As I grew up, and was allowed more liberty, I went every year to pay a visit to my uncle’s court, and usually stayed there about two months.  In this way my cousin and I became very intimate, and were much attached to each other.  The very last time I saw him he seemed more delighted to see me than ever, and gave a great feast in my honour.  When we had finished eating, he said to me, “My cousin, you would never guess what I have been doing since your last visit to us!  Directly after your departure I set a number of men to work on a building after my own design.  It is now completed, and ready to be lived in.  I should like to show it to you, but you must first swear two things:  to be faithful to me, and to keep my secret.”

Of course I did not dream of refusing him anything he asked, and gave the promise without the least hesitation.  He then bade me wait an instant, and vanished, returning in a few moments with a richly dressed lady of great beauty, but as he did not tell me her name, I thought it was better not to inquire.  We all three sat down to table and amused ourselves with talking of all sorts of indifferent things, and with drinking each other’s health.  Suddenly the prince said to me, “Cousin, we have no time to lose; be so kind as to conduct this lady to a certain spot, where you will find a dome-like tomb, newly built.  You cannot mistake it.  Go in, both of you, and wait till I come.  I shall not be long.”

As I had promised I prepared to do as I was told, and giving my hand to the lady, I escorted her, by the light of the moon, to the place of which the prince had spoken.  We had barely reached it when he joined us himself, carrying a small vessel of water, a pickaxe, and a little bag containing plaster.

With the pickaxe he at once began to destroy the empty sepulchre in the middle of the tomb.  One by one he took the stones and piled them up in a corner.  When he had knocked down the whole sepulchre he proceeded to dig at the earth, and beneath where the sepulchre had been I saw a trap-door.  He raised the door and I caught sight of the top of a spiral staircase; then he said, turning to the lady, “Madam, this is the way that will lead you down to the spot which I told you of.”

The lady did not answer, but silently descended the staircase, the prince following her.  At the top, however, he looked at me.  “My cousin,” he exclaimed, “I do not know how to thank you for your kindness.  Farewell.”

“What do you mean?” I cried.  “I don’t understand.”

“No matter,” he replied, “go back by the path that you came.”

He would say no more, and, greatly puzzled, I returned to my room in the palace and went to bed.  When I woke, and considered my adventure, I thought that I must have been dreaming, and sent a servant to ask if the prince was dressed and could see me.  But on hearing that he had not slept at home I was much alarmed, and hastened to the cemetery, where, unluckily, the tombs were all so alike that I could not discover which was the one I was in search of, though I spent four days in looking for it.