Opening, part 7 · page 21 2101After all I had gone through, and my fear of being recognised by some enemy, I could only travel very slowly and cautiously, generally resting in some out-of-the-way place by day, and walking as far as I was able by night, but at length I arrived in the kingdom of my uncle, of whose protection I was sure.102I found him in great trouble about the disappearance of his son, who had, he said, vanished without leaving a trace; but his own grief did not prevent him sharing mine.103We mingled our tears, for the loss of one was the loss of the other, and then I made up my mind that it was my duty to break the solemn oath I had sworn to the prince.104I therefore lost no time in telling my uncle everything I knew, and I observed that even before I had ended his sorrow appeared to be lightened a little.105"My dear nephew," he said, "your story gives me some hope.106I was aware that my son was building a tomb, and I think I can find the spot.107But as he wished to keep the matter secret, let us go alone and seek the place ourselves."108He then bade me disguise myself, and we both slipped out of a garden door which opened on to the cemetery.109It did not take long for us to arrive at the scene of the prince's disappearance, or to discover the tomb I had sought so vainly before.110We entered it, and found the trap-door which led to the staircase, but we had great difficulty in raising it, because the prince had fastened it down underneath with the plaster he had brought with him.111My uncle went first, and I followed him.112When we reached the bottom of the stairs we stepped into a sort of ante-room, filled with such a dense smoke that it was hardly possible to see anything.113However, we passed through the smoke into a large chamber, which at first seemed quite empty.114The room was brilliantly lighted, and in another moment we perceived a sort of platform at one end, on which were the bodies of the prince and a lady, both half-burned, as if they had been dragged out of a fire before it had quite consumed them.1 2← previousOpening, part 6next →Opening, part 8↑ back to The Arabian Nights EntertainmentsThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/page/2/