Page:Princess Badoura, a tale from the Arabian nights.djvu/110

84 would have done, doing honour to that rank and name which for her own protection she had assumed. Therefore the heart of King Amanos was drawn greatly towards her, and when she began to speak of departure, he said, 'Wherefore, O Prince, shouldst thou seek to leave a country where happiness and power can be thine? For behold, I am an old man and childless, save for one daughter, whose beauty and perfection resemble thine. But, for me, the cares of state have become too heavy a burden, and I sigh to be released from them. Remain with us, therefore, and I will give to thee even now the hand of my daughter and the sceptre and rule of my kingdom.'

At this proposal, so generously expressed, the face of Badoura became covered with bashfulness, for strange indeed to a woman was this offer of a kingdom and a bride. Yet at her father's court she had long since become learned in the affairs