I gave him a long detail of the tragical cause of my return, and
of the sad condition he saw me in. "Alas!" cried he, "was it not
enough for me to have lost my son, but must I have also news of
the death of a brother I loved so dearly, and see you reduced to
this deplorable condition?" He told me how uneasy he was that he
could hear nothing of his son, notwithstanding all the enquiry he
could make. At these words, the unfortunate father burst into
tears, and was so much afflicted, that pitying his grief, it was
impossible for me to keep the secret any longer; so that,
notwithstanding my oath to the prince my cousin, I told the
sultan all that I knew.

His majesty listened to me with some sort of comfort, and when I
had done, "Nephew," said he, "what you tell me gives me some
hope. I knew that my son ordered that tomb to be built, and I can
guess pretty nearly the place; and with the idea you still have
of it, I fancy we shall find it: but since he ordered it to be
built privately, and you took your oath to keep his secret, I am
of opinion, that we ought to go in quest of it without other
attendants." But he had another reason for keeping the matter
secret, which he did not then tell me, and an important one it
was, as you will perceive by the sequel of my story.

We disguised ourselves and went out by a door of the garden which
opened into the fields, and soon found what we sought for. I knew
the tomb, and was the more rejoiced, because I had formerly
sought it a long time in vain. We entered, and found the iron
trap pulled down at the head of the staircase; we had great
difficulty in raising it, because the prince had fastened it
inside with the water and mortar formerly mentioned, but at last