some evil beast, or djinn, or giant. When all were ready and
expectant, the prince with his dagger forced open the lid and
flung it back, and there lay, living and breathing, the most
lovely maiden he had ever seen in his life.

Although she was half stifled from her confinement in the chest,
the princess speedily revived, and, when she was able to sit up,
the prince began to question her as to who she was and how she
came to be shut up in the chest and set afloat upon the water;
and she, blushing and trembling to find herself in the presence
of so many strangers, told him that she was the princess of
Rahmatabad, and that she had been put into the chest by her own
father. When he on his part told her that he was the prince of
Dilaram, the astonishment of the young people was unbounded to
find that they, who had been betrothed without ever having seen
one another, should have actually met for the first time in such
strange circumstances. In fact, the prince was so moved by her
beauty and modest ways that he called up his wazirs and demanded
to be married at once to this lovely lady who had so completely
won his heart. And married they were then and there upon the
river bank, and went home to the prince's palace, where, when the
story was told, they were welcomed by the old rajah, the prince's
father, and the remainder of the day was given over to feasting
and rejoicing. But when the banquet was over, the bride told her
husband that now, on the threshold of their married life, she had
more to relate of her adventures than he had given her the
opportunity to tell as yet; and then, without hiding anything,
she informed him of all that happened to her from the time she
had stolen out to visit the wicked jogi.