robe. We sat down to a table with several dishes of delicate meats. We ate, and passed the remaining part of the day, as also the evening very pleasantly together.
The next day I said to her, “Fair princess, you have been too long buried alive in this subterranean palace; come—follow me and enjoy the light of day, of which you have been deprived so many years.” “Prince,” replied she, with a smile, “if you out of ten days will grant me nine, and resign the tenth to the genie, the light of day would be nothing to me.” “Princess,” said I, “the fear of the genie makes you speak thus; for my part I regard him so little, that I will break in pieces his talisman, with the spell that is written about it. Let him come; and however brave or powerful he be, I will defy him.” On saying this I gave the talisman a kick with my foot, and broke it in pieces.
The talisman was no sooner broken than the whole palace shook as if ready to fall to atoms, and the walls opened to give entrance to the genie. I had no sooner felt the shock than, at the earnest request of the princess, I took to flight. Having hastily put on my own robe, I ascended the stairs leading to the forest, and reached the town in safety. My landlord, the tailor, was very glad to see me. I had, however, in my haste, left my hatchet and cord in the princess’s chamber. Shortly after my return, while I was brooding over this loss, and lamenting the cruel treatment to which the princess would be exposed, the tailor came in and said,
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