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Belgian Imperialism
Account: sales
 selling the congo

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 m at the w g. s tanard

Selling
the
Congo
a his tory of europe an
pro -empire propaganda
and the m aking of
belgian imperialism

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS | LINCOLN & LONDON

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 © 2011 by the Board of Regents of
the University of Nebraska
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the
United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-

in-Publication Data
Stanard, Matthew G.
Selling the Congo: a history of European
pro-empire propaganda and the making
of Belgian imperialism / Matthew G. Stanard.
p. cm.
Summary: “Examination of pro-empire
propaganda advanced by Belgium during its
colonial rule of the Congo” — Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8032-3777-3 (hardback: alk. paper)
1. Belgium — Colonies — Africa — Public opinion —
History — 20th century. 2. Public opinion —
Belgium — History — 20th century. 3. Propaganda,
Belgian — History — 20th century. 4. Congo
(Democratic Republic) — Colonization.
5. Congo (Democratic Republic) —
History — 1908–1960. I. Title.
jv2818.s73 2011
325'.3493096751 — dc23
2011023628

Set in Sabon by Bob Reitz.

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 To the memory of William B. Cohen

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 Contents

List of Illustrations | viii

Preface | ix
List of Abbreviations | xiii

Introduction | 1
1. The Inheritance: Leopold II and Propaganda
about the Congo | 27
2. Denying African History to Build the Belgian Nation:
Imperial Expositions | 47
3. Curators and Colonial Control:
Belgium’s Museums of Empire | 89
4. Educating the Imperialists of Tomorrow | 135
5. Cast in the Mold of the eic: The Colony in
Stone and Bronze | 167
6. Projected Propaganda: Imperialistic
Filmmaking in Belgium | 203
Conclusion | 241

Notes | 271
Bibliography | 333
Index | 379

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 Illustrations

Images
1. Vinçotte’s Colonial Monument in Cinquantenaire Park | 2
2. Congo pavilion at the 1930 World’s Fair | 57
3. The Royal Museum for Central Africa | 93
4. Bust of Leopold II inside the Tervuren museum | 111
5. Charles Samuel’s Vuakusu-Batetela Protects a
Woman from an Arab | 116
6. Memorial at Musée africain de Namur | 130
7. Leopold II Oostende monument | 171
8. Bust of Colonel Chaltin, Ixelles | 177
9. Leopold II monument in Hal | 182
10. Laplume memorial in Vielsalm-Salmchâteau | 189

Chart
1. Memorials and monuments by region and period | 180

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 Preface

In 1984 my family moved to Brussels, Belgium; my brothers

and I attended an international school in Waterloo where we
could see the Butte du Lion — the monument to Wellington’s vic-
tory over Napoleon — from some of the school’s top-floor class-
rooms. One day, my science classmates and I went on a field
trip to the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. As a
recently expatriated American preteen, I was ignorant of Belgian
politics, society, and culture, but I still remember wondering:
Why was this absolutely enormous museum about central Africa
located in the middle of little Belgium? I also remember that dur-
ing the several years my family lived in Belgium, I heard about
the Zairian government’s repeated demands that artifacts and
other materials be repatriated to central Africa, and the Belgian
government’s steadfast refusal to do so. I was puzzled why Bel-
gium would care so much about African artifacts from such a
faraway place to the point of sticking tenaciously, for years, to
an apparently unethical position.
Fifteen years and five changes of address later, I was sitting in
a graduate seminar on European imperialism with Bill Cohen
at Indiana University–Bloomington in spring semester of 2000.
The year previous I had left my lobbying job in Washington dc
to go to graduate school to study European history and especial-
ly modern European imperialism. Although my time in Belgium

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 Preface

was key to developing an interest in European history that even-

tually led to graduate school, I had zero intention of studying
Belgium’s history or Belgian imperialism. Yet as the semester
unfolded that spring and as I researched pro-empire expositions,
I found that while much had been written about how British and
French colonies affected their respective metropoles, precious
little had been published on the Congo’s effects on Belgium. I
ended up writing a seminar paper on the colonial section of the
1958 Brussels World’s Fair and Belgians’ views of their empire.
My interest in the reverberations of overseas empire continued in
the years after 2000, with a focus on Belgium; the appeal of the
subject only intensified as I discovered the many ways in which
the empire had “come home” as well as the surprising degree to
which Europeans promoted imperialism among their country-
men and women. Along the way, the question kept posing itself
as to the nexus among information produced about the colonies;
the root causes of imperialism; and empire’s echoes in European
politics, society, and culture. What could we tell about the na-
ture of empire by looking at those who deliberately promoted
overseas expansion and at their motivations for doing so? Was
propaganda evidence of an imperialistic spirit? Or did it indicate
the contrary, since so many people apparently needed convinc-
ing? Did pro-empire messages succeed or fail, or succeed only
in part, or did they instead lead to unplanned outcomes? The
result of all this questioning is the following study of pro-empire
propaganda in Belgium, its genesis and sources, and its effects.
Along the way, I have incurred many debts. Support from the
Belgian American Educational Foundation for study in Belgium
was crucial for the bulk of the research that went into this work.
Indiana University–Bloomington provided support in a number
of ways, including a Chancellor’s Fellowship, a Doctoral Student

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 Preface

Grant-in-Aid of Research from the Research and University

Graduate School, and Hill and Dissertation fellowships from
the Department of History. A Wolfsonian-Florida International
University Fellowship provided the opportunity to research in
The Wolfsonian archives in Miami Beach in 2006–7, and vari-
ous research stipends from Berry College helped along the way.
In Belgium the staffs at the Cinémathèque Royale, the Ar-
chives Générales du Royaume, the Archives de la Ville de Brux-
elles, and at the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique Albert Ier were
wonderful. Patricia Van Schuylenbergh and the staff at the Royal
Museum for Central Africa were particularly helpful during my
many days there, as were Françoise Peemans and Pierre Dandoy
at the Archives africaines at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This work could not have been accomplished without the help
of Berry College Memorial Library, especially Xiaojing Zu, but
even more so the tremendous resources of the Indiana University
libraries, especially Rhonda Long and the rest of the Document
Delivery Services staff in Bloomington.
A number of other individuals were fundamental to this
book’s completion. Noemi Sarrion has supported me in the
most important ways, for many years now. Jim Diehl and Phyllis
Martin, whose help has been invaluable, have been tough, criti-
cal, and inspiring mentors over the years. Both Bill Schneider
and Jim Le Sueur generously agreed to work with me beginning
in 2003 and have been supportive ever since. The faculty and
staff of the Indiana University Department of History and the
Berry College Evans School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sci-
ences have been unfailing in their support over the years, and I
especially thank George Alter, Carl Ipsen, David Pace, George
Brooks, Chad Parker, Alexia Bock, Larry Marvin, Jon Atkins,
and Christy Snider. My parents, Doug and Bonnie Stanard, have

xi

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 Preface

always been encouraging and were crucial when it came to the

logistics involved in multiple research stays in Belgium. I also
was lucky to enjoy innumerable stays, dinners, and conversa-
tions at “Hotel Spangenberg,” Meredith and Adolf Spangenberg
proprietors. Every time I am in Brussels, Jean-Luc Vellut is un-
failingly welcoming, generous, and helpful. My debt to the many
other students of European and African history is evident in the
book’s notes. Thanks also is due to Heather Lundine and her
team of readers at University of Nebraska Press and the others
who read, listened to, or commented on earlier versions of parts
of this study, many of whom are named above. Special thanks
to Jeremy Hall, Diane Land, Andrea Lowry, and Kelly Petronis,
all of whom read the entire manuscript. Amanda Haskell and
Amber Spann helped out with notes and references. Of course
any errors or omissions are my fault alone.
My advisor at Bloomington, Bill Cohen, passed away unex-
pectedly in November 2002, while I was in Brussels on an ex-
tended research trip. To me, and to many others, he was a giant:
always enthusiastic, at times delightfully inscrutable, and funny
when he wanted to be. Above all, he was a prodigiously talented
scholar, and he inspired me to try to do my best as a historian.
I still miss him very much. I can only hope that he would have
enjoyed reading this little study about Belgian imperialism. It is
dedicated to him and his memory.

xii

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 Abbreviations

aa Archives africaines, Ministère des affaires

étrangères/Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken
agr Archives générales du royaume/
Algemeen Rijksarchief
aia Association internationale africaine
aic Association internationale du Congo
aicb Association des intérêts coloniaux belges
aucam Association universitaire catholique
pour l’aide aux missions
bcb Biographie coloniale belge/Belgische
koloniale biografie
bck Compagnie du chemin de fer du Bas-Congo au
Katanga
capa Centre d’accueil pour le personnel africain
ccacc Centre congolais d’action catholique
cinématographique
ccn Cercle colonial namurois
ccs Commission Coloniale Scolaire
cid Centre d’information et de documentation du
Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi
ecs École coloniale supérieure
eic État Indépendant du Congo/Onafhankelijke
Congostaat

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 Abbreviations

Foréami Fonds Reine Elisabeth pour l’assistance

médicale aux Indigènes du Congo Belge
Forminière Société internationale forestière et minière du
Congo
fraiuto Fondation royale des amis de l’Institut
universitaire des territoires d’outre-mer/
Vriendenfonds van het Universitair Instituut
voor de Overzeese Gebieden
Inforcongo Office de l’information et des relations
publiques pour le Congo Belge et le Ruanda-
Urundi/Voorlichtings- en Documentatiecentrum
van Belgisch Congo en van Ruanda-Urundi
inutom Institut universitaire des territoires d’outre-mer
mrac Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale/Koninklijke
Museum voor Midden Afrika
nova Nieuwe Organisatie voor Verkoop en
Aankoopsbevordering/Nouvelle organisation
favorisant ventes et achats
oc Office colonial
ocic Office catholique international du cinéma
pob/bwp Parti ouvrier belge/Belgische Werkliedenpartij
psr Parti socialiste révolutionnaire
Soprocol Société auxiliaire de propagande coloniale
ulb Université libre de Bruxelles
umhk Union minière du Haut-Katanga
un United Nations

xiv

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 selling the congo

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 Introduction

One July afternoon in 2000, a group of people, including former

colonials, walked through the Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels
and halted before the simply named Colonial Monument. The
monument’s foreground depicted a young African lying down,
representing the Congo River. On the left a European soldier
combated the slave trade, while figures on the right represented
another colonial soldier tending to a wounded comrade. The
large central panel portrayed the African continent, “henceforth
open to civilization,” and a group of soldiers surrounding King
Leopold II. Atop the monument a young woman represented the
country of Belgium, “welcoming the black race.”1 Two mem-
bers of the group advanced solemnly toward the memorial and,
kneeling, placed wreaths to honor the memory of the nation’s
colonial pioneers.2
Similar scenes continue to be enacted at other monuments
across the country. In June 2003 a “national ceremony to honor
the flag of Tabora” commemorating the World War I victory
in German East Africa began at Namur’s Leopold II monu-
ment.3 On 24 June 2005 a large equestrian statue of Leopold II
was reinaugurated in Brussels after a restoration in time for the
country’s 175th anniversary, at which a small group from the
Association des anciens et amis de la Force publique du Congo
Belge (Association of Veterans and Friends of the Belgian Congo

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 1. Vinçotte’s Colonial Monument in Cinquantenaire Park
(photo by the author).

