Page:Sagas from the Far East; or, Kalmouk and Mongolian traditionary tales.djvu/342

318 "Towards evening, just as Ssaran was about to take leave of the Princess, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a hundred armed men, whom the captain that the King had set over the garden had sent to take them both prisoners. Into a dark dungeon they were accordingly thrown to await the King's decree saying by what manner of means they should be put to death.

"Naran Gerel, who had been used to see every one obey her and bow before her, desired the men to let her go home to her father; but the captain said, 'How many men have suffered maiming and death for nothing but because they have ventured near the precincts of thine apartment! Now therefore it is thy turn that thou be put to death also. So will there be an end of this peril to the King's subjects.'

"When Naran Gerel found she could prevail nothing with the captain, she turned to Ssaran and entreated him that he should devise some way of escape; but, sunk in fear and apprehension of the King's terrible anger, he could not collect his ideas.

How comes it,' then inquired the Princess, 'that if thou hast so little presence of mind as thou now displayest, thou wert able to distinguish and unravel, and find courage to follow, the tokens that I gave thee with my hands as I drove along the way?'

That,' said he, 'I discovered by the sharp wit of my wife, who also gave me courage to obey thy call.'

And did she furnish thee with knowledge and