the King’s Son . SE 1093

“¢A man, madam,’ said I: ‘I have no correspondence with genies.’

‘By what adventure,’ said she, fetching a-deep sigh, ‘are you
come hither? I have lived here these twenty-five years, and never
saw any man but yourself during that time.’

Her great beauty, and the sweetness and civility wherewith she
received me, emboldened me to say to her, ‘Madam, before I have
the honour to satisfy your curiosity, give me leave to tell you that
I am infinitely pleased with this unexpected meeting, which offers
me an occasion of consolation in the midst of my affliction; and
perhaps it may give me an opportunity to make you also more
happy than you are.” I gave her a true account by what strange
accident she saw me, ‘the son of a king, in such a condition as I
then presented to her eyes; and how fortune directed that I should
discover the entrance into that magnificent prison where I had found :
her according to aprcarancss in an unpleasant situation.

‘Alas! prince, said she, sighing once more, ‘you have just
cause to believe this*rich and pompous prison cannot be otherwise
than a most wearisome abode; the most charming place in the
world being no way delightful hen we are detained there contrary
to our will. You have heard of the great Epitimarus, King of the

Isle of Ebony, so called from that precious wood, which it produces
in abundance: I am the princess his daughter.

‘The king, my father, had chosen for me a husband, a prince ~
that was my cousin; but in the midst of the rejoicing at the court,
before I was given to my husband, a genie took me away. I fainted
at the same moment, and lost my senses; and when I came to myself
again, I found myself in this place. I was for a long time incon-
solable, -but time and necessity have accustomed me tothe genie.
Twenty-five years, as I told you before, I have continued in this
place; where, I must confess, ] have ‘everything that I can wish
for necessary to life, and also everything that can Satisty. a princess
fond of dress and fashions.

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