Armed Forces) honored Leopold II by presenting the colors.4 All

these people were paying homage to imperialism at just a few
of the dozens if not hundreds of imperialistic monuments that
still dot the Belgian landscape five decades after the Congo’s
independence. These memorials are remnants of the country’s
colonial past, former propaganda pieces created to rally public
support for the Belgian empire in central Africa. The large body
of pro-empire propaganda produced in Belgium is the subject of
this book.
Because the term “propaganda” has taken on numerous
meanings over the years, a brief word on its definition is in order
before examining the case of Belgian imperialistic propaganda.
As a result of the mobilization of enthusiasm and censorship that
accompanied World War I, propaganda “came to be a pejorative
term; all governments installed propaganda offices, and all of

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 Introduction

them falsified news.”5 The word became more suspect after the
totalitarianism of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union became
better understood. Goebbels and Hitler believed Germany had
lost World War I in the realm of information production and
created propaganda with little regard for the truth. Even Com-
munists turned against the Soviet system, as the extent of the
interwar show trials and Stalin’s cult of personality became bet-
ter known.6 These developments led many to equate propaganda
with outright lies. Nevertheless, to understand propaganda as
only untrue is to misconstrue the term. Propaganda is the pro-
duction and dissemination of information to help or hinder a
particular institution, person, or cause, and the actual ideas,
concepts, and materials produced in such an effort. As Garth
Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell defi ne it, “Propaganda is the de-
liberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipu-
late cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that
furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.”7 Propaganda
might be biased or partial, but it is not necessarily false. For
example, particular government, missionary, and private films
deliberately misrepresented the situation in Belgium’s colony or
events in its history to make particular points, thereby qualify-
ing those films as propaganda. But often films were tendentious
rather than deliberately misleading, having as their goal the in-
struction of the audience along the lines of a particular ideology.
Many also understand propaganda as primarily a state prod-
uct.8 Yet it can issue from a variety of sources, such as during
World War I when not only governments but also various elites
produced propaganda. In Italy, for instance, the army controlled
the press and information at the front; the government produced
information directed at foreign audiences; and civil, fi nancial,
and industrial elites worked in concert with both.9 The same

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 Introduction

was true for propaganda in favor of overseas empire: it ema-

nated from a variety of sources, including the state and colonial
administrations, commercial interests, missionary orders, and
individuals. A distinction is to be made, however, between pro-
paganda and advertising — the latter of which endorses prod-
ucts and, in the case of imperialism, comprised narrowly focused
promotional materials by specific enterprises.
This study of pro-empire propaganda and the making of Bel-
gian imperialism is centered on five major media of propaganda
that reached the mass of the population in the metropole, with
an emphasis on the period of twentieth-century Belgian state
rule. The fi rst chapter demonstrates how in 1908 Belgium in-
herited not only a colony from Leopold II — along with its bur-
densome legacy of abuses — but also a tradition of pro-empire
propaganda that set much of the tone for information produced
during subsequent decades. The bulk of the book then examines
five media of propaganda: expositions, museums, education in
favor of empire, monuments, and colonial cinema. The chap-
ter on expositions explores the major Congo exhibits at Belgian
world’s fairs, of which there were five between 1908 and 1960,
and then ventures further to examine smaller and much more
numerous colonial exhibits throughout the country. Similarly,
the chapter on colonial museums and their curators goes beyond
the now-infamous Congo museum in Tervuren to uncover what
other permanent collections of Africana in Belgium preserved,
represented, and displayed. These two chapters highlight how
expositions and museums were particularly powerful propa-
ganda because they complemented each other, with museums’
permanent displays of power reinforced by expositions’ tempo-
rary messages. Public education, the subject of another chap-
ter, added force to these two powerful media at the university,

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 Introduction

secondary, and primary school levels, in particular when the

Ministry of Colonies entered the classroom to educate school-
children directly. Two final chapters explore two differing ways
Belgians represented the empire: in the more traditional media of
stone and bronze, namely, colonial memorials in the metropole,
and in the new medium of film.
Certain means of communication for information about the
colony have been excluded, for various reasons. Literature is in-
cluded only in cases when something was written primarily as a
tool to promote the colony or imperialism, as opposed to a work
of pure fiction.10 Thus an analysis of bandes dessinées (comic
strips), such as Tintin au Congo, is excluded.11 African artwork
is considered within the confi nes of the expositions, museums,
and other sites in which Belgians displayed it. Photographs are
likewise taken into account only insofar as they played a role in
other media.12 Because they rarely bore imperial imagery, Bel-
gian postage stamps, banknotes, and coins are excluded, as are
the many commemorative colonial medals that were cast, which
circulated infrequently.13 Dozens if not hundreds of streets and
squares were named after colonials, but a study comparable to
Robert Aldrich’s essay on colonial street names in Paris would
require an additional study, the conclusions of which likely only
would reiterate many of those in the chapter on monuments.14
The study does not delve into radio because examining the few
transcripts available, such as those of White Father Léon Le-
loir’s broadcasts in the 1930s, might skew the evidence, consid-
ering so many others are irretrievable.15 The book also leaves out
commercial advertising and packaging that may have promoted
products from the Congo, because they were not geared toward
promoting the colony as such. Although Belgium administered
the League of Nations mandates Ruanda and Urundi (later un

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 Introduction

Trust Territories) as colonies, the Congo remained the primary

focus of the kingdom’s overseas imperialism; thus propaganda
attempting to “sell” the Congo to the metropolitan population
is the main object of inquiry.

Imperialistic Propaganda and the Nature of Belgian Empire

A more profound understanding of pro-empire expositions,
museums, education, monuments, and fi lm forces us to revise
our views of the nature of Belgian imperialism in a number of
ways. The examination of imperialistic propaganda that fol-
lows shows, for instance, that there was a surprising number of
people cheering on the empire in the metropole and that argu-
ably a colonial culture arose in the country as well. To say that a
colonial culture developed is to assert that the Congo was more
than an economic, diplomatic, or political concern of an elite.
In an era of universal primary education, high literacy rates,
an extended franchise, and mass entertainment, colonies over-
seas entered into people’s everyday lives in multiple ways. Some
people became aware that their livelihood or those of family
members were dependent on colonial commerce. Others became
conscious of the empire in multiple forms, consented to it, and in
many cases actively supported it.16
The notion of enthusiastic imperialism in Belgium flies in the
face of the literature on the Belgian Congo, which has long de-
picted Flemings and Walloons as indifferent to overseas empire.17
This interpretation goes all the way back to Belgium’s takeover
of the Congo in the first place: when the state took control of the
colony in 1908, it did so with virtually no imperialistic tradi-
tion and no groundswell of support for empire. The Kingdom of
Belgium had become independent only in 1830 after centuries of
being a victim of imperialism within Europe. Ultimately, it was

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 Introduction

the country’s second monarch, Leopold II, who was responsible

for the empire. He expressed early on his desire for a colony and
pursued the issue with fervor as king until he fi nally secured
an African territory through diplomacy, playing on great power
rivalries.18 That Leopold was the driving force was evident im-
mediately; when the United States and the European powers
acknowledged the Congo as a colony in 1885, called the État
Indépendant du Congo (eic), they recognized it as Leopold II’s
personal colony, which it remained for more than two decades
until he ceded it to Belgium under pressure.
It seems strange that a small, neutral state with no imperial-
istic traditions governed an African empire for many decades
after Leopold II turned it over. Traditional interpretations ex-
plain that Belgian imperialism was not a mass movement and
that Walloons and Flemings were “reluctant imperialists” who
arrived late and only halfheartedly to the game of European im-
perialism.19 According to this view, after 1908 the colonial edi-
fice rested on three pillars: the church, the state, and capital. 20
Church leaders supported colonialism because of the special
status, privilege, and freedom of action it provided for Catholic
orders like the Scheutists, Trappists, and Capuchins. Because of
secularization in Europe and because the colonial administra-
tion discriminated against American, British, and Scandinavian
Protestant missions, this was a particularly desirable situation.
The state, dominated by the French-speaking middle classes,
supported imperialism for nationalistic purposes and because it
acted “as a field of exclusive power” for the francophone bour-
geoisie.21 As for the private capital in the Congo, this was one of
Leopold II’s prime legacies, and colonial industry and fi nance
were closely intertwined with the state.22 For instance, the state
participated in all three large colonial concerns formed in 1906:

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 Introduction

Union minière du Haut-Katanga (Mining Union of Upper Ka-

tanga, umhk), the Compagnie du chemin de fer du Bas-Congo
au Katanga (Railway Company of the Lower Congo in Katanga,
bck), and Société internationale forestière et minière du Congo
(International Forestry and Mining Company of the Congo,
Forminière). The largest banking-industrial corporation in Bel-
gian history, Société générale, dominated all three fi rms; after
1908 no government wished to overthrow this system of private
interest and administration.23
Because a semblance of altruism was useful in many ways,
Belgians of all backgrounds and politics played up the notion
that “on the whole, Belgians were not in the least interested in
the foundation of a Belgian colony.”24 But pro-empire propa-
ganda reveals that this attitude did not remain unchanged, and
the label “reluctant imperialists” greatly underestimates the ex-
tent to which ordinary people came to understand and support
the colony. Belgians not only sustained the empire in significant
ways, but many became convinced imperialists, evidenced by
widespread, enduring, and eagerly embraced propaganda in fa-
vor of the Congo.
Yet grassroots support for imperialism is not reflected in
present-day popular culture, and the term “reluctant imperi-
alists” has stuck. Only very recently has research into Belgian
imperialism begun to chip away at the long-standing scholarly
consensus that empire did not resonate at home. 25 One reason
for this is because most work continues to focus on the Leop-
oldian era at the expense of the Belgian state-rule period. Peter
Bate’s 2004 film Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death
and reactions to it represent examples of the near obsession
with the comparatively briefer Leopoldian period. 26 Bate’s film,
like Adam Hochschild’s popular King Leopold’s Ghost, mostly

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 Introduction

retells Morel’s Congo campaign against the atrocities of the Leo-

poldian period, relegating the half century plus of Belgian rule
to a postscript.27 A recent article by Vincent Viaene on colonial
culture restricts itself to the period before 1905.28 Studies on the
state-rule period generally have focused on economics, politics,
international relations, and crises at the expense of culture. Guy
Vanthemsche’s excellent synthesis on Belgium and the Congo,
for instance, addresses domestic politics, international relations,
and economics from Leopoldian rule through the postcolonial
era but only occasionally delves into the empire’s social and cul-
tural ramifications.29
Preoccupation with the extreme violence of the Leopoldian
period has caused Belgian imperialism to be viewed as an ex-
traordinary, almost exotic episode, because the period after
1908 — which lasted far more than twice as long as Leopold’s
reign — is lazily lumped together with the specter of Leopold II’s
calamitous colonial rule.30 The press has sensationalized Belgian
colonialism by depicting it as the worst of modern European im-
perialisms. In a now-familiar refrain, Michela Wrong exagger-
ated that “no colonial master has more to apologise for, or has
proved more reluctant to acknowledge and accept its guilt, than
Belgium. On the roll-call of Africa’s colonial and post-indepen-
dence abusers, it undoubtedly holds unenviable pride of place.”31
Such hyperbole has found its way into academic discussions,
such as when Robert Edgerton wrote in The Troubled Heart
of Africa, among other factual errors: “Once European powers
took possession of the Congo, its people were almost perennially
hungry, and its mineral wealth enriched only politicians and for-
eign corporations.”32 Although foreigners did grow rich on the
country’s mineral wealth, millions of Congolese simply were not
perennially hungry from 1885 to 1960. In The New Republic,

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 Introduction

David Bell conflated Leopoldian and Belgian rule to discredit

a Belgian law that might have targeted Israeli prime minister
Ariel Sharon as a war criminal (the law was later changed). Bell
characterized Belgium’s rule in the Congo as “a crime of geno-
cidal dimensions” and wrote that after Leopold II’s acquisition
of the Congo, “Over the next several decades, Belgium exploited
its colony’s riches, particularly rubber, with unparalleled ruth-
lessness, causing the deaths of millions of Africans forced into
virtual slave labor.”33 Yet the rubber boom ended well before the
1908 reprise. 34 What is more, the atrocities committed during
Belgian rule — and to an extent during Leopold’s reign — were
not without parallels. 35 French administration in neighboring
Moyen-Congo, like the eic, depended on concession compa-
nies, which led to horrific abuses.36 The insurrection against U.S.
rule in the Philippines after the Spanish-American War led to
the deaths of more than two hundred thousand Filipinos. From
1904 to 1907 Germans in South-West Africa killed 75–80 per-
cent of the Herero and nearly 50 percent of the Nama peoples.37
In the British case, neglected famines in India in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries killed millions.38 In 1943 around three
million died in Bengal when “Churchill’s government rejected
Viceroy Wavell’s pleas for shipping to be diverted from the im-
mediate war effort to send food aid to Bengal,” thus revealing
“the sham of British claims to be administering India efficient-
ly.”39 Following this were the many tens of thousands of people
killed at the 1947 partition of India and the brutal crackdown in
Kenya in the 1950s, to mention just two more examples.40
Particularly egregious to many critics is that Belgians today
supposedly know little of their colonial past, a result of what
Adam Hochschild called the “Great Forgetting.” According to
the popular press, “the Congo is Belgium’s forgotten skeleton”

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 Introduction

in the closet.41 Critics repeatedly have attacked today’s Royal

Museum for Central Africa as an illustration of this forgetting,
calling it a relic. It is true that between 1908 and 1960 there was
a great deal of forgetting of atrocities in the eic, and also that
most colonial-era scholarship on central Africa emphasized a
positive history.42 But the assertion by Wrong and others that
there has been no acknowledgement or serious investigation
into the country’s colonial past is belied by the record of origi-
nal, archive-based scholarship over the past half century.43 Jean
Stengers began producing important original contributions even
before the Congo’s independence. Since 1960 the Royal Acad-
emy for Overseas Sciences has printed numerous archives-based
studies, and Belgian scholarship includes major works by Jean-
Luc Vellut, Daniel Vangroenweghe, and probably hundreds of
master’s theses on the colonial period.44 Hochschild’s work it-
self relied heavily on Jules Marchal’s volumes based on official
archival sources that he researched and wrote beginning in the
1980s. Ludo De Witte’s The Assassination of Lumumba drew
on official archives to unveil the state’s complicity in Lumumba’s
death, provoking a parliamentary inquiry.45 Foreign scholars
working on Leopoldian or Belgian imperialism have had their
works translated into Dutch and French, reaching Flemish and
Walloon readers.46
All the same, there are few studies of imperialistic propagan-
da and colonial culture in Belgium, with limited examples on
specific media like fi lm, expositions, or individual events such
as the 1897 Tervuren colonial exposition.47 Although there has
been growing interest in the subject, in particular from a cul-
tural perspective, there has been no systematic examination of
Belgian pro-empire messages, their producers, or what they tell
us about the nature of Belgian imperialism and the country’s

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 Introduction

colonial culture.48 We also do not know much about the Bel-

gian case because research into imperialistic culture in Europe
only lately has turned to the lesser powers of Italy, Germany,
Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal, as most major
works address the French and British empires.49

Causes and Effects of Pro-Empire Propaganda

Aldous Huxley wrote, “Social and political propaganda . . . is ef-
fective, as a rule, only upon those whom circumstances have part-
ly or completely convinced of its truth. . . . The propagandist is a
man who canalizes an already existing stream. In a land where
there is no water he digs in vain.”50 In the Belgian case, there was
an unexpectedly large stream and a number of people digging.
Missionary orders, private capital, and the state all promoted the
colony, with the volume and staying power of government-direct-
ed propaganda suggesting that of the three the state had the great-
est stake in the empire. Among the most fervent advocates of em-
pire besides church, capital, and state were colonial veterans; what
was most singular about the veterans’ passion was the sacredness
with which they regarded Leopold II and dead pioneers of the eic
period. Those nationals who died in Africa before 1908 became
objects of cult worship, complete with their own myth and sym-
bols, which underpinned the colonial mission. Alongside colonial
veterans were numerous individual enthusiasts, curators, scien-
tists, educators, and pro-empire groups; thus historians should
add a fourth pillar to explain what propped up Belgian imperial-
ism: key, active segments of the metropolitan population. Both
the state’s preeminent position among the three pillars and the
population’s important role in promoting empire change our un-
derstanding of why this small, neutral state with no colonial tra-
dition took over and ran an empire for more than half a century.

