"Sire," said the sultaness, "I will go and see her. She will not
receive me in the same manner."
The princess received her mother with sighs and tears, and signs of
deep dejection. At last, upon her pressing on her the duty of telling
her all her thoughts, she gave to the sultaness a precise description
of all that happened to her during the night; on which the sultaness
enjoined on her the necessity of silence and discretion, as no one
would give credence to so strange a tale. The grand vizier's son,
elated with the honor of being the sultan's son-in-law, kept silence
on his part, and the events of the night were not allowed to cast the
least gloom on the festivities on the following day, in continued
celebration of the royal marriage.
When night came, the bride and bridegroom were again attended to their
chamber with the same ceremonies as on the preceding evening. Aladdin,
knowing that this would be so, had already given his commands to the
genie of the lamp; and no sooner were they alone than their bed was
removed in the same mysterious manner as on the preceding evening; and
having passed the night in the same unpleasant way, they were in the
morning conveyed to the palace of the sultan. Scarcely had they been
replaced in their apartment, when the sultan came to make his
compliments to his daughter. The princess could no longer conceal from
him the unhappy treatment she had been subjected to, and told him all
that had happened, as she had already related it to her mother.
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