I have a mind to marry her; will you consent to it?  The vizer, who did not expect this proposal, was troubled at it; and, instead of accepting it joyfully, which another in his place would certainly have done, he answered the sultan, May it please your majesty, I am not worthy of the honour you confer upon me, and I most humbly beseech you to pardon me if I do not agree to your request.  You know I had a brother called Noureddin Ali, who had the honour, as well as myself, to be one of your viziers:  We had some difference together, which was the cause of his leaving me on a sudden, and since that time I have had no account of him till within these four days, when I heard he died at Balsora, being grand vizier to the sultan of that kingdom.  He has left a son behind him; and there having been an agreement between us to match our children together, should we have any, I am persuaded he intended the match when he died.  Being desirous to fulfil the promise on my part, I conjure your majesty to grant me leave; you have in your court many other lords who have daughters on whom you may please to bestow that honour.

The sultan of Egypt was incensed against Schemseddin to the highest degree, and said to him in a passion, which he could not restrain, Is this the way you requite my condescension to stoop so low as to desire your alliance?  I know how to revenge your daring to prefer another to me, and I swear that your daughter shall be married to the most contemptible and ugly of all my slaves.  Having spoken these words, he angrily bid the vizier begone, who went home to his house full of confusion, and very sad.  The same day the sultan sent for one of his grooms, who is hump-backed, big-bellied, crook-legged, and as ugly as a hobgoblin; and, after having commanded Schemseddin to consent to marry his daughter to this ghastly slave, he caused the contract to be made out and signed by witnesses in his own presence.  The preparations for this fantastical wedding, says the fairy, are all ready, and at this moment all the slaves belonging to the lords of the court of Egypt are waiting at the door of the bagnio, each with a flambeau in his hand, for the crook-backed groom to go along with them to his bride, who is already dressed to receive him.  When I departed from Cairo, the ladies, met for that purpose, were going to conduct her, in all her nuptial attire, to the hall, where she is to receive her hump-backed bridegroom, and is this minute now expecting him; I have seen her, and do assure you that no person can look upon her without admiration.

When the fairy left off speaking, the genius says to her, Whatever you think or say, I cannot be persuaded that the girl’s beauty exceeds that of this young man.  I will not dispute it with you, answered the fairy, for I must confess he deserves to be married to that charming creature whom they design for Hump-back; and I think it were a deed worthy of us to obstruct the sultan of Egypt’s injustice, and put this