Page:Fairy tales from the Arabian nights.djvu/291

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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
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from the Indian's violence by the Sultan of Cashmire, as he was returning home from hunting; but how ill she was treated by his overhasty design to marry her that very day, without even asking her consent; that this violent and tyrannical conduct put her into a swoon, after which she thought she had no other way to save herself for the prince to whom she had given her heart and faith, and would rather die than marry the sultan, whom she neither loved, nor ever could.

Then the Prince of Persia asked her if she knew what had become of the horse after the Indian's death. To which she answered that she knew not what orders the sultan had given about it, but believed he would take care of it.

As Prince Firouz Schah never doubted that the sultan had the horse, he communicated to the princess his design of making use of it to carry them both back to Persia, and after they had consulted together on the measures they were to take, they agreed that the princess should next day receive the sultan civilly, but without speaking to him.

The Sultan of Cashmire was overjoyed when the Prince of Persia told him the effect his first visit had had on the Princess of Bengal. And the next day, when the princess received him in such a manner as persuaded him that her cure was far advanced, he looked upon the prince as the greatest physician in the world, and contented himself with telling her how rejoiced he was to see her so likely to recover her health. He exhorted her to follow the directions of so thoughtful a physician, and to complete what he had so well begun, and then retired, without waiting for her answer.

The Prince of Persia, who went with the Sultan of Cashmire out of the princess's chamber, asked him if, without failing in due respect, he might enquire how the Princess of Bengal came into the dominions of Cashmire thus alone, since her own country lay so far off? This he said on purpose to introduce some remark about the enchanted horse, and to know what had become of it.

The Sultan of Cashmire, who could not penetrate the Prince of Persia's motive for asking this question, concealed nothing, but told him much the same story as the Princess of Bengal had done: adding that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be kept safe