Ahubal was encouraged by the words of Ollomand; and the enchanter, having opened his design to the Prince, invited him to behold the riches of his castle.
Passing through the hall of bones, they descended into a square court, much more spacious than the former, in the middle of which appeared a deep and dark pit. This court contained four hundred massive gates of brass, and each gate was supported by nine enormous hinges of the same metal.
As Ollomand the enchanter entered this court, with the Prince Ahubal in his hand, he lifted up his voice, which echoed like thunder amidst the lofty turrets of the castle, and commanded his slaves to expose to the sight of Ahubal the treasures of their master.
The Prince Ahubal, who had seen no creature but the dwarf and the enchanter in the castle, wondered whence the slaves would come; but his wonder was shortly turned into fear when he beheld a gigantic black, with a club of ebony forty feet in length, arise out of the pit which was in the centre of the court.
But his horrors were increased when he perceived a succession of the same gigantic monsters following one another out of the pit, and advancing to the four hundred brazen gates, till every gate had a slave standing before it.
When Ollomand saw his slaves were all prepared before the gates, he bade them strike with their clubs of ebony against them.
The black slaves, in obedience to the enchanter's orders, lifted up their ponderous clubs of ebony, and struck against the four hundred gates, which jarred so much with the blows of the slaves that Ahubal was forced to stop his ears, and was ready to sink into the earth with astonishment and dread.
As soon as the black slaves of Ollomand had struck the four hundred gates of brass, the gates began to move, and the harsh creaking of the hinges sent forth a noise which alone had chilled the hearts of all the armies of Misnar, could they have heard them.
Ahubal then, lifting up his head, looked around the court, and saw the four hundred gates were opened. In those to the right were millions of wedges of gold and silver, piled beneath craggy arches of huge unchiselled stone. Opposite to these he beheld a hundred vaulted roofs, under which were sacks and bags of the gold and silver coin of many nations.