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 Introduction

Many Belgians saw propaganda as essential to defending their

hold on an enormous colony. True, the colonial administration
needed functionaries and settlers and naturally wanted nationals
to fi ll those positions. But fear also underlay much of the pro-
paganda. From the outset of Leopold II’s expansion into central
Africa, some feared other European powers would move into
borderlands of the immense Congo and take over the colony in
part or in whole.51 The eic, which in many respects comprised
little more than armed pillage, depended heavily on foreign sol-
diers; the eic’s armed forces, the Force publique, recruited many
if not most officers from nations with smaller militaries like Italy,
Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. 52 During the colony’s earliest
days, most doctors there were non-Belgian, primarily Italian.53
Even the most powerful colonial businesses could not recruit
enough Belgian workers, for example umhk, especially in its
early years. 54 This apprehension heightened when new foreign
challenges arose, for instance interwar German irredentism.55
The fact that fear played such an important role in accelerating
imperialistic propaganda and sentiment — thereby strengthening
Belgium’s resolve to hold on to the colony that largely fell into
its lap by accident — shows the importance both of emotions in
decision making and of the domestic origins of international
relations.56
The heavy emphasis on propaganda directed at youth and the
fear of the loss of the Congo suggest that despite the colony’s
retrospectively tranquil and secure appearance, to the minds
of enthusiasts and administrators, colonial rule was not a fi xed
thing but rather an open-ended process of becoming. Some see
the period of 1908 to 1960 as one of consensus and calm in
central Africa, bookended in the metropole by “some sudden
high temperatures, at the moment of discussions on annexation

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 Introduction

and, fifty years later, through the crises of decolonization.”57 Ac-

cording to this view, colonial rule was disturbed only at the end
by what Jean Stengers has called the Congo’s “precipitous de-
colonization.”58 Yet any status quo in international relations or
domestic affairs — imperial or otherwise — is never static or giv-
en, but rather exists and perdures through a process of making
and re-creating. In this instance, propaganda aimed to correct a
perceived lack of imperialism among Flemings and Walloons to
secure colonial rule.
Measuring the impact of propaganda on attitudes, beliefs,
prejudices, and everyday lives is notoriously fraught with inde-
terminacy. 59 What can be ventured is that Belgian pro-empire
propaganda had mixed results. Historians of the new imperial
history contend that Britain, France, and other nations were im-
bricated with empire (read: infused with, overlapped by, steeped
in empire), because they brought the colonies back home to the
metropole in the form of government propaganda, expositions,
colonial novels, and commodities. In the Belgian case, propa-
ganda did not lead society to become totally “steeped in” or
“imbricated” with empire. If one considers the shock and unpre-
paredness with which Belgians greeted Congo’s independence,
we ought to conclude that propaganda successfully conveyed
the concept of an everlasting colonial presence in Africa, if not
necessarily love for the Congo. Yet evidence to the contrary is
more persuasive. Congolese leaders wrested their independence
from Belgium without much of a fight (comparatively speak-
ing) in 1960, less than two years after the doors closed on what
was perhaps the greatest staging of empire in Belgium’s history
at the 1958 universal exposition. Few people living in Belgium
felt deep emotional attachments to central Africa, if the small
number who emigrated there and the quick handover of power

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 Introduction

in 1960 are any indication. In important ways pro-empire pro-

paganda — similar to such efforts in France, Britain, and else-
where — was unsuccessful in creating gut connections to the
Congo, save among the comparatively small number who lived
there. Perhaps this was due to the fact that half of the population
was in some sense excluded: it was overwhelmingly men who
promoted the colonial idea in Belgium and exalted male figures
in the process, suggesting either a desire to maintain a privileged
zone of action or women’s greater remoteness from the colonial
idea, or both.
Yet if pro-empire movies, education, museums, monuments,
and other media were biased against women and did not cre-
ate a deep-seated emotional connection to the Congo, they did
develop a significant if limited colonial culture. In one respect,
pro-empire messages sustained the nation and state by propa-
gating a myth surrounding Leopold II and fostering an imag-
ined Belgian community. Memorials and museums intersected
with more transient forms of propaganda like expositions and
movies in what Tony Bennett has called the “exhibitionary com-
plex,” whereby permanent museums and ephemeral expositions
complemented one another.60 Various media of propaganda cut
across class and language divisions to articulate nationalistic
messages that made the Congo a project around an acclaimed
version of history that rewrote the past and made the country
out as a legitimate, humanitarian colonizer. This rewriting of
history invented an imperial tradition concentrated on Leopold
II, recasting him as a prescient, ingenious, and generous colonial
ruler. This myth had long-standing consequences for Belgians’
understanding of their past, suggesting propaganda was exceed-
ingly successful. This centering of the country’s imperial past
around Leopold II was ironic in that it was the very infamy of his

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 Introduction

horrific eic administration that was decisive in the 1908 hand-

over of the colony.
Although pro-empire propaganda did not bring about a visceral
attachment to empire, it did create or reinforce a denigrating im-
age of Africans. Although many argued for an interpenetration of
colony and metropole, Belgians and Congolese did not grow close
during the colonial period. Enthusiasts and the state emphasized
technological benefits, European education of Congolese children,
industrialism, and agricultural advancement through European
methods, all the while denying the value of indigenous culture,
society, and economy. They often accomplished this by comparing
and contrasting Belgian civilization with African backwardness.
Colonial expositions supposedly offered “a voyage to the Congo,”
transporting fair goers “into the bush”; in reality, they presented a
distorted view of central Africa for mass consumption. Authorities
were deeply concerned about the presence of Africans in Belgium
and enacted a policy of control and exclusion that segregated the
colony and its peoples from the metropole. Because they kept their
colonial subjects away from Belgium, the ability of Congolese to
contest Belgian depictions was limited.
Belgians maintained control over places in the metropole
where one could access the Congo, such as the Musée du Congo
Belge (Museum of the Belgian Congo). This museum was what
Mary Louise Pratt has termed a “contact zone,” a place where
“peoples geographically and historically separated come into
contact with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually
involving conditions of coercion, radical inequality, and intrac-
table conflict.”61 Belgians controlled such restricted zones of con-
tact with their colonial subjects as a means of illustrating their
control over the Congo, eulogizing Leopold II, praising the work
of colonial pioneers, and justifying imperialism. The museum

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 Introduction

at Tervuren was more about power and rewriting history than

displaying the colony objectively. Curators asserted their place in
society by creating and dispensing supposedly scientific knowl-
edge about the Congo, while nonscientific ends such as the popu-
larization of imperialism motivated their work. The propagation
of a feeling of control and legitimacy seems to have worked such
that A. A. J. van Bilsen’s 1955 proposal for the emancipation
of the Congo within thirty years became a scandal, many con-
sidering the time frame utterly unrealistic.62 Not only did this
reaction indicate the colonizers’ paternalism, it also revealed a
serious aversion to losing the Congo due in part to the decades-
long efforts to sell the populace on the idea that the country’s
so-called tenth province was integral to Belgium.
Paternalistic Belgians successfully produced a primitive Other
while simultaneously defining themselves as advanced. In Timo-
thy Mitchell’s concept of “Oriental disorder,” nineteenth-cen-
tury British colonialism in Egypt produced an order that was
“conceptual and prior,” which in turn created and in fact needed
the Oriental for comparison.63 Likewise one sees how Belgian
pro-empire education, expositions, museums, and other media
juxtaposed European order with a supposed African chaos, sug-
gesting that Europeans’ need for an Other to create their own
order persisted well into the latter half of the twentieth century.
This of course does not mean they provided an accurate depic-
tion of the colony or that Congolese remained silent. To get at
what Congolese thought or how they reacted to the dominant
discourse requires “reading records against their grain,” as Gyan
Prakash has put it, to lay bare the “marginalization of ‘other’
sources of knowledge and agency” inherent in the project to en-
capsulate the Congo in the metropole, whether that marginaliza-
tion occurred consciously or not.64 By investigating the records

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 Introduction

in this way, one can glimpse alternate discourses, successful and

unsuccessful, such as how Congolese at times spoke out against
depictions of themselves or called for greater participation in
colonial discourses.
Nonetheless, Congolese perceptions and reactions remain sec-
ondary in this story of how metropolitan propaganda shaped
perceptions of Africans and colonialism. It was at home among
their compatriots, not in the colony among the Congolese, that
the vast majority of Belgians learned about the empire. It is im-
portant nonetheless to avoid viewing metropole and colony as
separate entities only temporarily drawn together. As Ann Lau-
ra Stoler and Frederick Cooper have argued, one can instead
employ a paradigm in which nation-state and empire comprise
one analytical framework.65 Gary Wilder’s rethinking of French
history between the two world wars argues that that country’s
overseas empire was not an add-on but rather an integral com-
ponent of the Third Republic and the French imperial nation-
state.66 This type of analytical reframing forces us to rethink
European history fundamentally. At the same time, there is the
danger that by erecting a unitary imperial framework for ana-
lytical purposes, scholars buy into the imperialistic rhetoric of
empire and a fictional unity of overseas European empires that
is not borne out by the historical record.67
In the Belgian case, a unitary imperial analytic needs to be
complemented by more traditional approaches because the Con-
go, along with Ruanda-Urundi after 1920, was in significant
ways “merely” an overseas possession of the state. The number of
Belgians living in the Congo was always very small.68 Fewer than
50 Belgians resided in the Congo in 1886 at the outset of Leo-
pold II’s imperial adventure. This population grew to 17,700 by
1930, at which point it began to decline, reaching around 11,400

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 Introduction

by 1934.69 Despite post–World War II economic prosperity and

the government’s 1949–59 ten-year plan for economic develop-
ment, which boosted the number of Belgians in the Congo, there
were fewer than 89,000 living there at the highest point of settle-
ment, on the eve of independence in 1959, representing less than
1 percent of the metropolitan population.70 The Congo is compa-
rable in this regard to the British and French tropical colonies, or
the Italian empire in eastern Africa: a 1931 census revealed only
4,188 Italians living in Eritrea four decades after Italy seized it
as a colony and only 1,631 in Italian Somaliland, which had be-
come a colony in 1905.71 The Congo was fundamentally different
than Algeria, which held around 1,000,000 colonists by 1954;
Southern Rhodesia, which contained 200,000 by 1955; and even
Libya, where nearly 90,000 Italians resided by 1938.72
Other factors kept metropole and colony profoundly separat-
ed: Belgian missionaries during the eic period only slowly took
up Leopold II’s offer to proselytize; recruitment for private and
government work in the colony was always problematic; long
German occupations disrupted metropole-colony relations; and
few Belgians ever settled in the Congo as agriculturalists.73 As
years passed, more and more colons (colonists) lived in cities
increasingly segregated from Africans.74 Similar to other Euro-
pean colonists, Belgians living in the Congo were overwhelm-
ingly male.75 Government rules restricted both emigration and
tourism, and thus travel companies that would have benefited
from the tourist trade to central Africa had to fight against heavy
regulations restricting Belgians from enjoying even brief stays in
the Congo, as was the case in other colonies as well.76 In 1957,
when travel to and from the colony was easiest, only ten thou-
sand tourists made the trip, a 15 percent increase on the previous
year.77 Some have claimed that virtually every Belgian family

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 Introduction

had a friend or family member who lived in the Congo during

the state-rule period.78 But this certainly was not the case. When
the European population peaked in the Congo in the late 1950s,
more than a third of Belgians in the metropole indicated they did
not know a single European, let alone a Belgian, who had spent
any time in the colony.79
The fact that few Africans from the Congo ever traveled to
Europe also limited Belgians’ exposure to the colony. In the late
nineteenth century some people brought Congolese to Belgium
to educate them, but this practice quickly ceased.80 Authorities
tightly controlled Africans temporarily located in the metro-
pole, even if a few managed to slip away and settle there perma-
nently and even if some returning colonials brought Congolese
home as servants.81 If in England “most working- or middle-
class people probably never saw a single black face socially
or at their work from the beginning of their lives to the end,”
this was even truer in Belgium.82 The contrast with France is
striking: while a half million French colonial subjects came to
Europe during World War I, perhaps no more than two dozen
Congolese fought for Belgium in Europe, and some — like Paul
Panda Farnana — fought only because they were temporarily in
Belgium and caught off guard by the outbreak of war.83 That
visits of Congolese “évolués” in the 1950s were major press
events — even the subject of a special fi lm — indicates the rar-
ity of their presence.84 Expositions, museums, education, monu-
ments, films, and other forms of propaganda were therefore cru-
cial in shaping people’s views.

