The year expired, and, to the great regret of the sultan, prince Camaralzaman gave not the least proof of having changed his sentiments; so that one day, when there was a great council held, the prime vizier and other viziers, the principal officers of the crown, and the generals of the army, being present, the sultan spoke thus to the prince:  Son, it is now a long while since I have earnestly desired to see you married; and I imagined you would have had more complaisance for a father, who required nothing unreasonable of you, than to oppose him so long.  But, after so great resistance on your part, which has almost worn out my patience, I have thought fit to propose the same thing once more to you in presence of my council.  Now I would have you to consider, that the favour I desire is not only to oblige me, but to comply with the earnest request of the estates of my dominions, who, for the common good of us all, in conjunction with me, require it of you.  Declare then, before these lords present, whether you will marry or not; that, according to your answer, I may proceed, and take those measures which I ought.

The prince answered with so little temper, or rather with so much heat, that the sultan, enraged to see himself affronted in full council, cried out, How, unnatural son! have you the insolence to talk thus to your father and sultan?  Ho! guards, take him away!  At these words he was seized by the eunuchs, and carried to an old tower that had been uninhabited a long while; where he was shut up, with only a bed, a few moveables, some books, and one slave only to attend him.

Camaralzaman, thus deprived of liberty, was nevertheless pleased that he had the freedom to converse with books, which made him look on his confinement with some indifference.  In the evening he bathed, and said his prayers; and, after having read some chapters in the alcoran with the same tranquillity of mind as if he had been in the sultan’s palace, undressed himself, and went to bed, leaving his lamp burning by him all the while he slept.

In this tower was a well, which served for a retreat to a certain fairy named Maimoune, daughter of Damriel, king or head of a legion of genii.  It was about midnight when this Maimoune came forth silently, to wander about the world after her wonted custom.  She was surprised to see a light in prince Camaralzaman’s chamber.  She entered it; and, without stopping at the slave who lay at the door, approached the bed, whose magnificence, though very great, she did not so much wonder at, as that there should be a man in it.

Prince Camaralzaman had but half covered his face with the bed-clothes, by which Maimoune could perceive that he was the finest young man she had seen in all her rambles through the world.  What beauty, or rather what prodigy of beauty, said she within herself, will this youth appear, when his so well formed eye-lids shall be open?  What crime can he have committed, to deserve this rigorous treatment?