The dervish did as he was asked without delay, and directly they were alone together the envious man began to tell a long story, edging, as they walked to and fro, always nearer to the well, and when they were quite close, he seized the dervish and dropped him in.  He then ran off triumphantly, without having been seen by anyone, and congratulating himself that the object of his hatred was dead, and would trouble him no more.

But in this he was mistaken!  The old well had long been inhabited (unknown to mere human beings) by a set of fairies and genii, who caught the dervish as he fell, so that he received no hurt.  The dervish himself could see nothing, but he took for granted that something strange had happened, or he must certainly have been dashed against the side of the well and been killed.  He lay quite still, and in a moment he heard a voice saying, “Can you guess whom this man is that we have saved from death?”

“No,” replied several other voices.

And the first speaker answered, “I will tell you.  This man, from pure goodness of heart, forsook the town where he lived and came to dwell here, in the hope of curing one of his neighbours of the envy he felt towards him.  But his character soon won him the esteem of all, and the envious man’s hatred grew, till he came here with the deliberate intention of causing his death.  And this he would have done, without our help, the very day before the Sultan has arranged to visit this holy dervish, and to entreat his prayers for the princess, his daughter.”

“But what is the matter with the princess that she needs the dervish’s prayers?” asked another voice.

“She has fallen into the power of the genius Maimoum, the son of Dimdim,” replied the first voice.  “But it would be quite simple for this holy chief of the dervishes to cure her if he only knew!  In his convent there is a black cat which has a tiny white tip to its tail.  Now to cure the princess the dervish must pull out seven of these white hairs, burn three, and with their smoke perfume the head of the princess.  This will deliver her so completely that Maimoum, the son of Dimdim, will never dare to approach her again.”

The fairies and genii ceased talking, but the dervish did not forget a word of all they had said; and when morning came he perceived a place in the side of the well which was broken, and where he could easily climb out.

The dervishes, who could not imagine what had become of him, were enchanted at his reappearance.  He told them of the attempt on his life made by his guest of the previous day, and then retired into his cell.  He was soon joined here by the black cat of which the voice had spoken, who came as usual to say good-morning to his master.  He took him on his knee and seized the opportunity to pull seven white hairs out of his tail, and put them on one side till they were needed.

The sun had not long risen before the Sultan, who was anxious to leave nothing undone that might deliver the princess, arrived with a large suite at the gate of the monastery, and was received by the dervishes with profound respect.  The Sultan lost no time in declaring the object of his visit, and leading the chief of the dervishes aside, he said to him, “Noble scheik, you have guessed perhaps what I have come to ask you?”