ways to drive the unjust invader from our dominions. While this affair
was in agitation, one day taking me into his closet, Sister, said he, the
events of the least undertakings in this world are always dubious. As,
for my own part, I am willing to die in the attempt I design to make to
re-establish myself in my kingdom; and I shall be less concerned for my
own disgrace, than for what may possibly happen to you; and therefore to
prevent it, and to secure you from whatever accident may befall you, I
would fain see you married first. But in the miserable condition that our
affairs are at present, I see no probability of matching you to any of
the princes of the sea; and therefore I should be very glad if you would
resolve to be of my opinion, and think of marrying to some of the princes
of the earth. I am ready to contribute all that lies in my power towards
it, and I am certain there is not one of them, considering the beauty you
are mistress of, but would be proud of your accepting of their crown.
At this discourse of my brother’s, I fell into a violent passion.
Brother, said I, you know that I am descended, as well as you, by both
father and mother’s sides, from the kings and queens of the sea, without
any mixture of alliance with those of the earth; therefore I do not
design to marry below myself, any more than they did: and I took an oath
of it, as soon as I had understanding to inquire into the nobleness and
antiquity of our family. The condition to which we are reduced shall
never oblige me to alter my resolution; and if you perish in the
execution of your design, I am prepared to fall with you, rather than
follow the advice I so little expected from you.
My brother, who was still earnest for the marriage, endeavoured to make
me believe that there were kings of the earth who were no ways inferior
to those of the sea. This put me again into a violent passion, which
occasioned him to speak several bitter reflecting things that nettled me
to the quick. At last he left me, as much dissatisfied with myself as he
could possibly be; and in this peevish mood, I gave a spring from the
bottom of the sea, directly up to the island of the moon.
Notwithstanding the violent discontent that made me cast myself upon that
island, I lived pretty easy in a by-corner of it, where I retired for
conveniency and safety. But, alas! this happiness lasted not long; for,
in spite of all my endeavours to lie concealed in my beloved obscurity, a
certain person of distinction and figure, attended by his servants,
surprised me sleeping, and carried me to his own house. He made violent
love to me, and omitted nothing which he thought might reasonably induce
me to make a return to his passion. When he saw that fair means would
prevail nothing upon me, he attempted to make use of force; but I soon
made him repent of his insolence. So at last, finding that there was
nothing to be done with me, he resolved to part with me, which he did to
that very merchant who brought me hither and sold me to your majesty. He
was a very prudent, courteous, obliging person; and during the whole
journey, which was somewhat tedious, he never gave me the least reason to
complain of his usage.
As for your majesty, sir, continued the princess Gulnare, if you had not
shown me all the respect you have hitherto paid (for which I am extremely
obliged to your goodness) and given me such undeniable marks of your
affection, that I could no longer doubt of it; if you had not immediately
sent away your women; give me leave to tell you plainly, sir, that I was
positively resolved not to have lived with you: I would have thrown
myself into the sea, out of this very window, where your majesty first
saw me when you came into this apartment; and I would have gone in search
after my mother, my brother, and the rest of my relations. I still
persisted in that design, and I would infallibly have put it in
execution, if, after a certain time, I had found myself deceived in the
hopes of being with child: but now, in the condition I am in, I shall
take care what I do. Should I tell my mother or my brother that I have
been a slave, even to a king as mighty as you are, they would never
believe it, but would for ever upbraid me with the crime I have committed
against my honour, since it was a voluntary act of my own. However, sir,
be it a prince or a princess that I bring into the world, it will be a
pledge to engage me never to be parted from your majesty; and therefore I
hope you will no longer look upon me as a slave, but as a princess worthy
of your alliance.
It was after this manner that the princess Gulnare finished her story she
had been telling the king of Persia. My charming and adorable princess,
cried he, what wonders have I heard! and what an ample subject have you
afforded my curiosity, of asking a thousand questions concerning those
strange and unheard-of things which you have related to me! But, in the
first place, I ought to thank you for your goodness and patience in
making a trial of the truth and constancy of my passion. I must confess,
I thought it impossible for me to love you more than I did; but since I
know you to be so great a princess, I love you a thousand times more.
