all have perished had not the princess,
running to our assistance, forced him to retire, and defend
himself against her; yet, notwithstanding all her exertions, she
could not hinder the sultan's beard from being burnt, and his
face scorched, the chief of the eunuchs from being stifled, and a
spark from entering my right eye, and making it blind. The sultan
and I expected but death, when we heard a cry of "Victory!
Victory!" and instantly the princess appeared in her natural
shape, but the genie was reduced to a heap of ashes.

The princess approached us, and hastily called for a cup-full of
water, which the young slave, who had received no hurt, brought
her. She took it, and after pronouncing some words over it, threw
it upon me, saying, "If thou art become an ape by enchantment,
change thy shape, and take that of a man which thou hadst
before." These words were hardly uttered, when I again became a
man, in every respect as I was before my transformation,
excepting the loss of my eye.

I was prepared to return the princess my thanks, but she
prevented me by addressing herself to her father: "Sir, I have
gained the victory over the genie, as your majesty may see; but
it is a victory that costs me dear; I have but a few minutes to
live, and you will not have the satisfaction to make the match
you intended; the fire has pierced me during the terrible combat,
and I find it is gradually consuming me. 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 intrenchment, and upon
that the success of the combat depended, which would have been
successful, and without danger to me. This oversight 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 of Beauty, to go on
with the recital of her combat, and when she had done, addressed
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! Your governor, the eunuch, is
dead, and the prince whom you have delivered from his enchant