n, conceiving him to be the black
"My sun, my life, will you always be silent! Are you resolved to
let me die, without affording me the comfort of hearing again
from your own lips that you love me? My soul, speak one word to
me at least, I conjure you."

The sultan, as if he had awaked out of a deep sleep, and
counterfeiting the pronunciation of the blacks, answered the
queen with a grave tone, "There is no strength or power but in
God alone, who is almighty." At these words the enchantress, who
did not expect them, uttered a loud exclamation of joy. "My dear
lord," cried she, "do not I deceive myself; is it certain that I
hear you, and that you speak to me?" "Unhappy woman," said the
sultan, "art thou worthy that I should answer thee?" "Alas!"
replied the queen, "why do you reproach me thus?" "The cries,"
returned the sultan, "the groans and tears of thy husband, whom
thou treatest every day with so much indignity and barbarity,
prevent my sleeping night or day. Hadst thou disenchanted him, I
should long since have been cured, and have recovered the use of
my speech. This is the cause of my silence, of which you
complain." "Well," said the enchantress, "to pacify you, I am
ready to execute your commands; would you have me restore him?"
"Yes," replied the sultan; "make haste to set him at liberty,
that I be no longer disturbed by his lamentations."

The enchantress went immediately out of the Palace of Tears; she
took a cup of water, and pronounced some words over it, which
caused it to boil, as if it had been on the fire. She afterwards
proceeded to the young king her husband, and threw the water upon
him, saying, "If the creator of all things did form thee as thou
art at present; or if he be angry with thee, do not change; but
if thou art in that condition merely by virtue of my
enchantments, resume thy natural shape, and become what thou west
before." She had scarcely spoken these words, when the prince,
finding himself restored to his former condition, rose up and
returned thanks to God. The enchantress then said to him, "Get
thee from this castle, and never return on pain of death." The
young king, yielding to necessity, went away from the
enchantress, without replying a word; and retired to a remote
place, where he patiently awaited the event of the design which
the sultan had so happily begun. Meanwhile, the enchantress
returned to the Palace of Tears, and supposing that she still
spoke to the black, said, "