What! did I say princess? Madam, you are no longer so; but you are my
queen, the queen of Persia; and by that title you shall soon be
proclaimed throughout the whole kingdom. Tomorrow the ceremony shall be
performed in my capital, with a pomp and magnificence that was never yet
beheld; which will plainly show, that you are both my queen and lawful
wife. This should have been done long ago, had you sooner convinced me of
my error; for, from the first moment of my seeing you, I have been of the
same opinion as now, to love you for ever, and never to place my
affection on any other.
However, I am pleased with myself for having, in the mean time, paid you
all the respect and civility I ought, that is due to your merit; and
therefore, madam, I beseech you to inform me in a more particular manner,
of the kingdoms and people of the sea, which are altogether unknown to
me. I have heard much talk indeed of the inhabitants of the sea; but I
always looked upon it as nothing but a pleasant tale or fable: however,
by what you have told me, I am convinced there is nothing more true; and
I have a very good proof of it in your own person, who are one of them,
and are pleased to condescend to be my wife; which is an honour no other
inhabitant on the earth can boast of besides myself. There is one thing
yet, madam, which puzzles me a little, therefore I must beg the favour of
you to explain it; that is, I cannot comprehend how it is possible for
you to move, breathe, and walk up and down in the water, without being
drowned. There are but few amongst us who have the art of staying under
water; but they would surely perish there, if after a certain space of
time, which is according to their skill, and constitution of their
bodies, they did not come up again.
Sir, replied the queen Gulnare, I shall take a great deal of pleasure in
satisfying the king of Persia in any thing that lies in my power. You
must know, then, that we can walk at the bottom of the sea with as much
ease as you can upon the dry land; and can breathe in the water as well
as you do in the air; so that instead of suffocating us, as it does you,
it is absolutely necessary for the preservation of our lives. What is yet
more remarkable is, that it never wets our clothes: so that when we have
a mind to visit your upper world, we have no occasion of drying them. Our
vulgar language is the same in which the writing upon the seal of the
great prophet Solomon, the son of David, was engraven.
I must not forget to tell you, that the water does not in the least
hinder us from seeing in the sea; for we can open and shut our eyes when
we please, without any manner of inconveniency; and as we have generally
a very quick, piercing sight, so we can discern any object as clearly in
the deepest part of the sea, as upon land. We have also a succession
there of day and night; the moon affords us her light, and even the
planets and the stars appear very visible to us. I have already spoken of
their kingdoms; but as the sea is a great deal larger than the earth, so
there are a greater number of them, and of vaster extent. They are
divided into provinces, and in every province there are several great
cities, well peopled; and, in short, there are an infinite number of
nations, differing in manners and customs, as well as upon the earth.
The palaces of the kings and princes are very sumptuous and magnificent.
There are some of them of marble of various colours; others of
rock-crystal, mother-of-pearl, coral, and of other materials more
valuable; gold, silver, and all sorts of precious stones, are more
plentiful there than with you. I say nothing of the pearls, since the
largest that ever was seen upon the earth would not be valuable amongst
us; and none but the very lowest rank of citizens would wear them.
As we have a marvellous and almost incredible agility of transporting
ourselves whither we please in the twinkling of an eye, so we have no
occasion for any coaches or horses: not but that every king has his
stables, and his breed of sea-horses; but they seldom make use of them,
but upon public feasts and rejoicing days. After they have been well
managed, they set riders upon their backs, who show their skill and
dexterity in the art of riding: others are put to chariots of
mother-of-pearl, adorned with an infinite number of shells of all sorts,
of the liveliest colours in the world. These chariots are open; and in
the middle there is a throne on which the king sits, and exposes himself
to the public view of his subjects. The horses are trained up to draw by
themselves, so that there is no occasion for a coachman to guide them. I
pass over a thousand other particulars relating to these sea-countries,
full of wonder and curiosity, which would be very entertaining to your
majesty; but I believe, sir, you will be pleased I should defer it, to
speak of something of much greater consequence; which is, that the method
of delivering, and the way of managing the women of the sea in their
lying-in, is quite different from those of the women of the earth; and I
am afraid to trust myself in the hands of the midwives of this country.