Toward a Broader View of Colonial Culture in Europe

Although this is a comparative study in limited ways, it in-
forms our understanding of modern Europe and the history of

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 Introduction

imperialism by opening up the possibility for more comparative

approaches toward investigating colonial cultures in Europe.
Such a method is needed because even the most significant re-
search arguing imperialism’s deep influence in Europeans’ ev-
eryday lives approaches the question within the confi nes of in-
dividual national experiences with little reference to practices
and effects in other places.85 Tony Chafer and Amanda Sackur’s
Promoting the Colonial Idea showed how the empire shaped
French culture, from street names to science.86 Pascal Blanchard
and Sandrine Lemaire’s Culture coloniale and Culture impériale
placed the empire at the heart of the French republics.87 Robert
Aldrich’s Vestiges of the Colonial Empire in France demonstrat-
ed the penetration of the colonies into the very fabric of France.88
Nicola Cooper showed how French authorities legitimized the
southeast Asian empire by depicting it as compensation for the
loss of the fi rst French empire and promoted the mise en valeur
(development) of the colonies to shore up French prestige.89 Par-
alleling such scholarship on France is a multitude of studies on
Britain and a growing number regarding Germany and Italy.90
Yet for all the talk of thinking or working “beyond the nation,”
few have escaped the nation-state paradigm to consider colo-
nial culture in transnational perspective — that is, to consider
the possibility not of French, British, Italian, or other colonial
cultures but rather a European colonial culture. The field of Eu-
ropean colonial propaganda and its relation to the development
of knowledge about Africa is in need of a comparative examina-
tion, and a first step is to move beyond France and Britain to in-
corporate considerations of the lesser European empires, includ-
ing the Belgian case.91 By drawing comparisons with Belgium’s
neighbors, this study represents an important step in that direc-
tion. It shows that information production about the colony in

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 Introduction

Belgium oftentimes paralleled and even imitated similar efforts

in France and Britain, and vice versa. The fact that Belgians em-
braced official and unofficial propaganda puts the Belgian case
closer to the French than to the British experience.92 At other
moments, however, Belgian pro-empire messages were distinct
and reflected a unique experience. At key points, this study re-
turns to comparisons and contrasts to add to our understanding
of European imperialisms from a comparative perspective.
Extending beyond France and Britain also breaks down barri-
ers between the two antagonistic camps of interpretation in the
current debate over empire and European culture. Practitioners
of the confusingly labeled “new imperial history” or “new colo-
nial history” argue that European culture was imbricated with
or steeped in empire during the New Imperialism and that over-
seas empire had fundamental consequences for European con-
cepts of citizenship, race, masculinity, and femininity.93 Some
have gone so far as to consider the issue settled and to suggest
that we should begin to explore what comes “after the imperial
turn.”94 On the other hand, there are those like Bernard Porter
who argue that overseas empire affected Europe superficially at
most. Porter asserts that in the British case, “There was no wide-
spread imperial ‘mentality.’ . . . Imperial culture was neither a
cause nor a significant effect of imperialism.”95 Building on the
literature on the French and British empires and moving beyond
the limits of individual nations and their colonial experiences,
as this study does in places, can close the gap between these two
intractable positions in useful ways.
Examining pro-empire messages about the Congo provides
novel insights into what Herman Lebovics terms “the back
workings of colonialism and imperialism on the metropolitan
countries,” in particular because of the uniqueness of the Belgian

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 Introduction

empire.96 Belgium did not conquer its overseas possessions, rath-

er it inherited them. Unlike most other imperial powers in the
modern era, it had no long-standing colonial tradition, and its
imperialism abruptly transformed at the outset of the twentieth
century with the 1908 shift from Leopold’s personal rule to state
administration. And Belgium and the Congo can tell us about
the connection between nation and empire. The idea has gained
currency among historians that the nation should not be consid-
ered static, as has the concomitant that one cannot view overseas
empire as something “out there” that impacted the nation “back
home.” The Belgian kingdom is a recent creation rather than
some sort of eternal nation. The country is divided by language
(French, Flemish, and since 1920, German); a strong Flemish
movement repeatedly has challenged the nation-state’s viabil-
ity — not only on linguistic but also social, political, economic,
and ideological grounds.97 Few historians would argue for the
immutability or eternalness of the Belgian nation, and thus it
offers an important contrast.98
Comparing and contrasting the sheer volume of pro-empire
propaganda in Belgium also demonstrates that European gov-
ernments did not produce propaganda only in times of crisis
such as war and that it was not only dictatorial, fascist, totali-
tarian, or communist regimes that employed it, but also liberal
democracies. This confi rms Jo Fox’s work on British and Ger-
man fi lm that showed how propaganda was an enduring tool
even in parliamentary democracies.99 Much of what we know
about modern propaganda derives from scholarship on World
War I, which has skewed our understanding of its production.100
David Welch, for example, has written that “whereas the democ-
racies disbanded rather shamefacedly their wartime propaganda
machines, the totalitarian and fascist regimes drew different

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 Introduction

lessons from the wartime experience, having few qualms about

establishing ‘propaganda ministries’ for disseminating ideologi-
cal propaganda both at home and abroad.”101 Although the con-
flict’s victors might have dismantled their wartime propaganda
offices, they did not stop propagandizing, which in terms of pro-
moting imperialism continued not only through World War II
but up to decolonization. John MacKenzie’s Propaganda and
Empire and Thomas August’s The Selling of the Empire initiated
this line of argument some twenty years ago by showing that
pro-empire propaganda did not stop after the burst of European
expansion at the end of the nineteenth century but persisted well
into the interwar period and even until the 1960s. The Belgian
state ramped up pro-empire propaganda after being liberated
from German occupation in 1918, and this pace only increased
into the 1950s until the loss of the Congo in 1960. The ubiquity
of propaganda efforts, official and unofficial, in France, Brit-
ain, Belgium, and elsewhere suggests that this pro-empire device
was an integral and necessary component of overseas rule in
the twentieth century as governments and others attempted to
manufacture consent in societies of mass politics.
To sum up, this study examines imperialistic propaganda
and what it tells us about the nature of Belgian imperialism as
well as the causes and effects of pro-empire propaganda, all
the while keeping in mind how the Belgian case informs what
we know about colonial culture in Europe more generally. Al-
though the focus is the post-1908 state-rule period, that era is
largely informed by the prior reign of Leopold II — the imperial
mastermind who in 1885 unbelievably secured the great pow-
ers’ recognition of a colony eighty times the size of Belgium and
then set about exploiting it ruthlessly. Although a master propa-
gandist who drew on all his talents to influence public opinion

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 Introduction

and maintain his control over the Congo, Leopold II ultimately

failed, because international and domestic pressure forced him
to surrender his prized African possession in 1908. He died one
year later, unloved. However, perhaps Leopold the propagandist
surpassed even himself as imperialist. Within a few short de-
cades of his death, he was to be celebrated and even worshipped
unabashedly as a great king — as Leopold the Colonizer, the ge-
nius who almost single-handedly built an undying empire. This
was only part of the flood of information produced in the twen-
tieth century, which grew out of many of the themes set forth
during the Leopoldian period, to sway the masses in favor of
their new empire. Already by 1908 Leopold II and his collabora-
tors had set the stage for what was to follow.

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 One
The Inheritance

Leopold II and Propaganda about the Congo

The Kingdom of Belgium, independent in 1830, saw Leopold II

ascend the throne to become its second king in 1865.1 He was an
intelligent and ambitious dynast who became a colonial genius
in 1885 when the European powers recognized his authority
over the vast État Indépendant du Congo extending over Africa’s
Congo River basin. The autocratic rule he instituted in the Con-
go reflected his aristocratic upbringing and an atavistic mindset.
Nineteenth-century change posed problems for his Old Regime
Weltanschauung, to which the colony proffered multiple solu-
tions: it allowed him to escape what he felt was a stifling political
and geographical situation as the constitutionally constrained
sovereign of a tiny, neutral country where liberalism was ascen-
dant and socialism threatened and where language divided both
masses and elite.2
His colonial policies also were rooted in older models, es-
pecially the Dutch model of the Indies, meaning that the goal
was not development or “civilization” but economic exploita-
tion to enrich and strengthen the metropole. Ultimately, his vi-
cious abuse of the Congo and Congolese brought his rule there
under increasing scrutiny and criticism by the 1890s. Despite
his aristocratic background, Leopold was not averse to work-
ing with “ordinary” Belgians who supported imperialism, or to
producing propaganda to sway the masses and influence public

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 The Inheritance

opinion in order to salvage his personal rule in the Congo. Much

research so far has examined Leopold II’s voluminous deceptive
counterpropaganda. Yet if one takes a broader view to encom-
pass not only disinformation but also pro-empire propaganda
like cinema and individual events such as the 1897 colonial ex-
position, one obtains a better idea of imperialistic propaganda
during the Leopoldian era as a whole and also how messages
created from 1885 to 1908 served as a backdrop for the period
that followed. To understand the propaganda the monarch and
his collaborators produced, it is useful to begin with a survey of
Leopold II’s imperial venture, its supporters, and the opposition
it provoked.

Imperial Reveries and Stark Realities

Leopold II ascended the throne in 1865 with a full-fledged
dream of acquiring a colony. Returning from a trip to Athens
in 1860, he had presented Minister Frère-Orban with a block of
marble from the Acropolis inscribed, “Il faut à la Belgique une
Colonie [Belgium must have a colony].” The following year, he
had asked a Belgian naval officer, “Do you know of an island in
Oceania, the China Sea or the Indian Ocean that would be suit-
able for us?”3 His father, Leopold I, had launched small, unsuc-
cessful colonial ventures to Central America and elsewhere, but
Leopold II believed colonial expansion was crucial for his small
state’s well-being. During his first decade in power, he explored
many potential — and potentially profitable — colonial acquisi-
tions, including a plan to lease the Philippines from Spain, all the
while working within a mental framework shaped in part by the
country’s geographical movement and its emphasis on economic
geography.4
Yet Leopold II’s colonial future lay in central Africa, a region

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asked him if the prince her son had not charged him with any thing in
particular to say to her, when he was at the extremity of his life. He assured
her, that he only expressed the greatest regret at breathing his last at a
distance from her, and that the only thing he wished was, that she would
take care and have his body brought to Bagdad. Early, therefore, the next
morning, she set out, accompanied by all her women, and a considerable
part of her slaves.

When the jeweller, who had been detained by the mother of the prince of
Persia, had seen her take her departure, he returned home in the most
melancholy state of mind: his eyes cast down, and himself deeply regretting
the death of so accomplished and amiable a prince, in the very flower of his
age.

As he was walking along, meditating thus within himself, a woman came

up and stopped directly before him. He lifted his eyes, and perceived the
confidential slave of Schemselnihar, dressed in mourning, and her eyes
bathed in tears. The sight renewed his affliction to a great degree, and
without even opening his lips to speak to her, he continued walking on, till
he came to his own house, to which the confidant followed him, and entered
at the same time.

They both sat down, and the jeweller began the conversation, by asking
her, sighing deeply at the same time, if she had already been informed of
the death of the prince of Persia, and if it was for him that she wept. “Alas,
no,” she answered: “is then this charming prince dead? He has not indeed
long survived his adorable Schemselnihar. Lovely spirits,” added she,
addressing the departed lovers, “in whatever place you may be, you are now
sufficiently satisfied in being able, for the future, to love each other without
any obstacle. Your bodies were an invincible hindrance to your wishes, and
Heaven has only freed you from them to enable you to be united in soul.”

The jeweller, who was hitherto ignorant of the death of Schemselnihar,

and who had not as yet attended to the circumstance of the confidant’s
being in mourning, felt an additional pang when he learnt this intelligence.
“Schemselnihar dead too!” he exclaimed. “Is she no more?”—“Such indeed
is her fate,” replied her slave, renewing her tears. “It is for her that I am in
mourning. The circumstances attending her death are singular, and it is
proper that you should be made acquainted with them. But previous to my
giving you a narrative of this, I beg of you to inform me of every thing
relative to the death of the prince of Persia, whose loss I shall continue all
my life to lament, as well as that of my dear and amiable mistress of
Schemselnihar.

