I cannot tell you, madam, how much I was grieved at so dismal a spectacle.  I had rather all my life have continued an ape or a dog, than to have seen my benefactress thus miserably perish.  The sultan, being afflicted beyond all that can be imagined, cried out piteously, and beat himself upon his head and stomach, until such time as, being quite overcome with grief, he fainted away, which made me fear his life.  In the mean time the eunuchs and officers came running at the sultan’s cries, and with very much ado brought him to himself again.  There was no need for that prince and me to give them a long narrative of this adventure, in order to convince them of their great loss.  The two heaps of ashes, into which the princess and genie had been reduced, were demonstration enough.  The sultan was hardly able to stand upright, but was forced to be supported by them till he could get to his apartment.

When the noise of this tragical event had spread itself through the palace and the city, all the people bewailed the misfortune of the princess, the lady of beauty, and were sensible of the sultan’s affliction.  Every one was in deep mourning for seven days, and a great many ceremonies were performed:  The ashes of the genie were thrown into the air, but those of the princess were gathered into a precious urn, to be kept; and the urn was set in a stately tomb, which was built for that purpose, on the same place where the ashes had lain.

The grief which the sultan conceived for the loss of his daughter threw him into a fit of sickness, which confined him to his chamber for a whole month.  He had not fully recovered strength when he sent for me:  Prince, said he, hearken to the orders that I now give you; it will cost you your life if you do not put them in execution.  I assured him of exact obedience; upon which he went on thus:  I have constantly lived in perfect felicity, and never was crossed by any accident; but by your arrival all the happiness I possessed is vanished; my daughter is dead, her governor is no more, and it is through a miracle that I am yet alive.  You are the cause of all those misfortunes, for which it is impossible that I should be comforted; therefore depart from hence in peace, but without further delay, for I myself must perish, if you stay any longer:  I am persuaded that your presence brings mischief along with it.  This is all I have to say to you.  Depart, and take care of ever appearing again in my dominions; there is no consideration whatsoever that shall hinder me from making you repent of it.  I was going to speak, but he stopped my mouth by words full of anger; and so I was obliged to remove from his palace, rejected, banished, thrown off by all the world, and not knowing what would become of me.  Before I left the city, I went into a bagnio, where I caused my beard and eye-brows to be shaved, and put on a calender’s habit.  I began my journey, not so much deploring my own miseries as the death of