Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/55

 Until then, of the many men she had interrogated, none had been able to come up with the solutions. Following her father's advice she had decided to try to have one of them as her husband, and while all three of them were highly intelligent, she very much liked the one who had clarified so prudently the question of the salt.

That decision was approved by the counselor, who was asked to meet with the young men the following day, first to remind them of the admonition of the King, her father, to reveal the descendance of the one whom she sought as her husband, the one who had clarified the question of the salt.

The counselor carried out the order given to him to meet with the young men, and he fully informed them of the desire of the Queen to learn the name of the man who had clarified the question of the salt and who she intended to marry. The young men were very surprised about this this, and they could hardly believe the words of the counselor to be true. They first consulted at some length among themselves, and they decided to accept such a high marriage.

And he who was designated to be the spouse informed the counselor that because the Queen had shown so many signs of love for them, he was most willing to comply with her wishes and expressed infinite gratitude to her on behalf of himself and his brothers.