The jeweller satisfied the confidant in every particular she wished to

know, and as soon as he had finished his account, beginning from the time
she left him to the moment in which the prince’s mother began her journey
for the purpose of bringing her son’s body to Bagdad, she went on as
follows: “I have already told you how the caliph sent for Schemselnihar to
his own palace. It was true, as we had reason to believe, that the caliph had
been informed of the attachment and meeting between Schemselnihar and
the prince of Persia by the two slaves, whom he had separately questioned.
You may already perhaps imagine, that he was in the greatest rage with the
Favorite; and that he showed strong marks of jealousy and revenge against
the prince of Persia. By no means. He thought not for an instant about him.
He only pitied Schemselnihar. Nay, he attributed, as it is thought, what had
happened only to himself, and to the permission which he had given her to
go freely about the city, unaccompanied by any eunuchs. At least we cannot
form any other conjecture, from the extraordinary manner in which he
conducted himself towards her from first to last; as you shall hear.

“The caliph received her with an open countenance, and when he

perceived the traces of that grief with which she was overwhelmed, but
which nevertheless did not in the least diminish her beauty, for she appeared
before him without any symptoms either of surprise or fear.
‘Schemselnihar,’ said he to her, with his usual accustomed goodness, ‘I
cannot bear that you should appear before me with a countenance so
strongly impressed by sorrow. You know with what ardour I have always
loved you: You must be convinced of its sincerity by all the proofs I have
given you of it. I am not changed; for I still love you more than ever. You
have some enemies, and these enemies have made some ill reports of the
manner in which you conduct yourself; every thing, however, that they can
say of you, has not made the least impression upon my mind. Drive away
then this melancholy, and dispose yourself to entertain me this evening with
something as amusing and diverting as you used to do.’ He continued to say
many other obliging things to her, and then conducted her into a
magnificent apartment near his own; where he requested her to wait for
him.

“The wretched Schemselnihar was sensibly affected at so many proofs of

the caliph’s concern for her person: but the more she felt herself under
obligations to him, the more was her bosom penetrated with grief at being
separated, perhaps for ever, from the prince of Persia, without whom she
was convinced she could not exist.

“This interview between the caliph and Schemselnihar,” continued the

confidant, “took place while I was coming to speak to you; and I learnt the
particulars of it from my companions, who were present. As soon, however,
as I left you, I hastened back to Schemselnihar, and was witness to what
passed in the evening. I found my mistress in the apartment I have
mentioned; and as she was very sure I was come from your house, she
desired me to approach her; and, without being overheard by any one, she
said to me, ‘I am much obliged to you for the service you have just now
rendered me: I feel that it will be the last.’ This was all she uttered, and I
was not in a place where I could say any thing by way of endeavouring to
afford her consolation.

The caliph in the evening entered Schemselnihar’s palace to the sound of

instruments, which were touched by the females belonging to the Favorite,
when a collation was instantly served up. The caliph took Schemselnihar by
the hand, and made her sit near him upon a sofa. To comply with this action
had such a violent effect upon her feelings, that in a few moments after we
saw her expire. She was in fact hardly seated, before she fell backwards.
The caliph thought that she had only fainted, nor had we at first any other
idea. We gave her every assistance in our power; but she never breathed
again. This then was the manner in which we suffered our great loss.

“The caliph honored her with his tears, which he was unable to restrain;
and before he retired to his apartment he gave orders that all the musical
instruments should be absolutely destroyed, which was accordingly done. I
remained near the body the whole night, and both washed and prepared it
for burial with my own hands, almost bathing it with my tears. It was the
next day interred, by the command of the caliph, in a magnificent tomb,
which he had before ordered to be built in a spot that Schemselnihar had
herself chosen. And since,” added the slave, “you have told me the body of
the prince of Persia is to be brought to Bagdad, I am determined that it shall
be placed in the same tomb with that of the Favorite.”

The jeweller was very much astonished at this resolution of the confidant.
“You do not surely recollect,” said he, “that the caliph will never suffer
it.”—“You may believe the thing impossible,” replied she, “but I assure
you, it is not. And you will agree with me, when I have informed you that
the caliph has given their freedom to all the slaves that belonged to
Schemselnihar, with a pension to each of them sufficient to support
themselves; and that he has moreover appointed me to take care of, and
watch her tomb, with a considerable salary both for its repair and my
subsistence. Besides, the caliph, who is not ignorant of the mutual
attachment of Schemselnihar and the prince of Persia, as I have already told
you, and who is not now offended or hurt at it, will never have any
objection to it.” In answer to this, the jeweller had nothing to say; he only
requested the confidant to conduct him to the tomb, that he might offer up
his prayers there. When he arrived, he was greatly surprised at seeing a
crowd of people of both sexes, who had collected there from all parts of
Bagdad. He could not even get near it; and could only pray at some
distance. When he had finished his prayers, he said to the confidant in a
satisfactory tone of voice, “I do not now think it impossible to accomplish
what you so properly planned. We have only to make known the various
facts we are acquainted with, concerning the Favorite and the prince of
Persia, and particularly the death of the latter, which took place almost at
the same instant with that of Schemselnihar.” Before his body arrived, all
Bagdad agreed in demanding, that they should not be separated in the
grave. The scheme succeeded, and on the day in which it was known the
body would arrive, a multitude of people went out even twenty miles to
meet it.”

The confidant waited at the gate of the city, where she presented herself
before the mother of the prince of Persia, and requested her in the name of
all the inhabitants, who so ardently desired it, to allow the bodies of the two
lovers, whose hearts formed but one, from the commencement of their
attachment to the last moment of their lives, to be united in one tomb. The
lady agreed to it; and the body was carried to the tomb of Schemselnihar, an
immense number of people of all ranks following it; and then placed by her
side. From that time all the inhabitants of Bagdad, and even strangers from
all parts of the world, where mussulmen are known, have never ceased from
feeling a great veneration for that tomb, and going to offer up their prayers
at its foot.

“This, sire,” said Scheherazadè in this place, “is what I had to relate to
your majesty concerning the amours of the beautiful Schemselnihar, the
Favorite of the caliph Haroun Alraschid, and the amiable Ali Ebn Becar,
prince of Persia.”

When Dinarzadè perceived the sultana, her sister, had concluded her
speech, she thanked her most kindly for the pleasure she had afforded her
by the recital of so interesting a history: “If the sultan,” replied
Scheherazadè, “would suffer me to live till to-morrow, I would relate to him
the history of prince Camaralzaman, [14] which he would find still more
agreeable.” She was then silent; and Schahriar, who could not yet determine
to give orders for her death, deferred it, in order to listen to the new story,
which the sultana began to relate, on the following night.
 THE HISTORY

OF THE AMOURS OF CAMARALZAMAN, PRINCE OF THE ISLE

OF THE CHILDREN OF KHALEDAN, AND OF BADOURA,
PRINCESS OF CHINA.

About twenty days sail from the coast of Persia, sire, there is, in the open
sea, an island, which is called the Isle of the Children of Khaledan. This
island is divided into several large provinces, with many large flourishing
and well-peopled towns scattered over them, and forms altogether a very
powerful kingdom. It was formerly governed by a king, named
Schahzaman, who had four wives, as was the custom; all daughters of
kings, and sixty concubines.

Schahzaman esteemed himself the happiest sovereign on the whole face

of the earth, on account of the tranquillity and prosperity of his reign. One
thing alone affected his happiness; he was already far advanced in years,
and he had no children, notwithstanding he had so great a number of wives.
He could not account in any way for this circumstance; and in the moments
of his affliction he considered it as the greatest misfortune that could befal
him, to die without leaving a successor to the throne, who was descended
from him. He, for a considerable time, concealed the tormenting anxiety
that preyed upon him; and he suffered so much the more as he endeavoured
to assume an air of cheerfulness. At length he broke silence; and one day
having complained of his misfortune in the bitterest terms of sorrow, in a
private conversation he had with his grand vizier, he asked him if he knew
of any means to remedy so great an evil.

“If what your majesty requires,” replied this wise minister, “depended on
the common interference of human wisdom, you might soon have the
gratification you so ardently desire; but I confess, my experience and
knowledge is not equal to solve what you ask; to God alone you must apply
in such cases; in the midst of our prosperity, which often makes us forget
what we owe him, he sometimes mortifies us on some interesting point, that
we may turn our thoughts to him, acknowledge his universal power, and ask
of him that which we cannot obtain but by his interference. You have
amongst your subjects some men, who devote themselves to the particular
profession of knowing and serving him, and lead a life of penance and
hardship for the love of him: my advice is, that your majesty should bestow
alms on them, and request them to join their prayers to yours; perhaps
amongst so great a number, one may be sufficiently pure and acceptable to
God, to obtain from him the completion of your wishes.”

The King approved this advice, for which he thanked his grand vizier. He
ordered alms to a considerable amount to be presented to each of these
communities of people, consecrated to God; he then desired the superiors of
them to come to him, and after having regaled them with a repast suited to
their frugal manner of living, he declared his intention, and begged them to
acquaint the devotees of it also, who were under their authority.

Schahzaman obtained from Heaven what he so much desired, and which

was soon evident by the pregnancy of one of his wives, who, at the
expiration of nine months, presented him with a son. To testify his
gratitude, he sent fresh presents to the societies of devout mussulmen,
which were worthy of his dignity and greatness; and the birth of the prince
was celebrated by public rejoicings for a whole week, not only in his capital
but throughout his extensive dominions. The young prince was taken to him
immediately on his birth, and he thought him so very beautiful, that he gave
him the name of Camaralzaman, which means the moon of the age.

Prince Camaralzaman was educated with all possible attention, and when
he had reached a proper age, the sultan appointed him a prudent governor
and able preceptors. These persons, distinguished by their superior
understandings, found in him a docile and intelligent disposition, capable of
receiving all the instruction they wished to give him, either for the forming
of his morals, or the cultivation of his mind, in such acquirements as a
prince in his situation ought to be possessed of. And, when of a more
advanced age, he learned various exercises with the same degree of facility;
and acquitted himself with so much grace and address, that he charmed
every beholder, but more particularly the sultan his father.
 When the prince had attained the age of fifteen years, Schahzaman, who
loved him with the greatest tenderness, and of which he gave him every day
new and stronger proofs, conceived the design of bestowing on him the
most striking mark of his affection, by descending from the throne himself,
and raising his son to that distinguished situation. He communicated it to
his grand vizier: “I fear,” said he, “that in the idleness of youth, my son will
lose not only those advantages which nature has bestowed on him, but also
such as he has so successfully acquired by the good education I have given
him. As I am now advanced to an age to make me think of retiring from the
world, I have almost resolved to give up the government to him, and to pass
the rest of my days in the satisfaction of seeing him reign. I have laboured a
long time, and I now want repose.”

The grand vizier would not then represent to the sultan all the reasons that
might dissuade him from putting this design into execution; on the contrary,
he appeared to concur in his wish. “Sire,” replied he, “the prince is still too
young, I think, to be charged at so early a period with a burden so heavy as
that of governing a powerful state. Your majesty is fearful that he may be
corrupted, if suffered to lead a life of inactivity and indolence, and indeed
with reason; but to remedy that evil, would it not in your opinion be more
proper to marry him first? Marriage is likely to render his affections steady,
and to prevent his entering into dissipation; added to that, your majesty
might allow him admittance to your councils, by which he would learn by
degrees to sustain the brilliancy and weight of your crown with dignity; and
when sufficiently qualified, and you by experience found him equal to the
undertaking, you might still resign it in his favor.”

Schahzaman thought this advice from his prime minister very reasonable
and prudent; he therefore summoned his son, prince Camaralzaman, to
attend him as soon as the grand vizier had taken his leave.

The prince, who hitherto had only seen the sultan at certain stated hours,
without requiring a summons, was rather surprised al this order. Instead,
therefore, of presenting himself before him in his usual free manner, he
saluted him with great respect, and stopped as soon as he was in his
presence, fixing his eyes on the ground.
 The sultan perceived the restraint of the prince; “My son,” said he, in a
tone intended to inspire him with confidence, “do you know on what
account I sent for you?”—“Sire,” replied the prince, modestly, “God alone
can penetrate into the recesses of the heart: I shall learn the reason from
your majesty’s lips with the greatest pleasure.”—“I did it to acquaint you,”
resumed the sultan, “that I wish you to marry: what do you think of it?”

Prince Camaralzaman heard these words with great concern. He was quite
disconcerted; a cold damp arose on his face; and he knew not how to reply.
After some moments passed in silence he said, “Sire, I entreat you to
pardon me, if I appear confused at the declaration your majesty has just
made; I did not expect it at my very youthful age. I do not even know,
whether I shall ever be able to submit myself to the bonds of marriage, for I
am well aware of the embarrassment and trouble occasioned by women;
besides which, I have frequently read in our authors of their arts, their
cunning, and their perfidy. Perhaps I may not always remain of this opinion;
at any rate I feel, that I should require a considerable length of time to
induce me to agree to what your majesty requires of me.”

