'Alas, my son,' answered she, 'thy sister has
been smitten with madness and has passed these three years, with
an iron chain about her neck; and all the physicians and men of
science have failed of curing her.' When he heard this, he said,
'I must needs go in to her; peradventure I may discover what ails
her, and be able to cure her.' 'So be it,' replied his mother;
'but wait till to-morrow, that I may make shift for thee.' Then
she went to the princess's palace and accosting the eunuch in
charge of the door, made him a present and said to him, 'I have a
married daughter, who was brought up with thy mistress and is
sore concerned for what has befallen her, and I desire of thy
favour that my daughter may go in to her and look on her awhile,
then return whence she came, and none shall know it.' 'This may
not be, except by night,' replied the eunuch, 'after the King has
visited the princess and gone away; then come thou and thy
daughter.' She kissed the eunuch's hand and returning home,
waited till the morrow at nightfall, when she dressed her son in
woman's apparel and taking him by the hand, carried him to the
palace. When the eunuch saw her, he said, 'Enter, but do not
tarry long.' So they went in and when Merzewan saw the princess
in the aforesaid plight, he saluted her, after his mother had
taken off his woman's attire: then pulling out the books he had
brought with him and lighting a candle, he began to recite
certain conjurations.
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