Page:Sagas from the Far East; or, Kalmouk and Mongolian traditionary tales.djvu/344

320 bidding her escape and go hence privately to her own apartment, while she remained beside her husband.

"In the meantime morning had come, and the King and all his court and his judges were astir, and before all other causes the captain of the guard went to give account of the arrest of Naran Gerel and the minister Ssaran. The high King was very wroth when he heard what his daughter had done and the minister, and commanded that they should instantly be brought before him. So the captain of the guard went straight to the prison, and without waiting so much as to look at them brought the two prisoners before the throne of the King.

"When the King saw the minister and his wife standing before him, he asked them in a voice of thunder,—

Where is Naran Gerel?'

"And the minister's wife made answer,—

How can we tell thee this thing, seeing we have been kept in durance all through the night?'

And wherefore have ye been kept in durance all through the night?' pursued the King.

Concerning that also we know nothing further than that the captain of the guard told us it was by the King's decree,' replied the woman.

Explain this matter,' then said the King, addressing the minister. And he, his wife telling him what to say, made answer, 'Most high King, how shall I explain the matter, seeing that I myself fail to know