Page:Princess Badoura, a tale from the Arabian nights.djvu/61

43 'Of a truth, Prince,' replied the Vizier, 'the King, thy father, sent no lady to thee, and all that thou sayest now is mystery. Bethink thee, shut in here a prisoner, how canst thou have seen any lady with thine eyes except in a dream?'

'O ill-omened old man,' cried the Prince, 'thou wilt be saying next that I saw her only with my ears!' And approaching the Vizier he seized him by the beard, which was long, and twisting it this way and that, cried, 'Tell me the truth, or I will treat thee as I did the slave!'

Then the Vizier, to save himself from further ill-treatment, replied even as the slave had done, and said, 'O Prince, I am not free to reveal the secrets of my master, but I will take to him any message wherewith you may be pleased to entrust me.'

'Go, then,' answered the Prince, 'and tell my father that I repent of my former words and will marry the lady he sent to me last night,