yours, and I do not love him less than you do. You see I am not
alarmed; neither in truth ought I to be so. He runs no risk, and
you will soon see the king his uncle appear with him again, and
bring him back safe and sound. For he will have the same advantage
his uncle and I have, of living equally in the sea and upon the
land.' The queen his mother and the princesses his relations
confirmed the same thing; yet all they said had no effect on the
king's fright, from which he could not recover till he saw Prince
Beder appear again before him.

The sea at length became troubled, when immediately King Saleh
arose with the young prince in his arms, and holding him up in the
air, he re-entered at the same window he went out at. The King of
Persia being overjoyed to see Prince Beder again, and astonished
that he was as calm as before he lost sight of him, King Saleh
said, 'Sir, was not your majesty in a great fright, when you first
saw me plunge into the sea with the prince my nephew?'

'Alas! Prince,' answered the King of Persia, 'I cannot express my
concern. I thought him lost from that very moment, and you now
restore life to me by bringing him again.'

'I thought as much,' replied King Saleh, 'though you had not the
least reason to apprehend any danger; for, before I plunged into
the sea with him I pronounced over him certain mysterious words,
which were engraven on the seal of the great Solomon, the son of
David. We do the same to all those children that are born in the
regions at the bottom of the sea, by virtue of which they receive
the same privileges that we have over those people who inhabit the
earth. From what your majesty has observed, you may easily see what