Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 1.djvu/14

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muſt anſwer, I will take no Denial. Schahzenan not being able to withſtand thoſe preſſing Inſtances, anſwer’d; Well then, Brother, I will ſatisfy you, ſince you command me; and having told him the Story of the Queen of Samarcande’s Treachery; This, ſays he, was the Cauſe of Grief; pray judge, whether I had not Reaſon enough to give myſelf up to it.

O! My Brother, ſays the Sultan, in a Tone which ſhew’d that he had the fame Sentiments of the Matter with the King of Tartary: What a horrible Story do you tell me: How impatient was I, till I heard it out! I commend you for puniſhing the Traitors, who put ſuch an Outrage upon you. No body can blame you for that Action; it was juſt, and for my part, had the Caſe been mine, I ſhould ſcarce have been fo moderate as you. I ſhould not have fatisfy’d my ſelf with the Life of one Woman, I verily think I ſhould have ſacrificed a 1000 to my Fury. I ceaſe now to wonder at your Melancholy. The Cauſe of it was too ſenſible, and too mortifying. not to make you yield to it. O Heaven! What a ſtrange Adventure! Not I believe the like on’t ever befel any Man, but yourſelf. But in ſhort, I muſt bleſs God, who has comtorted you; and ſince I doubt not but your Conſolation is well-grounded; be ſo good as to let me know what it is, and conceil nothing from me. Schahzeran was not ſo eaſily prevail’d upon in this Point, as he had been in the other, becauſe of his Brother’s Concern in it. But being obliged to yield to his preſſing Inſtances, anſwer’d, I muſt obey you then, ſince your Command is abſolute; yet am afraid that my Obedience will occaſion your Trouble to be greater than ever mine was. But you muſt blame your ſelf for it, ſince you force me to reveal a thing, which I ſhould otherwiſe have buried in eternal Oblivion. What you ſay, anſwers Schahriar, ſerves only to encreaſe my Curioſity. Make haſte to diſcover the Secret, whatever it be. The King of Tartary being no longer able to refuſe, gave him the Particulars of all that he had ſeen of the Blacks in Diſguiſe, of the lewd Paſſion of the Sultaneſs and her Ladies; and to be ſure he did not forget Maſoud. After having been Witneſs to thoſe infamous Actions, ſays he, I believed all Women to

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