Prince Camaralzaman was glad he had met with such an asylum in a place where he had no knowledge of any man, nor any man of him, and where nobody could think it his interest to entertain or preserve him. He accepted the offer, and lived with the gardener till the time that the ship was to sail to the isle of Ebene. He spent his time all day in working in the garden, and ail night in thinking of his dear princess Badoura, in sighs, tears, and complaints. But we must leave him a while, and return to the princess, whom we left asleep in her tent.
The story of
the princess Badoura, after
her separation from
prince
Camaralzaman.
The princess slept a long time, and, when she awoke, wondered that prince Camaralzaman was not with her. She called her women, and asked them if they knew where he was gone. They told her they saw him enter the tent, but did not see him go out again. While they were talking, she spied her girdle, saw it had been meddled with, and, on examination, found the little purse open, and the talisman gone. She did not doubt but Camaralzaman had taken it in order to examine it, and that he would bring it back. She waited for him impatiently till night, and could not imagine what made him stay away so long.
When it was quite dark, and she could hear nothing of him, she fell into a violent fit of grief: She cursed the talisman, and him that made it; and, had she not been restrained by duty, would have cursed her mother who gave it to her. She was the more troubled, because she could not imagine how her talisman should have caused the prince’s separation from her. However, amidst all her sorrow, she retained her judgment, and came to a courageous resolution not common with persons of her sex.
She and her women only knew of the prince’s being gone; for his men were then asleep, or refreshing themselves in their tents. The princess, fearing they would betray her if they had any knowledge of it, first composed her mind a little, moderated her grief, and forbade her women to say or do any thing that might make them suspect the truth. Then she undressed herself, and put on prince Camaralzaman’s suit; being so like him in it, that the next day, when she came abroad, his men took her for him.