Page:Sagas from the Far East; or, Kalmouk and Mongolian traditionary tales.djvu/207

Rh "What seekest thou of me?" inquired the King. And Shanggasba, nothing abashed, answered plainly—

"To sue for the hand of the Princess am I come, and to be the King's son-in-law."

The ministers of state, who stood round about the King, when they heard these words, were filled with indignation, and counselled the King that he should put him to death. But the King, tickled in his fancy with the man's daring, answered,—

"Nay, let us not put him to death. He can do us no harm. A beggar may sue for a king's daughter, and a king may choose a beggar's daughter, out of that no harm can come," and he ordered that he should be taken care of in the palace, and not let to go forth.

Now all this was told to the Queen, who took a very different view of the thing from the King's. And coming to him in fury and indignation, she cried out,—

"It is not good for such a man to live. He must be already deprived of his senses; let him die the death!"

But the King gave for all answer, "The thing is not of that import that he should die for it."

The Princess also heard of it; and she too came to complain to the King that he should cause such a man to be kept in the palace; but before she could open her complaint, the King, joking, said to her,—

"Such and such a man is come to sue for thy hand; and I am about to give thee to him."

But she answered, "This shall never be; surely the