Whan my head grew hot with the agreeable liquor, Fair
princess, said I, you have been too long thus buried alive; come
follow me, and enjoy the real day from which you have been
deprived of so many years, and abandon this false light that you
have here. Prince, replied she with a smile, leave this
discourse; if you, out of the days, will grant me nine, and
resign the last to the genie, the fairest day that ever was would
be nothing in my esteem. Princess, said I, it is the fear of the
genie that makes you speak thus; for my part, I value him so
little that I will break his talisman, with the conjuration that
is written about it, in pieces. Let him come then, I will expect
him, and how brave or redoubtable soever he be, I will make him
feel the weight of my arm. I swear solemnly that I shall
extirpate all the genies in the world, and him first. The
princess, who knew the consequence, conjured me not to touch the
talisman, for that would be a mean, said she, to ruin both you
and me; I know what belongs to genies better than you. The fumes
of the wine did not suffer me to hearken to her reasons, but I
gave the talisman a kick with my foot, and broke it in several
pieces.
The talisman was no sooner broken than the palace began to shake,
and was ready to fall, with a hideous noise like thunder,
accompanied with flashes of lightning, and a great darkness.
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