Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/63

 He mounted the horse of the Emperor and returned to the hunting party. And he sped towards the city, having the body and the shape of the prince, and he was revered by each as the Emperor.

And after he arrived at the royal palace, he asked many of the barons if they had news of the counselor in order to find the man. And he showed great anguish and pretended to believe that since he had strayed from the hunting party he had been devoured by a wild animal in the forest.

He was now governing and ruling the empire. He did all those things that the real Emperor used to do; but because God Almighty never liked that deception could occur over the long term, it so happened that having been intimate with three of the wives of his Lord, he also wanted to have intimate relations with the daughter of the Emperor's uncle. And when he was lying beside her on the fourth night after returning from the hunt, she noticed that he caressed her differently than the Emperor used to. She knew the secret of her lord to pass his spirit into the body of a dead animal, and remembered that the counselor was never found after the hunt. Being a highly intelligent woman, she immediately realized the deception that had occurred to the Emperor. Although the counselor now had the body of the Emperor, nevertheless she immediately left the bed.