The hatchet served him to break down the empty sepulchre in the
middle of the tomb; he took away the stones one after another,
and laid them in a corner. When all this was taken away, he
digged up the ground, where I saw a trap-door under the
sepulchre, which he lifted up, and underneath perceived the head
of a staircase leading into a vault. Then my cousin, speaking to
the lady, said, Madam, it is by this way that we are to go to the
place I told you of. Upon which the lady drew nigh and went down,
and the prince began to follow after, but, turning first to me,
said, My dear cousin, I am infinitely obliged to you for the
trouble you have been at; I thank you: Adieu. I cried, Dear
cousin, what is the meaning of this? Be content, replied he; you
may return back the same way you came.
Madam, said the calender to Zobeide, I could get nothing further
from him, but was obliged to take leave of him; as I returned to
my uncle's palace, the vapours of the wine got up into my head;
however, I got to my apartment, and went to bed. Next morning,
when I awaked, I began to reflect upon what befel me the night
before, and, after recollecting all the circumstances of such a
singular adventure, I fancied it was nothing but a dream. Being
full of these thoughts, I sent to see if the prince my cousin was
ready to receive a visit from me; but when they brought back word
that he did not lie in his own lodgings that night, they knew not
what was become of him, and were in much trouble about it, I
conceived that the strange event of the tomb was but too true.
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