Every ten days, says the princess, the genie comes hither to lie with me one night, which he never exceeds; and the excuse he makes for it is, that he is married to another wife, who would grow jealous if she came to know how unfaithful he was to her.  Meanwhile, if I have any occasion for him by day or night, as soon as I touch a talisman, which is at the entrance of my chamber, the genie appears.  It is now the fourth day since he was here, and I do not expect him before the end of six more; so, if you please, you may stay five days and keep me company, and I will endeavour to entertain you according to your quality and merit.  I thought myself too fortunate to have obtained so great a favour without asking it, to refuse so obliging a proffer.  The princess made me go into a bagnio, which was the most handsome, the most commodious, and the most sumptuous, that could be imagined; and when I came forth, instead of my own clothes, I found another very costly suit, which I did not esteem so much for its richness as that it made me look worthy to be in her company.  We sat down on a sofa covered with rich tapestry, with cushions to lean upon, of the rarest Indian brocade; and, some time after, she covered a table with several dishes of delicate meats.  We ate together, and passed the remainder of the day with very great satisfaction; and at night she received me to her bed.

The next day, as she contrived all manner of ways to please me, she brought in at dinner a bottle of old wine, the most excellent that ever was tasted, and, out of complaisance, she drank part of it with me.  Whan my head grew hot with the agreeable liquor, Fair princess, said I, you have been too long thus buried alive; come follow me, and enjoy the real day from which you have been deprived of so many years, and abandon this false light that you have here.  Prince, replied she with a smile, leave this discourse; if you, out of the days, will grant me nine, and resign the last to the genie, the fairest day that ever was would be nothing in my esteem.  Princess, said I, it is the fear of the genie that makes you speak thus; for my part, I value him so little that I will break his talisman, with the conjuration that is written about it, in pieces.  Let him come then, I will expect him, and how brave or redoubtable soever he be, I will make him feel the weight of my arm.  I swear solemnly that I shall extirpate all the genies in the world, and him first.  The princess, who knew the consequence, conjured me not to touch the talisman, for that would be a mean, said she, to ruin both you and me; I know what belongs to genies better than you.  The fumes of the wine did not suffer me to hearken to her reasons, but I gave the talisman a kick with my foot, and broke it in several pieces.

The talisman was no sooner broken than the palace began to shake, and was ready to fall, with a hideous noise like thunder, accompanied with flashes of lightning, and a great darkness.  This terrible noise in a moment dispelled the fumes of my wine, and made me sensible, but too late, of the folly I had committed.  Princess, cried I, what means all this?  She answered in a fright, and without any concern for her own misfortune, cries, Alas! you are undone, if you do not escape presently.