The Pearl and the Black Serpent

I went straight to the serpent, around its lodging I settled until it was going to slumber and sleep, that I might clutch my pearl from it. Then I became single and alone, to my fellow-lodgers I became a stranger.

But in some way or another, they perceived that I was not of their country. So they mingled their deceit with me, and they made me eat their food. I forgot that I was a son of kings, and I served their king. And I forgot the pearl, on account of which my parents had sent me. Because of the burden of their exhortations, I fell into a deep sleep.