Page:The venture; an annual of art and literature.djvu/99

 the Moor's sons, and five thousand crusadoes which his father gave him to lay out, departed as soon as the vessel was ready. Arriving at Fez, he was well received and caressed by the Moor, his wife and sons, and treated as a son; and he gave each the gifts he had for them, and passed his time agreeably until it seemed that he ought to depart, when he gave the Moor, the five thousand crusadoes he had to lay out, praying him to spend them as he thought good, for he would be entirely at his disposal. Then said the Moor, "Here is a Christian damsel whose price is these very five thousand crusadoes; her you must take with you, and you will not return to this land, for I know that you will have much trouble and great occupations which will prevent you, but with God's help all will end well. And you will remain at the last rich and honoured to your great content. And I entreat you, that when you shall have found my words come true, you will think upon me, and do me to wit as you would your own father, for I love you as a son." The youth therefore gave the Moor the five thousand crusadoes to buy the maiden, who was some thirteen years old; and when he would have spoken with her she could not understand his speech, nor he hers, which displeasured him. Yet they took her to the Moor's house, and he at his own cost had the richest garments made for her, of no stuff less than silk, and many garnished with tassels of silk and gold, and sent her away with like circumstance as if the youth had been a Prince; and he and his wife and sons went with them to the ship, and