Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/124

 He met her smiling in his courtyard, took her by the hand and led her into his chamber. And because he was dressed in an ermine coat, when he approached her and placed his arms around her neck, he happened to cover her bosom with the ermine fur. She showed that she was greatly annoyed by this, so she said, "Sire, please, remove yourself a bit because the fur of your coat scratches my skin in a strange way and causes me great displeasure."

From these words the prince realized the wickedness and deceit of the young woman, and when he turned to the statue, he saw it laughing which confirmed her deception. But he concealed this. "You truly have," he said, "a very delicate body and since you feel so annoyed by the fur of my coat, it causes me to believe that with such a body your face must be even more delicate."

And he conversed with her in this way and walked with her towards a mirror which was in the room, facing it, near to her face. And when both of them looked at the mirror, she immediately covered her face with her hands and when the Prince asked why she did this, she said, "because no other man but you should ever see me." And because the prince was already aware of her falseness, he looked at the statue again and saw it laughing. Nevertheless, he concealed everything, and wanted to spend the night with the young woman. And early in the morning, he rose early and sent her back to her quarters above the kitchen.