“On hearing this conversation, I said to the two [ruffians] Gog and Magog, ’for God’s sake take some pity on me, I have still a spark of life left; when I die, do with me what you please; the dead are in the hands of the living; [372] but tell me what has happened to me; why have I been wounded, and who are you? pray explain thus much to me.’  They then having taken pity on me, said, ’The young man who is confined in the cage is the nephew of the king of this country; and his father was previously on the throne.  At the time of his death he gave this injunction to his brother:  ’My son, who is heir to my throne, is as yet young and inexperienced; do you continue to guide the affairs of state with zeal and prudence; when he is of age, marry your daughter to him, and make him master of the whole empire and treasury.’

“After saying this his majesty died, and the younger brother became king; he did not attend to the [late king’s] last injunctions; on the contrary, he gave it out that [his nephew was] mad and insane, and put him into a cage, and has placed such strict guards on the four sides of the garden that no bird can there flap its wing; and many a time he has administered to [his nephew] the poison called halahal; [373] but his life is stronger and the poison has had no effect.  Now the princess and this prince are lover and mistress; she is distracted at home, and he in the cage; she sent him a love-letter by your hands; the spies instantly conveyed intelligence [of this circumstance] to the king; a body of Abyssinians were ordered out and treated you thus.  The king has consulted his wazir on the means of putting to death this imprisoned prince, and that ungrateful wretch has persuaded the princess to kill the innocent prince with her own hands in the king’s presence.’

“I said, ’Let us go, that I may see this scene even in my dying moments.’  They at last agreed [to my request], and the two soldiers and myself, though wounded, went to the scene and stood in silence in a retired corner.  We saw the king seated on his throne; the princess held in her hand a naked sword; the prince was taken out of the iron cage, and made to stand before [the king]; the princess, becoming an executioner, advanced with the naked sword to kill her lover.  When she drew near the prince, she threw away the sword and embraced him.  Then that lover said to her, ’I am willing to die thus; here, indeed, I desire thee,—­there, also, I shall wish for thee.’ [374] The princess said, ‘I have come, under this pretext to behold thee.’  The king, on seeing this scene, became greatly enraged, and reproached the wazir, and said, ‘Hast thou brought me here to see this sight?’ The [princess’s] confidential servant separated the princess from the prince, and conducted her to the seraglio.  The wazir took up the sword, and flew with rage at the prince to end with one blow his unfortunate existence.  As he lifted up his arm to strike, an arrow from an unknown hand pierced his forehead, so that [his head] was cleft in twain, and he fell down.