CAMAKALZAMIAN AND babUUKA, a7 i

to compel me to marry when I had no wish of changing my
state ; this wish has at length taken possession of my breast, and
I will absolutely either marry the young man I told you of or kill
myself.” The king, having been informed of these proceedings,
lest she should commit violence on her own person, or on any
one who might approach her, had her chained and closely
confined ; and ordered that no one except her nurse shatld
attend her, and that a strong guard should be placed at her
door.

The nurse of the princess of China had a son, named Marza-
van, the foster-brother of the princess, whom she nursed and
brought up with her. Their friendship, during tneir infancy,
had been so intimate, that they treated each other as brother
and. sister as long as they lived together, anc even after their
more advanced age obliged them to be separated.

Among the various sciences which Marzavan had cultivated
from his earliest youth, his inclination had led him more parti-
cularly to the study of judicial astrology, geomancy, and other
secret sciences, in all of which he had made considerable pro-
ficiency. Not satisfied with the information he could obtain
from the masters under whose tuition he was, he began to travel
as soon as he felt himself sufficiently strong to bear the fatigue.
There was no one celebrated for learning in any science or art
whom he did not seek, even in the most distant countries, and
continue to associate with, until he had gained all the informa-
tion he required.

After an absence of several years, Marzavan at length returned
to the capital of China, and his first inquiry was about the health
of the princess, his foster-sister, whom he had not forgotten.
He was soon made acquainted with what occasioned him much
pain ; but he waited for his mother, the princess's nurse, to give
him full information of the whole affair. After having related to
him the pitiable state the princess was reduced to, Marzavan
asked his mother if she could not procure him a secret interview,
without the knowledge of the king. This the nurse promised to
obtain for him. In order the more readily to obtain Marzavan
the interview, the nurse dressed him in woman’s clothes, which
she explained to the princess. “Madam,” said she, “this is not
a woman whom you see; it is my son Marzavan, who is just
arrived from his travels, and whom I have found means to intro-