The magician came at the usual hour, and as soon as he entered the great hall, where the princess waited to receive him, she rose up in all her beauty and charms and pointed with her hand to the most honourable place, waiting till he sat down, that she might sit at the same time which was a piece of civility she had never shewn him before.
The African magician, dazzled more with the lustre of the princess’s eyes than the glittering of the jewels with which she was adorned, was very much surprised. The majestic and graceful air with which she received him, so opposite to her former behaviour, quite confounded him.
When he had sat down, the princess, to free him from his embarrassment, broke silence first. Looking at him all the time in a manner sufficient to make him believe that he was not so odious to her as she had given him to understand before, said to him, “You are doubtless, amazed to find me so much altered to-day from what I used to be; but your surprise will not be so great when I acquaint you that I am naturally of a disposition so opposite to melancholy and grief, sorrow and uneasiness, that I always strive to put them as far away as possible when I find the subject of them is past. I have reflected on what you told me of Aladdin’s fate, and know the sultan my father’s temper so well, that I am persuaded, with you, that Aladdin could not escape the terrible effects of his rage; therefore should I continue to lament him all my life, my tears cannot recall him. For this reason, after I have paid all the duties my love requires of me to his memory, now he is in the grave, I think I ought to endeavour to comfort myself. These are the motives of the change you see in me; and to begin to cast off all melancholy, I am resolved to banish it entirely; and persuaded you will bear me company to-night, I have ordered a supper to be prepared; but as I have no wines but of China, I have a great desire to taste of the product of Africa, where I now am, and doubt not you will get some of the best.”
The African magician, who looked upon the happiness of coming so soon and so easily into the princess Badr-oul-boudour’s good graces as impossible, could not think of words expressive enough to testify how sensible he was of her favours: but to put an end the sooner to a conversation which would have embarrassed him, if he had engaged farther in it, he turned it upon the wines of Africa, and said, “Of all the advantages Africa can boast, that of producing the most excellent wines is one of the principal. I have a vessel of seven years old, which has never been broached; and it is indeed, not praising it too much to say it is the finest wine in the world. If my princess,” added he, “will give me leave, I will go and fetch two bottles, and return again immediately.” “I should be sorry to give you that trouble,” replied the princess, “you had better send for them.” “It is necessary I should go myself,” answered the African magician; “for nobody but myself knows where the key of the cellar is laid, or has the secret to unlock the door.” “If it be so,” said the princess, “make haste back again; for the longer you stay the greater will be my impatience, and we shall sit down to supper as soon as you come back.”