'
Danhasch no sooner gave his consent than Maimoune stamped with her
foot; the earth opened, and out came a hideous, humpbacked,
squinting, and lame genie, with six horns on his head, and claws on
his hands and feet. As soon as he had come forth, and the earth had
closed up, he, perceiving Maimoune, cast himself at her feet, and
then rising up on one knee asked her what she would please to do
with him.
'Rise, Caschcasch,' said Maimoune, 'I brought you hither to
determine a difference between me and Danhasch. Look there, and
tell me, without partiality, which is the handsomest of those two
that lie asleep, the young man or the young lady.'
Caschcasch looked at the prince and princess with great attention,
admiration and surprise; and after he had considered them a good
while, without being able to determine which was the handsomer, he
turned to Maimoune, and said, 'Madam, I must confess I should
deceive you and betray myself, if I pretended to say that one was a
whit handsomer than the other: the more I examine them, the more it
seems to me that each possesses, in a sovereign degree, the beauty
which is betwixt them. But if there be any difference, the best way
to determine it is to awaken them one after the other, and by their
conduct to decide which ought to be deemed the most beautiful.
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