have sworn to possess thee from the hour I saw thee in the chamber of Goorelka,’ then was I certain ’twas Karaz.  So, collecting the strength of my soul, I said, in the words of the poet: 

         ’Woo not a heart preoccupied! 
          What thorn is like a loathing bride? 
          Mark ye the shrubs how they turn from the sea,
               The sea’s rough whispers shun? 
          But like the sun of heaven be,
          And every flower will open wide. 
          Woo with the shining patience we
               Beheld in heaven’s sun.’

Then he sang: 

          Exquisite lady! name the smart
               That fills thy heart. 
          Thou art the foot and I the worm: 
               Prescribe the Term.

Finding him compliant, I said, ’O great Genie, truly the search of my life has been to discover him that is, my father, and how I was left in the wilderness.  There ’s no peace for me, nor understanding the word of love, till I hear by whom I was left a babe on the bosom of a dead mother.’