The sultan continued to counterfeit the language of the blacks.  That which you have just now done, said he, signifies nothing to my cure; you have only eased me of part of my disease; you must cut it up by the roots.  My lovely black, replies she, what do you mean by the roots?  Unfortunate woman, replies the sultan, do you not understand that I mean the town and its inhabitants, and the four islands, which thou hast destroyed by thy enchantments?

The fishes, every night at midnight, raise their heads out of the pond, and cry for vengeance against thee and me.  This is the true cause of the delay of my cure.  Go speedily, restore things as they were, and at thy return I will give thee my hand, and thou shalt help me to rise.

The enchantress, filled with hopes from these words, cried out in a transport of joy, My heart, my soul, you shall soon be restored to your health; for I will immediately do what you command me.  Accordingly she went that moment, and when she came to the brink of the pond, she took a little water in her hand, and sprinkling it—­Here Scheherazade saw day, and stopped.

Dinarzade says to the sultaness, Sister, I am much rejoiced to hear that the young king of the Black Islands was disenchanted, and I already consider the town and the inhabitants as restored to their former state; but I long to know what will become of the enchantress.  Have a little patience, replies the sultaness, and you shall have the satisfaction you desire to-morrow, if the sultan, my lord, will consent to it.  Schahriar, having resolved on it already, as was said before, rose up, and went about his business.

The Twenty-seventh Night.

At the usual hour Dinarzade called upon the sultaness thus:  Dear sister, pray tell us what was the fate of the magician queen, as you promised us; upon which Scheherazade went on thus:  The enchantress had no sooner sprinkled the water, and pronounced some words over the fishes and the pond, than the city was restored that very minute.  The fishes became men, women, and children; Mahometans, Christians, Persians, or Jews, freemen or slaves, ns they were before; every one having recovered their natural form.  The houses and shops were immediately filled with their inhabitants, who found all things as they were before the enchantment.  The sultan’s numerous retinue, who found themselves encamped in the largest square, were astonished to see themselves, in an instant, in the middle of a large, fine, and well-peopled city.

To return to the enchantress:  As soon as she had made this wonderful change, she returned with all diligence to the Palace of Tears, that she might reap the fruits of it.  My dear lord, cries she, as she entered, I come to rejoice with you for the return of your health; I have done all that you required of me; then pray rise, and give me your hand.  Come near, says the sultan, still counterfeiting the language of the blacks.  She did so.  You