This answer of the prince extremely afflicted the sultan his father. This
monarch felt real grief at finding in his son so great a repugnance to
matrimony. He did not, however, think proper to treat it as disobedience,
nor to make use of the authority of a parent; he contented himself with
saying, “I will not use any undue influence over you on this subject; I give
you time to think of it, and to consider, that a prince, destined as you are to
govern a large kingdom, ought in the first place to turn his thoughts to
provide a successor in his own family. In giving yourself this satisfaction
you will afford me a very great one, who shall love to see myself live over
again in you and in the children, who are to prolong my race.”

Schahzaman said no more to prince Camaralzaman. He allowed him free

entrance to the councils of state, and in every other respect gave him reason
to be satisfied with his conduct towards him. At the expiration of a year he
took him aside; “Well, my son,” said he, “have you remembered to make
your reflections on the design I formed last year, of marrying you? Will you
still refuse me the joy I should experience from your compliance with my
wishes, and do you intend that I should die without experiencing this
satisfaction?”

The prince appeared less discontented than on the former occasion, and
did not long hesitate to reply with firmness in these words, “I have not, sire,
omitted to reflect upon the subject; I gave it all the attention which it
deserves; but, after having maturely considered it; I am still more confirmed
in my resolution to live without any matrimonial engagement. In fact, the
numberless evils which women have from time immemorial been the
occasion of in the universe, as I have been well informed by our histories,
and the daily accounts I hear of their cunning and malice, are the motives
which determine me never to have any connexion with them. Therefore
your majesty will pardon me, if I dare to assure you, that any arguments you
may use, to endeavour to persuade me to marry, will be fruitless.” Here he
ceased, and left the presence of the sultan in an abrupt manner, without even
waiting for him to return an answer.

Any other monarch besides Schahzaman would with difficulty have

restrained himself from using violence, after the rude and obstinate way in
which the prince, his son, had expressed himself, and would have ordered
him some punishment; but he tenderly loved him, and wished to employ
every gentle means of persuasion before he had recourse to more rigid
methods. He communicated this new cause of sorrow which Camaralzaman
had given to him, to his prime minister. “I have followed your advice,” said
he, “but my son is still more adverse to matrimony than he was the first
time I spoke to him on the subject; and he explained himself in such a
determined manner, that I needed all my reason and moderation to restrain
my anger. Fathers who pray for children as ardently as I did, are madmen
and fools, who seek to deprive themselves of that repose and quiet which
they might otherwise have tranquilly enjoyed. Tell me, I entreat you, by
what means I can reclaim a mind so rebellious to my desires.”

“Sire,” replied the grand vizier, “a great many things are accomplished
through the medium of patience; perhaps this may not be of a nature to be
conquered by such means; but your majesty will not have to reproach
yourself with being too precipitate, if you consent to allow the prince
another year to form his determination. If, during this interval, he does not
return to his duty, you will have a much greater satisfaction in the
consciousness of having employed no method, but that of paternal kindness,
to obtain his consent. If, on the contrary, he persists in his obstinacy, then,
when the year is expired, I think your majesty will be fully justified in
declaring to him, before the whole council, that the good of the state
requires his marriage. It is not possible that he should be wanting in respect
towards you before an assembly of enlightened and celebrated men, which
you honour with your presence.”

The sultan, who so passionately and ardently wished to see his son
married, that so long a delay appeared ages to him, had some difficulty in
consenting to wait so much longer. He, however, was persuaded by the
arguments of the grand vizier, which he could neither contradict nor
disapprove.

When the prime minister had retired, the sultan Schahzaman went to the
apartment of the mother of prince Camaralzaman, to whom he had long
since imparted the ardent desire he had of marrying his son. When he had
related to her the painful disappointment he had just met with from his
second refusal, and also the indulgence he still intended to grant him by the
advice of his grand vizier, he added, “I know, madam, that he has more
confidence in you than in me, that you converse with him, and that he
listens to you with more familiarity; I entreat you, therefore, to take an
opportunity to speak to him seriously on this subject; and to make him
sensible, that if he persists in his obstinacy, he will oblige me at last to have
recourse to extremities, which I should be sorry to adopt, and which would
make him repent of his disobedience.”

Fatima, for this was the name of the prince’s mother, informed
Camaralzaman, the first time she had any conversation with him, that she
had been acquainted with his fresh refusal to marry, which he had testified
to the sultan; and expressed herself much chagrined at his having
occasioned his father so great a cause for anger. “Madam,” replied
Camaralzaman, “do not, I entreat you, renew my grief on this affair; I fear,
that in my present state of mind, I might be guilty of saying something
disrespectful to you.” Fatima knew by this answer, that the wound was too
recent to continue the subject; she therefore dropped it for the present.
 Some time after this, Fatima thought she had met with an opportunity of
renewing it, and with more prospect of success in obtaining a hearing. “My
son,” said she, “if it be not painful to you, pray tell me what are the reasons
that have given you so great an aversion to marriage. If you have none
stronger than the art and wickedness of women, believe me, you could not
have chosen any more weak or unreasonable. I will not undertake the
defence of artful women, for that there are numbers of that description, I am
well persuaded; but it is the most flagrant injustice to accuse the whole sex
of this crime. Surely my son, you do not form your opinion from the few
examples which your books mention, and who have, I confess, occasioned
great disorder and confusion in the world; such, I will not attempt to justify;
but why, on the other hand, do not you remark also, the many monarchs,
sultans, and inferior princes, whose tyranny, barbarity, and cruelty excite the
deepest horror in those histories, which I have read as well as yourself. For
one woman, who has been guilty of such crimes, you will find a thousand
of these barbarians and tyrants. And do you think the poor women who
have the misfortune to be married to these wretches, and who are, perhaps,
good and prudent wives, can be very happy?”

“Madam,” replied Camaralzaman, “I do not doubt, that there is in the

world a great number of prudent, good, and virtuous women, of gentle
dispositions and good morals. Would to God they all resembled you! But
what deters me is the doubtful choice a man is obliged to make, when
marrying; or rather the dread, that he is often deprived of the liberty of
making that choice himself.

“Let us suppose,” continued he, “that I had consented to form a

matrimonial engagement, as the sultan my father so impatiently wishes;
what wife would he give me? a princess, in all probability, whom he would
request of some neighbouring prince, and who would, no doubt, think it a
great honor. Handsome or ugly, she must be received; but even supposing
she excels every other princess in beauty, who can ensure that her mind will
be equal to her person? That she will be gentle, obliging, affable, and
engaging? that her conversation will not be frivolous; of dress, of
ornaments, of appearance, and a thousand other trifles, which must create
contempt in a man of good sense? In a word, that she is not proud, haughty,
irascible, disdainful, and one who will ruin a whole kingdom by her
frivolous expenses in dresses, jewels, trinkets, or in tasteless and empty
magnificence.

“Now you see, madam, on one subject only, how many things there are to
give rise to my antipathy to matrimony; but even if this princess be so
perfect and so accomplished, that she is irreproachable on all these points, I
have a great number of reasons still stronger than any I have expressed, to
make me continue in the same opinion, and adhere to my resolution.”

“What, my son!” exclaimed Fatima, “can you add more objections to

those you have already stated? I was going to answer you, and refute your
arguments with one word.”—“That need not prevent you, madam,” replied
the prince, “I shall probably have some reply to make to your answers.”

“I was going to say, my son,” resumed Fatima, “that it is easy for a prince,
who should have the misfortune to marry a princess, such as you describe,
to leave her, and also to adopt such measures as might prevent her ruining
the state.”

“Well, madam,” said prince Camaralzaman, “and do you not consider

what a cruel mortification it must be to a prince to be under the necessity of
having recourse to such extremities? Is it not much better both for his peace
of mind, and for his reputation, not to expose himself to it?”

“But, my son,” replied Fatima, “from the way you treat this matter, I
conclude that you intend to be the last king of the race from which you are
descended; and which has so gloriously filled the throne of the island of the
children of Khaledan.”

“Madam,” continued the prince, “I have no wish of surviving the king my

father. Even should I die before him, he ought not to be surprised, since
there are so many examples of children dying before their parents. But it is
always glorious for a race of kings to finish with a prince so worthy of
being a sovereign as I should endeavour to be, by imitating my predecessors
and him, with whom the line began.”

After this, Fatima frequently had conversations of the same nature with
the prince, her son: and she left no means untried, by which she hoped to
eradicate his aversion. But he confuted all the reasons she could produce,
by others equally strong, to which she knew not what to reply; and he
remained unshaken in his determination.

The year passed on, and prince Camaralzaman, to the great regret of the
sultan Schahzaman, did not show the least appearance of having altered his
sentiments. At length one day, when the grand council met, and the first
vizier, the other viziers, the principal officers of the crown, and the generals
of the army were assembled, the sultan thus addressed the prince: “It is now
a long time, my son, since I expressed to you the anxious desire I have of
seeing you married: and I expected from you a greater attention to the
wishes of a father who required of you nothing but what was reasonable.
After so long a resistance on your part, which has entirely exhausted my
patience, I now repeat the same thing to you, in the presence of my council.
It is not only, that by persisting in your refusal, you disoblige your father,
but the welfare of my dominions requires your compliance, and all these
nobles join with me in requesting it. Declare your sentiments before them,
that from the answer you make me, I may know what measures to adopt.

Prince Camaralzaman answered with so little temper, or rather with so

much warmth, that the sultan, justly irritated by the behaviour of his son
before the full council, exclaimed, “What, undutiful son! have you the
insolence to speak thus to your father and your sultan?” He immediately
ordered him to be arrested by the officers present, and to be conducted to an
ancient tower which had been long neglected, where he was confined, with
only a bed and very little furniture, a few books, and one slave to attend
him.

Camaralzaman, satisfied with having the liberty of amusing himself with

his books, looked on his imprisonment with indifference. Towards evening,
he washed himself, repeated his prayers, and after having read some
chapters in the Koran with the same tranquillity as if he had been in his own
apartment in the palace of the sultan, he lay down without extinguishing his
lamp, which he left by his bed’s side, and fell asleep.

In this tower there was a well, which, during the day, formed a retreat for
a fairy, called Maimounè, the daughter of Damriat, the king or chief of a
legion of Genii. It was about midnight when Maimounè lightly darted to the
top of the well, to prepare for her nightly excursion, as was her usual
custom, and wander about the world, wherever curiosity might lead her. She
was much surprised to see a light in the chamber of Camaralzaman. She
entered it; and without being stopped by the slave, who was stationed at the
door, she approached the bed, the magnificence of which attracted her
attention, but her surprise was much increased, at observing that somebody
was in it.

Camaralzaman’s face was half concealed by the covering of the bed.

Maimounè raised it a little, and beheld the handsomest youth she had ever
seen in any part of the habitable world, through all of which she had
frequently traversed. “What brilliancy,” said she to herself, “or rather what a
prodigy of beauty must those eyes display, when no longer concealed, as
they now are, by such well-formed eye-lids! What cause can he have given
to be treated in a manner so unworthy of his rank?” for she had already
heard of his disgrace, and did not doubt who it was.

Maimounè could not cease admiring the beauty of prince Camaralzaman;

at length, however, having gently kissed him on the cheek, and on the
middle of his forehead, without waking him, she replaced the covering as it
was before, and took her flight through the air. When she had risen very
high towards the middle region, she was suddenly struck with the sound of
wings, which inclined her to fly to the quarter from whence it came. On
approaching she found it to be a Genius, who occasioned the noise; but one
of those who had rebelled against God. Maimounè was, on the contrary, one
of those, whom the great Solomon had compelled to acknowledge his
power.

This Genius, who was named Danhasch, and who was the son of
Schamhourasch, recognised Maimounè, though not without very great
terror. In fact, he knew that she possessed considerable superiority over
him, in consequence of her submission to God. He would fain, therefore,
have avoided this meeting, but he found he was so close to her, that he must
either encounter a battle, or submit.

Danhasch was the first to speak; “Good Maimounè,” said he, in a

supplicating tone, “swear to me, by the great name of God, that you will not
hurt me, and I promise you on my part not to annoy you.”
 “Cursed Genius,” cried Maimounè, “what harm canst thou do to me? I
fear thee not. But I will grant thee this favor, and I make the oath thou
requirest. Now tell me whence thou comest, what thou hast seen, and what
thou hast done this night?”—“Beautiful lady,” replied Danhasch, “we meet
opportunely for you to hear something wonderful. Since you wish it, I will
tell you that I come from the extremity of China, where its coast overlooks
the farthest islands of this hemisphere. But, charming Maimounè,”
interrupted Danhasch, who trembled with fear in the presence of this fairy,
and had some difficulty in speaking before her, “you promise at least to
forgive me, and to permit me to depart, when I shall have satisfied your
curiosity?”

“Go on, go on, wretch,” replied Maimounè, “and fear nothing. Dost thou
think I am as perfidious as thyself, and that I am capable of breaking the
terrible oath I have taken? take care only to relate nothing but what is true;
otherwise I will cut thy wings, and shall treat thee as thou deservest.”

