'
All this discourse of the Sultan of the Indies could not persuade
Prince Ahmed, who would rather he had asked anything than the risk
of displeasing his dear Pari Banou; and so great was his vexation,
that he left the court two days sooner than usual.
When he returned, the fairy, to whom he had always before appeared
with a cheerful countenance, asked him the reason of the
alteration; and finding that instead of answering her, he inquired
after her health to avoid satisfying her, she said to him, 'I will
answer your question when you have answered mine.' The prince
declined it a long time, protesting that nothing was the matter
with him; but the more he denied it, the more she pressed him, and
said, 'I cannot bear to see you in this condition: tell me what
makes you so uneasy, that I may remove the cause of it, whatever it
may be; for it must be very extraordinary if it is out of my
power.'
Prince Ahmed could not long withstand the fairy. 'Madam,' said he,
'God prolong the sultan my father's life, and bless him to the end
of his days. I left him alive, and in perfect health: therefore
that is not the cause of the melancholy you perceive in me. The
sultan has imposed upon me the disagreeable task of worrying you.
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