Page:The Thousand And One Days - 1892 - Volume 1.djvu/25

 'My lord,' she replied, 'if your majesty will charge me with that care, I do not despair of acquitting myself therein happily.'

'What will you do?' said Togrul Bey.

'I know,' replied the nurse, 'an infinity of curious stories, the relating of which may, in am-using the princess, remove the bad opinion she has of men. In showing her that there have been faithful lovers, I shall doubtless dispose her to believe that they still exist. So, my lord,' she added, 'let me combat her error; I flatter myself I could dissipate it.'

The king approved of the nurse's plan, and she thought only of finding a favourable moment to execute it.

As Farrukhnaz usually spent the time after dinner with the king, the prince of Cashmere, and all the princesses of the court, listening to the palace slaves singing and playing on all sorts of instruments, the mornings appeared more suitable to Sutlumemé, who resolved to take the time which the princess employed in her bath.

So the next day, as soon as Farrukhnaz was in her bath, the nurse said to her, 'I know a story full of singular events. If my princess will permit