When the physician heard this cruel order, he readily judged that the honours and presents he had received from the king had procured him enemies, and that the weak prince was imposed on.  He repented that he had cured him of his leprosy; but it was now too late.  “Is it thus,” asked the physician, “that you reward me for curing you?” The king would not hearken to him, but a second time ordered the executioner to strike the fatal blow.  The physician then had recourse to his prayers; “Alas, Sir,” cried he, “prolong my days, and God will prolong yours; do not put me to death, lest God treat you in the same manner.”

The fisherman broke off his discourse here, to apply it to the genie.  “Well, genie,” said he, “you see that what passed betwixt the Grecian king and his physician Douban is acted just now by us.”

The Grecian king, continued he, instead of having regard to the prayers of the physician, who begged him to spare his life, cruelly replied, “No, no; I must of necessity cut you off, otherwise you may assassinate with as much art as you cured me.”  The physician, without bewailing himself for being so ill rewarded by the king, prepared for death.  The executioner tied his hands, and was going to draw his cimeter.

The courtiers who were present, being moved with compassion, begged the king to pardon him, assuring his majesty that he was not guilty of the crime laid to his charge, and that they would answer for his innocence:  but the king was inflexible.

The physician being on his knees, his eyes tied up, and ready to receive the fatal blow, addressed himself once more to the king:  “Sir,” said he, “since your majesty will not revoke the sentence of death, I beg, at least, that you would give me leave to return to my house, to give orders about my burial, to bid farewell to my family, to give alms, and to bequeath my books to those who are capable of making good use of them.  I have one particularly I would present to your majesty; it is a very precious book, and worthy of being laid up carefully in your treasury.”  “What is it,” demanded the king, “that makes it so valuable?” “Sir,” replied the physician, “it possesses many singular and curious properties; of which the chief is, that if your majesty will give yourself the trouble to open it at the sixth leaf, and read the third line of the left page, my head, after being cut off, will answer all the questions you ask it.”  The king being curious, deferred his death till next day, and sent him home under a strong guard.

The physician, during that time, put his affairs in order; and the report being spread, that an unheard of prodigy was to happen after his death, the viziers, emirs, officers of the guard, and, in a word, the whole court, repaired next day to the hall of audience, that they might be witnesses of it.