Behram and his seamen arrived at the city of the magicians the same night that Assad did, and stopped at the same church yard, the city gates being shut, intending to stay in some tomb till next day, when they were opened again.

As Assad’s ill luck would have it, Bahram lighted upon that in which the prince was sleeping, with his head wrapped up in his coat.  Assad awoke at the noise he made, and asked, Who’s there?  Behram knew him again presently.  Hah, hah, said he, thou art the man who hast been my ruin for ever; thou hast escaped being sacrificed this year; but, depend upon it, thou shalt not escape the next.  Saying this, he flew upon him, clapped his handkerchief in his mouth, to prevent his making noise, and by the help of his seamen bound him.

Next morning, as soon as the city sates were open, Behram and his men easily carried Assad to the old man’s house where he had been so inhumanly treated.  It was so early that they met nobody in the streets; and when he came to the old man’s house, he was again thrown into the dungeon.  Behram acquainted the wizard with the sad occasion of his return, and the ill success of his voyage.  The old rascal, upon this, commanded his two furies, Bostava and Cavama, to treat him, if possible, more cruelly than before.

Assad was in a terrible surprise to find himself in the hands of his old persecutors, from whom he had suffered so much, and hoped that he had been delivered; he lamented the rigour of his destiny, and trembled when he saw Bostava enter with a cudgel, a loaf, and a pitcher of water; he was almost dead at the sight of that unmerciful wretch, and the thoughts of the daily sufferings he was to endure for another year, when he was to die the most horrible of deaths.

Bostava dealt not so inhumanly by Prince Assad as she had done the first time of his confinement; his cries, complaints, and most earnest prayers to her to spare him, joined with his tears, were so moving, that she could not help being melted by them, and to weep as bitterly as himself.  My lord, said she, covering his shoulders, which were always bare while he was under the bastinado, I ask a thousand pardons for my inhuman treatment of you formerly, and for what you feel at this time.  Till now I was afraid of disobeying a father who is unjustly enraged against you, and resolved on your destruction; but at last I loathe and abhor this barbarity.  Be comforted; your bad days are over; I will endeavour to make amends for all my crimes, of the enormity of which, by my future behaviour, you will find I am convinced.  You have hitherto looked upon me as an infidel; but having been converted by a slave who is a Mussulman, you must henceforth believe me one of your own religion.  I hope your lessons will finish my conversion.  To show my good intentions, I first beg pardon of Heaven for my sins in using you so cruelly; and I trust that it will soon be in my power to set you entirely a liberty.