Danhasch felt a little relieved by these words of Maimounè; “my dear

lady,” continued he, “I will tell you nothing but what is very true; have but
the goodness to listen to me. The country of China, from whence I come, is
one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms in the world; and attached to
it are the most extreme isles of this hemisphere, of which I spoke just now.
The present king is named Gaiour, who has an only daughter, the most
beautiful creature that ever was beheld on earth, since this world has been a
world. Neither you, nor I, nor the genii of your party, nor of mine, nor all
mankind put together, can find proper terms, words sufficiently expressive,
or eloquence suited to convey the most distant idea of what she is in reality.
Her hair is of a fine brown, and of such a length, that it reaches below her
feet, and in such abundance, that when she wears it in curls on her head, it
resembles a fine bunch of grapes, of which the fruit is of an extraordinary
size. Under her hair appears her well-formed forehead, as smooth as the
finest polished mirror; her eyes even with it, a brilliant black, and full of
fire; the nose, neither too long nor too short; the mouth small and tinted
with vermillion; her teeth are like two rows of pearls, which surpass the
finest in whiteness; and when she opens her mouth to speak, she utters a
sweet and agreeable voice, and expresses herself in words which prove the
liveliness of her wit. The most beautiful alabaster is not whiter than her
bosom. In short, by this feeble sketch, you may easily suppose, that there is
not a more perfect beauty in the world.

“Whoever is not well acquainted with the king her father would imagine,
from the various proofs of affection he is continually giving her, that he is
enamoured of her. The most tender lover was never known to do so much
for the most beloved mistress, as he has done for his daughter. In fact, the
most violent jealousy never invented so much, as his care to render her
inaccessible to every one, except the fortunate person who is destined to
marry her; and that she might not feel the retreat irksome, to which he has
confined her, he has had seven palaces built for her, which surpass in
magnificence every thing that was ever heard of.

“The first palace is composed of rock crystal, the second of bronze, the
third of the finest steel, the fourth of another kind of bronze, more precious
than either the first or steel, the fifth of touchstone, the sixth of silver, and
the seventh of massive gold. He has furnished them in the most sumptuous
style, each in a manner appropriate to the materials of which it is built. Nor
has he forgotten to embellish the gardens, which are attached to them, with
every thing that can delight the senses; smooth lawns, or pastures enamelled
with flowers; fountains, canals, cascades; groves thickly planted with trees,
through which the rays of the sun never penetrate, and all differently
disposed in each garden. In short, King Gaiour’s paternal love alone has
induced him to incur this enormous expence.

“The fame of this princess’s incomparable beauty has induced the most
powerful of the neighbouring kings to demand her in marriage by the most
solemn embassies. The King of China received all their proposals with the
same degree of ceremony; but as he had determined not to marry the
princess except with her own entire consent; and as she did not approve of
any of the offers made her, the ambassadors returned unsuccessful with
respect to the purport of their mission, yet all highly gratified by the
civilities and attentions they had received.

“Sire,” would the princess say to the king of China, “you wish to marry
me, and you think by so doing to make me happy. I know your motive, and
feel obliged to you for your kindness. But where should I find such superb
palaces and such delicious gardens, unless in the territories of your
majesty? Added to which, by your goodness, I am under no restraint, and I
receive the same honors as are paid to your own person. These are
advantages which I should not enjoy in any other part of the world,
whatever prince I might be united to. Husbands ever will be masters, and I
am not of a disposition to brook command.”

“After several fruitless embassies, one at last arrived from a king, who
was richer and more powerful than any who had before applied. The king of
China proposed him to his daughter, and enlarged on all the advantages
which would result from such an alliance. The princess entreated him to
dispense with her compliance, urging the same reasons as on former
occasions.

“He pressed her to accede; but instead of obeying, she forgot the respect
due to the king, her father, and angrily replied, ‘Sire, speak to me no more
of this, nor of any other marriage; if you persist in your importunities, I will
plunge a dagger in my heart, and thus free myself from them.’

“The king of China, extremely irritated against the princess, replied, ‘My
daughter, you are mad, and as such I must treat you.’ In fact, he had her
confined to an apartment in one of his palaces, and allowed her only ten old
women to associate with and attend on her, the principal of whom was her
nurse. Then, that the neighbouring kings, who had sent embassies to request
her, might not entertain any farther prospects of obtaining her, he
dispatched envoys to announce to them all her absolute determination
against marriage. And as he supposed that she really had lost her senses, he
commanded the same envoys to make known in each court, that, if there
were any physician sufficiently skilful to restore her, he should obtain her in
marriage as a recompense.

“Beautiful Maimounè,” continued Danhasch, “things are at present in this

situation, and I do not fail to go regularly every day to contemplate this
wonderful beauty, whom I should grieve to injure in the slightest degree,
notwithstanding my natural malicious inclinations. I entreat you to come
and see her; it is well worth the trouble. When you are convinced by your
own eyes that I do not tell an untruth, I am sure you will feel obliged to me
for having shown you a princess, who has no equal in beauty. I am ready to
conduct you to her, and you have only to command.”
 Instead of replying to Danhasch, Maimounè burst into a loud fit of
laughter, which continued for some time, and which very much astonished
Danhasch, who did not know to what cause to attribute it. Having at last
however composed herself, she said, “Yes, yes, thou thinkest to impose on
me. I thought thou wast going to tell me of something very surprising and
extraordinary, and thou talkest to me only of a blear-eyed wench. Fye, fye!
What wouldst thou say then, wretch, if thou hadst seen the beautiful prince I
have just been looking at, and whom I love as he deserves? He indeed is
rather different. Thou wouldst be mad for love of him.

“Amiable Maimounè,” replied Danhasch, “may I inquire who this prince

can be, whom you speak of?”—“Know,” said the fairy, “that nearly the
same thing has happened to him as to the princess thou hast been talking of.
The king his father would marry him by force; after long and repeated
importunities he has frankly declared, that he would not agree to it. For this
reason he is at this moment imprisoned in an ancient tower, where I take up
my abode, and where I have had an opportunity of admiring him.”

“I will not absolutely contradict you,” resumed Danhasch, “but, my dear

lady, you will give me leave, until I have seen your prince, to think, that no
mortal, either male or female, can equal, or even approach the beauty of my
princess.”—“Peace, wretch,” replied Maimounè, “I tell thee again that thou
art wrong.”—“I will not obstinately oppose you,” added Danhasch; “the
only means of convincing you whether I speak truth or not, is to accept the
proposal I have made you to come and see my princess, and afterwards to
show me your prince.”—“There is no occasion for me to take so much
trouble,” said Maimounè, “there is another method, by which we can both
be satisfied; that is to bring thy princess and place her by the side of my
prince on his bed. We can then easily compare them with each other, and
thus settle our dispute.”

Danhasch consented to do as the fairy desired, and was going instantly to

set off for China, but Maimounè stopped him; “Stay,” said she, “come with
me first, that I may show thee the tower where thou art to bring thy
princess.” They flew together to the tower, and when Maimounè had shown
it to Danhasch, she said, “Now go and fetch thy princess; be quick, and thou
wilt find me here. But listen, I intend thou shalt pay me a forfeit if my
prince turns out to be handsomer than thy princess. I will also pay thee one,
if thy princess is the most beautiful.”

Danhasch, having quitted the Fairy, flew to China, and returned with
inconceivable swiftness, bearing the beautiful princess along with him fast
asleep. Maimounè received her, and introduced her into the chamber of
prince Camaralzaman, where they placed her on the bed by his side.

When the prince and princess were thus close to each other, a grand
contest arose on the pre-eminence of their beauty, between the Genius and
the Fairy. They stood for some time admiring and comparing them in
silence. Danhasch was the first to speak: “Now you are convinced,” said he
to Maimounè, “I told you that my princess was more beautiful than your
prince. Have you any doubts remaining?”

“How! any doubts?” cried Maimounè, “Yes, truly I doubt it. Thou must
be blind not to see, that my prince is infinitely superior to thy princess. She
is beautiful, I confess; but do not hurry thyself: compare them well one with
the other, without prejudice, and then thou wilt see that it is as I say.”

“Were I to compare them for any length of time,” replied Danhasch, “I

should think no otherwise than I do. I saw what I now see from the first
glance, and time would show me no more than what is now visible to my
eyes. This, however, will not prevent me from giving up my judgment to
yours, charming Maimounè, if you wish it.”—“It shall not be so,”
interrupted the Fairy. “I will never suffer a cursed Genius, such as thou art,
to show me favor. I will submit the contest to an arbitrator, and if thou dost
not consent, I win the cause by your refusal.”

Danhasch, who was ready to show any degree of complaisance to

Maimounè, had no sooner consented, than the fairy struck the ground with
her foot. The earth opened, and instantly a hideous Genius appeared, who
was hunchbacked, lame, and blind with one eye; having six horns on his
head, and his hands and feet hooked. As soon as he was out, and the ground
had closed again, he perceived Maimounè, and threw himself at her feet;
and kneeling on one knee, he asked what she desired of his very humble
services.
 “Rise, Caschcasch,” said she, for this was the name of the Genius, “I sent
for you hither to be judge in a dispute, which exists between me and this
cursed Danhasch. Cast your eye on that bed, and tell us impartially, which
appears to you the most beautiful, the young man, or the young lady?”

Caschcasch looked very attentively at the prince and princess, and

showed every mark of great surprise and admiration. After having examined
them very accurately for a long time, without being able to make up his
mind; “Madam,” said he to Maimounè, “I confess to you, that I should
deceive you, and betray myself, if I were to tell you, that I thought one of
them more handsome than the other. The more I examine them, the more
each seems to me to have separately that sovereign perfection of beauty
which they jointly possess: and neither has the least defect, which we can
assert the other to be free from, and consequently superior. If there be, in
truth, any difference between them, there seems to be only one mode of
discovering that difference. And this mode is, to wake them one after the
other, and to agree, that the person who feels for the other the most violent
love, and proves it by the strongest and most ardent expressions, as well as
by the general conduct, shall be considered in some point or other to be less
beautiful.”

The proposal of Caschcasch was approved of, both by Maimounè and

Danhasch. Maimounè then changed herself into a flea, and jumped upon the
neck of Camaralzaman. She gave him so sharp a bite, that he awoke, and
put his hand to the place, but he caught nothing, for Maimounè, prepared
for this, had jumped away, and taking her original form, invisible, however,
like the other two Genii, to all but themselves, stood by in order to witness
what was going forward.

In drawing back his hand, the prince let it fall upon that of the princess of
China. He opened his eyes and expressed great surprise at seeing a lady by
the side of him; and one, too, who possessed such beauty. He lifted his head
up and supported it on his elbow, in order the better to observe her. The
great youth of the princess, joined to her incomparable beauty, kindled in an
instant a flame in his heart, to which he had hitherto been a stranger, and
excited sensations which he had till now looked upon with aversion.
 A passion of the most animated kind now occupied his soul; and he could
not help exclaiming, “What beauty! what charms! Oh my heart, my soul,”
and saying this, he kissed her forehead, her cheeks, and her lips, with so
little precaution, that it must have broken her slumbers, if she had not,
through the enchantment of Danhasch, slept more soundly than usual.

“What, my beautiful creature,” said the prince, “will not these marks of
the love of Camaralzaman disturb your repose? Whoever you may be, he is
not unworthy of your affection.” He was then going to wake her in good
earnest, but he suddenly stopped himself, “There cannot be a doubt,” he
exclaimed, “but that this is the person to whom the sultan, my father,
wished to marry me. He has been much to blame, not to let me see her
sooner; I should not then have offended him, both by my disobedience, and
my public behaviour towards him; and he would thus have spared himself
the contusion which I have caused him.” Prince Camaralzaman repented
most heartily of the fault he had been guilty of; and was again upon the
point of waking the princess of China, “perhaps indeed,” added he, “the
sultan, my father, wished to surprise me; and has therefore sent this lady to
ascertain whether I really have so great an aversion to marriage as I have
always shown. Who knows if he may not have brought her here himself,
and may even now be concealed, in order to see how I conduct myself, and
make me ashamed of my former dissimulation. This second fault would be
much worse than my first; I will therefore satisfy myself with this ring in
remembrance of her.”

The princess of China had a very beautiful ring on her finger; and as the
prince concluded his speech, he drew it quietly, and put one of its own in its
place. He then turned his back, and it was not long before, through the
enchantment of the Genii, he fell into as deep a sleep as he was in at first.

As soon as prince Camaralzaman’s eyes were completely closed,

Danhasch, in his turn, transformed himself into a flea, and bit the princess
directly under her lip. She awoke suddenly, and starting up opened her eyes:
how great was her astonishment at finding herself in bed with a man. From
surprise, she passed to admiration; and from admiration to excess of joy,
which was very apparent as soon as she saw that it was a young, handsome,
and well-made man.
 “What!” she exclaimed, “are you the person, whom the king, my father,
has destined for my husband? How unfortunate am I at not having known
this before! I should then never have been deprived for so long a time of a
husband, whom it is impossible not to love with my whole soul. Awake, and
rouse yourself; it but ill becomes a husband to sleep thus soundly on the
very first night of his nuptials.”

