Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/138

 He told him, "The agreements, dear friend, must be observed. Your daughter has now come of marriageable age, and Feristeno is ready to take her as his wife. Therefore, I kindly pray you that they be married as soon as possible. To enable them, who love each other so passionately, to do this, will free them from a certain death. Giulla's father consented to this, he ordered a great feast and the wedding was solemnly celebrated.

Because of the marvelous beauty of the girl, her fame soon reached the ears of the king. While he had never seen her, he had nevertheless heard so much praise of her beauty that he decided to see her. And immediately he had his ministers call the aging fathers before him and ordered them that the children whose wedding had just been celebrated were to be brought without delay into his presence that very day. The order was forthwith obeyed by the good fathers and they went with the young couple, richly dressed according to their status, to the palace. They appeared before the king who realized that the bride was even more beautiful than he had imagined. He fell ardently in love with her and addressed Feristeno in this way, "I command you to provide yourself with another wife and leave this girl for my own person because I wish to avail myself of her for my own pleasure.