The fish had no sooner finished these words, than the black threw the pan into the middle of the closet, and reduced these fishes to a coal.  Having done this, he retired fiercely, and entering again into the hole of the wall, it shut, and appeared just as it was before.

After what I have seen, says the sultan to the vizier, it will not be possible for me to be easy in my mind.  These fish, without doubt, signify something extraordinary, in which I have a mind to be satisfied.  He sent for the fisherman; and when he came, says to him, Fisherman, the fishes you have brought us make me very uneasy; where did you catch them?  Sir, answers he, I fished for them in a pond situate betwixt four hills, beyond the mountain that we see from hence.  Know you that pond, says the sultan to the vizier?  No, sir, replies the vizier, I never so much as heard of it; and yet it is not sixty years since I hunted beyond that mountain and thereabouts.  The sultan asked the fisherman, how far the pond might be from the palace?  The fisherman answered, it was not above three hours journey.  Upon this assurance, and there being day enough beforehand, the sultan commanded all his court to take horse, and the fisherman served them for a guide.  They all ascended the mountain, and at the foot of it they saw, to their great surprise, a vast plain, that nobody had observed till then; and at last they came to the pond, which they found actually to be situate betwixt four hills, as the fisherman had said.  The water of it was so transparent, that they observed all the fishes to be like those which the fisherman had brought to the palace.

The sultan staid upon the bank of the pond, and, after beholding the fishes with admiration, he demanded of his emirs and all his courtiers, if it was possible they had never seen this pond, which was within so little a way of the town.  They all answered, that they had never so much as heard of it.

Since you all agree, says he, that you never heard of it, and as I am no less astonished than you are, at this novelty I am resolved not to return to my palace till I know how this pond came hither, and why all the fish in it are of four colours.  Having spoken thus, he ordered his court to encamp, and immediately his pavilion, and the tents of his household, were planted upon the banks of the pond.

When night came, the sultan retired under his pavilion, and spoke to the vizier by himself thus:  Vizier, my mind is very uneasy:  this pond transported hither, the black that appeared to us in my closet, and the fishes that we heard speak; all this does so much whet my curiosity, that I cannot resist the impatient desire that I have to be satisfied in it.  To this end, I am resolved to withdraw alone from the camp, and I order you to keep my absence secret; stay in my pavilion, and to-morrow morning, when the emirs and courtiers come to attend my levee, send them away, and tell them, that I am somewhat indisposed, and have a mind to be alone:  and the following day tell them the same thing, till I return.