Having said this, the princess shook prince Camaralzaman by the arm in
so violent a manner, that he must have awoke, if Maimounè had not at that
very instant heightened his sleep by means of enchantment. She shook him
in this manner several times; then, as she found she could not prevent him
from sleeping, she called out, “What can possibly have happened to you?
What rival, jealous of our mutual happiness, has had recourse to magic; and
thus thrown you into this insurmountable fit of stupefaction, from whence it
seems almost impossible you should ever be roused.” She then took hold of
his hand, and tenderly kissing it, she perceived the ring which he had on his
finger. It appeared so like her own, that she was convinced it was the very
same; and at the same moment observed, that she herself had on a different
one. She could not comprehend how this exchange had been effected; but
she did not for an instant doubt, that it was a sure proof of her marriage.
Fatigued with the useless efforts she had made to wake him; and satisfied,
as she thought, that he could not leave her; “Since I am unable to rouse you
out of your sleep,” she cried, “I will continue no longer to attempt to
interrupt it. We shall see each other again.” Then kissing his cheek as she
pronounced these last words, she lay down, and in a short time fell asleep.”

When Maimounè perceived that she might speak without any danger of
waking the princess of China; “Well, wretch,” she said to Danhasch, “hast
thou observed, then, and art thou convinced, that thy princess is less
beautiful than my prince? Get along, I forgive thee the wager thou hast lost;
but another time, believe me, when I assert any thing.” Then turning
towards Caschcasch, “As for you,” added she, “I thank you. Do you and
Danhasch take the princess, and carry her to her bed, where he brought her
from.” Danhasch and Caschcasch executed the orders of Maimounè, while
the latter retired to her well.
 When prince Camaralzaman awoke the next morning, he looked on each
side of him to see if the lady, whom he had found by him in the night, was
still there; but when he perceived she was gone, he said to himself, “It is as
I suspected; the king, my father, wished to surprise me: I am, however,
happy that I was aware of it.” He then called the slave, who was still asleep,
and desired him to make haste and dress himself, without saying a word to
him on what account he was in such a hurry. The slave brought a bason and
water; the prince then washed himself, and after saying his prayers, he took
a book and continued to read for some time.

After he had thus finished his usual occupations, Camaralzaman called

the slave towards him, “Come here,” he said, “and be sure you do not tell
me a falsehood. Inform me how the lady, who slept with me last night,
came here, and who brought her.”

“Prince,” replied the slave, in the greatest astonishment, “of what lady are
you speaking?”—“Of her, I tell you,” answered the prince, “who either
came or was brought here, and who passed the night with me.”—“Prince,”
returned the slave, “I swear to you, that I know nothing about the matter.
How could any lady possibly get in, as I slept at the door?”—“Thou art a
lying rascal,” replied the prince, “and art in league with some one to vex
and distress me.” Saying this he gave him a blow, and knocked him down;
then, after having trampled on him, he tied the rope of the well round his
body, and let him down into it, and plunged him several times in the water:
“I will drown thee,” cried he, “if thou dost not immediately acquaint me
who the lady is, and who brought her.”

The poor slave extremely embarrassed, and half in and half out of the
water, thought the prince had certainly lost his senses through grief, and that
he could only escape by telling an untruth. “Prince,” said he, in a
supplicating tone, “grant me my life, I conjure you, and I promise to tell
you exactly how the matter stands.”

The prince drew up the slave, and commanded him to speak. When he
was out of the well, “Prince,” said the slave, trembling, “You must be
sensible that I cannot satisfy you in the state I am now in; allow me time to
change my dress.”—“I grant it thee,” replied the prince, “but be quick; and
take care thou dost not disguise the truth from me.”
 The slave went out, and after having fastened the door on the prince, he
ran to the palace, wet as he was. The king was engaged in conversation with
his grand vizier; and was complaining of the restless night he had passed in
consequence of the disobedience and ill-judged rashness of the prince his
son, in thus opposing his will.

The minister endeavoured to console him, and convince him, that the
prince, by his disrespectful behaviour, had justly merited the punishment he
endured; “Sire,” said he, “your majesty ought not to repent of having
arrested him. If you will have the patience to suffer him to remain in prison,
you may be assured that he will lose this youthful impetuosity, and that he
will at length submit to whatever you may require of him.”

The grand vizier had just uttered these words, when the slave presented
himself before king Schahzaman: “Sire,” said he, “I am sorry to be obliged
to announce to your majesty a piece of intelligence that will no doubt
occasion you great sorrow. What the prince says of a lady, who slept with
him last night, together with the manner in which he treated me, as your
majesty may perceive, too plainly prove that he is not in his senses.” He
then gave a detail of every thing that prince Camaralzaman had said, and of
the excesses he had committed on his person, in terms which confirmed the
truth of the account.

The king, who was not prepared for this new cause for affliction,
exclaimed to the grand vizier, “This is, indeed, an incident of the most
distressing nature, and very different from the hopes you flattered me with
just now. Go, lose not a moment, and examine yourself the whole of this
affair, and then come and inform me of what you discover.” The grand
vizier immediately obeyed. When he entered the chamber of the prince, he
found him seated with a book in his hand, which he was reading with
apparent composure. He saluted him: and seating himself by his side, “I am
very angry with the slave that attends you,” said he, “for having alarmed
your father by the intelligence he has just now brought him.”—“What is
this intelligence,” inquired the prince, “that has occasioned my father so
much alarm? I have much more reason to complain of my slave.”

“Prince,” replied the vizier, “Heaven avert that what he has just said of
you be true! The tranquil state in which I find you, and in which may God
preserve you, convinces me there is no truth in his report.”—“Perhaps,”
replied the prince, “he has not explained himself properly; but as you are
here, I am glad to have an opportunity of asking you, who must know
something about the matter, where the lady is who slept with me last night.”

The grand vizier was quite astonished at this inquiry. “Prince,” said he,
“do not be surprised at the astonishment you see me in at this question.
How can it be possible, not only that any lady, but that any man whatever,
could have penetrated into this place in the night, to which there is no other
entrance but by the door, and even then he must trample over your slave,
who was guarding it? I entreat you to collect your thoughts, and I am
persuaded you will find it is only a dream that has left a strong impression
on your mind.”

“I shall pay no attention to your arguments,” resumed the prince, in a

more elevated tone of voice: “I will absolutely know what is become of this
lady; I am here in a situation to make you obey me.” This firmness of
speech and manner embarrassed the grand vizier more than can be
expressed; and he now only thought of the best means to extricate himself.
He tried the prince with gentle means, and asked him, in the most humble
and conciliating manner, if he had himself seen the lady.

“Yes, yes,” replied the prince, “I saw her, and soon perceived that you had
instructed her in ways to tempt me. She played the part you allotted her
vastly well; not to say a word, to pretend to sleep, and to take herself away,
as soon as I fell asleep again. You know it all, I dare say; she has not failed
giving you an account of the whole transaction.”—“Prince,” resumed the
grand vizier, “I swear to you, that all you have been relating was unknown
to me, and that neither the king, your father, nor I, sent you the lady you
mention; we should never have had such an idea. Allow me once more to
say, that this lady could only appear to you in a dream.”

“You come to mock me too,” cried the prince angrily, “and to tell me that
what I have seen was only a dream!” He then seized him by the beard, and
beat him most unmercifully, till his strength quite failed him. The poor
grand vizier bore all this treatment from prince Camaralzaman very
respectfully. “Here am I,” said he to himself, “precisely in the same
situation as the slave; happy shall I be, if, like him, I can escape from so
great a danger.”’ While the prince was still employed in beating him, he
cried, “I entreat you, prince, to listen to me for one moment.” The prince,
tired of this occupation, suffered him to speak.

“I own to you, prince,” said the grand vizier, as soon as he had liberty to
speak, “that your suspicions are not unfounded; but you well know, that a
minister is compelled to execute the orders of the king his master. If you
will have the goodness to suffer me to go, I am ready to take any message
to him with which you will entrust me.”—“I give you leave to go,” replied
the prince. “Tell my father that I will marry the lady whom he sent, or
brought me, and who slept with me last night. Be expeditious, and bring me
the answer.” The grand vizier made a profound reverence on quitting him;
but he could hardly be satisfied of his safety, till he was out of the tower,
and had fastened the door after him. He presented himself before king
Schahzaman with an air of sorrow which alarmed him. “Well,” said the
monarch, “in what state did you find my son?”—

“Sire,” replied the vizier, “what the slave related to your majesty is but
too true.” He then gave him an account of the conversation he had had with
Camaralzaman, of the rage the prince had been in, when he attempted to
convince him that the lady he spoke of could not possibly have slept with
him, of the cruel treatment he had met with from him, and of the excuse by
which he had escaped from his fury.

Schahzaman, who was the more grieved at this circumstance, as he had

always loved the prince with the greatest tenderness, wished to investigate
the truth of it himself: he repaired to the tower, and took the grand vizier
with him. Prince Camaralzaman received his father with the greatest
respect. The king sat down, and having made the prince sit next him, he
asked him many questions, to which he replied with perfect good sense, and
from time to time he looked at the vizier, as if to say, that the prince, his
son, was not deranged in his intellects as he had asserted; but that he must
himself be deficient in this respect.

At length the king mentioned the lady. “My son,” said he, “I beg you to
tell me who this lady is, who they say slept with you last night.”—“Sire,”
replied Camaralzaman, “I entreat your majesty not to add to the vexation I
have already encountered on this subject; rather do me the favor to bestow
her on me in marriage. Whatever aversion I may hitherto have evinced
against women, this young and beautiful lady has so charmed me, that I feel
no difficulty in avowing my weakness. I am ready to receive her from your
hands, with the deepest sense of my obligation to you.”

King Schahzaman was thunder-struck at this answer from the prince,

which, as it appeared to him, was so inconsistent with the good sense he
had shown in former answers. “You speak to me in a way, my son,” said he,
“that astonishes me beyond measure. I swear to you, by the crown which is
to adorn your brow when I shall be no more, that I know nothing of the lady
you talk of. I have not been accessary to her visit, if any one has been with
you; but, how is it possible that she should have penetrated into this tower
without my consent? as to what my grand vizier said to you, he only
invented a story to appease you. It must have been a dream; recollect
yourself, I conjure you, and be careful to ascertain the fact.”

“Sire,” resumed the prince, “I should be for ever unworthy of the

goodness of your majesty, if I refused to give faith to the solemn assurance
you have given me; but I request you to have the patience to listen to me,
and then judge, if what I shall have the honor of relating to you can be a
dream.”

Prince Camaralzaman then told the king, his father, in what manner he
had waked in the night. He gave him an exaggerated description of the
beauty and charms of the lady he had found by his side, confessed the love
which had so instantaneously inflamed his breast, and related all his
fruitless endeavours to awaken her. He did not even conceal what had made
him awake; and that he fell asleep again after he had made the exchange of
his ring for that of the lady. When he concluded, he took the ring from his
finger, and presented it to the king, “Sire,” added he, “mine is not unknown
to you, for you have seen it several times. After this, I hope you will be
convinced that I have not lost my senses, as they would fain persuade you is
the case.”

The king was so fully convinced of the truth of what the prince had
recounted to him, that he had nothing to reply. Added to which, his
astonishment was so excessive, that he remained a considerable time
incapable of uttering a single word.
 The prince took advantage from these moments of silent wonder. “Sire,”
continued he, “the passion I feel for this charming person, whose precious
image is so deeply engraven on my heart, has already risen to so violent a
pitch, that I am sure I have not strength to endure it. I humbly supplicate
you to feel compassion for the state I am in, and to procure me the
unspeakable happiness of possessing and calling her mine.”

“After what I have now heard, my son,” replied king Schahzaman, “and
what I see by this ring, I can no longer doubt the reality of your love, and
that you did absolutely see the lady who gave birth to it. Would to God I
knew her! You should be gratified this very day, and I should be the
happiest of fathers. But where am I to seek her? How, and by what means,
could she enter here, without either my consent or knowledge? Why did she
come only to sleep with you, to show you her beauty, to inflame you with
love while she slept, and disappear as soon as you fell asleep again? I
cannot comprehend this strange adventure, and if Heaven does not assist us,
it will be the means of reducing both you and me to the grave.” He then
took the prince by the hand, and added, in a mournful accent, “Come, my
son, let us go and mingle our lamentations together; you, for loving without
hope; I, for seeing your affliction, without possessing the means of relieving
it.”

Schahzaman took the prince out of his prison, and conducted him to the
palace, where the prince, quite in despair at feeling so violent a passion for
an unknown lady, instantly took to his bed. The king shut himself up from
all society for several days, to weep with his son, and desisted entirely from
attending to the usual concerns of his kingdom.

His prime minister, who was the only one to whom he had allowed free
entrance, came one day to represent to him, that his whole court, as well as
the people, began to murmur at not seeing him, as usual, administering
justice, as was his daily custom; and that he would not be answerable for
the discontents and disorders that might arise in consequence of his
seclusion. “I entreat your majesty,” continued he, “to pay some attention to
these complaints. I am persuaded, that your presence only serves to nourish
the affliction of the prince, as his presence increases yours; but you must
not suffer every thing to go to decay. Allow me to propose to you, to
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