Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/173

 He received a great deal of money from selling me to him and he returned to his country a rich man. The Prince immediately had me dressed in rich and precious clothing and in a short amount of time he was so ardently in love with me that, while I was only his slave, I could ask him anything I wanted. But because fortune doesn't show itself benign and favorable for too long to mortal beings, it so happened that when he took me on a hunt, I proposed to him to do what I was able to do, strike a deer in the foot and the ear with a single arrow.

Because I had carelessly said a few words about the strike which he felt were to brazen and had injured his honor, he suddenly became very angry and ordered his ministers to undress me, bind my hands behind me and take me into a nearby forest where wild animals would devour me at night. The ministers carried out the order, undressed me and left me at the mercy of fate. Miserable and sorrowful, fearing that death awaited me, I started to walk and arrived at the main road. At sunset, a large company of passing merchants on their way to their lodging, heard my grave cries.