I have but a few minutes to live, and
you will not have the satisfaction of making the match you
intended; the fire has pierced me during the terrible combat, and I
find it is consuming me by degrees. This would not have happened
had I perceived the last of the pomegranate seeds, and swallowed it
as I did the others, when I was changed into a cock; the genie had
fled thither as to his last entrenchment, and upon that the success
of the combat depended, without danger to me. This slip obliged me
to have recourse to fire, and to fight with those mighty arms as I
did between heaven and earth, in your presence; for, in spite of
all his redoubtable art and experience, I made the genie know that
I understood more than he. I have conquered and reduced him to
ashes, but I cannot escape death, which is approaching.'
The sultan suffered the princess, the Lady Or Beauty, to go on with
the recital of her combat, and when she had done he spoke to her in
a tone that sufficiently testified his grief: 'My daughter,' said
he, 'you see in what condition your father is; alas! I wonder that
I am yet alive!' He could speak no more, for his tears, sighs and
sobs made him speechless; his daughter and I wept with him.
Pages:
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309