Therefore, sir, since my safe delivery is a thing which equally concerns
us both, with your majesty’s permission, I think it proper to send for my
mother and my cousins to assist at my labour; at the same time to desire
my brother’s company, to whom I have a great desire to be reconciled.
They will be very glad to see me again, after I have related my story to
them, and when they understand that I am wife to the mighty king of
Persia. I beseech your majesty to give me leave to send for them: I am
sure they will be proud to pay their respects to you; and I dare say you
will be extremely pleased to see them.
Madam, said the king of Persia, you are mistress, and so do whatever you
please; I will endeavour to receive them with all the honours they
deserve. But I would fain know how you would acquaint them with what you
desire, and when they will arrive; that I may make some preparation for
their reception, and go myself in person to meet them.
Sir, replied the queen Gulnare, there is no need of any of these
ceremonies; they will be here in a moment: and if your majesty will be
pleased but to step into the closet and look through the lattice, you
shall see the manner of their arrival.
As soon as the king of Persia was gone into the closet, the queen Gulnare
ordered one of her women to bring her a perfuming-pan, with a little fire
in it. After that, she bade her retire, and shut the door. When she was
alone, she took a little piece of aloes out of a box, and put it into the
perfuming-pan. As soon as she saw the smoke arise, she repeated some
mystical words, utterly unknown to the king of Persia, who observed with
great attention what she was doing. She had no sooner ended her charm,
than the sea began to be disturbed. The closet that the king was in was
so contrived, that looking through the lattice, on the same side with the
windows that faced the sea, he could plainly perceive it.
In short, the sea opened at some distance; presently there appeared a
tall handsome young man, with whiskers of a sea-green colour; a little
behind him, a lady well in years, but of a stately majestic air, attended
by five young ladies, nothing inferior in beauty to queen Gulnare.
The queen Gulnare immediately came to one of the windows, and saw the
king her brother, the queen her mother, and the rest of her relations,
who at the same time perceived her also. The company came forward, not
walking, but carried, as it were, upon the surface of the waves. When
they came to the brink of the sea, they nimbly, one after another, leaped
in at the window, from whence the queen Gulnare was retired, to make room
for them. The king Saleh, the queen her mother, and the rest of her
relations, embraced her tenderly, with tears in their eyes, upon their
first entrance.
After the queen Gulnare had received them with all the honour imaginable,
and placed them upon a sofa, the queen her mother addressed herself to
her after a very tender manner. Daughter, said she, I am overjoyed to see
you again, after so long an absence; and I am confident that your brother
and your relations are no less so than I. Your leaving us, without
acquainting any body with it, put us into an inexpressible concern; and
it is impossible to tell you how many tears we have shed upon that
account. We know of no other reason that could induce you to take such a
surprising resolution, but the discourse that passed between your brother
and you, of which he afterwards informed me. The advice he gave you
seemed very advantageous to him at that time, for settling you handsomely
in the world; and was then very suitable to the posture of our affairs.
However, if you had not approved of his proposals, you ought not to have
been so much alarmed; and give me leave to tell you, you took the thing
quite otherwise than you ought to have done. But no more of this
discourse, which serves only to renew the occasion of our sorrows and
complaints, that we and you ought to bury for ever in oblivion. Give us
now a relation of all that has happened to you since you left us, and
also an account of the present circumstances you are in; but especially
let us know if you are pleased and contented.
The queen Gulnare immediately threw herself at her mother’s feet, and
after rising up and kissing her hand, said, Madam, I own I have been
guilty of a very great crime, and I shall be indebted to your goodness
for the pardon which I hope you will be pleased to grant me. What I am
going to say, in obedience to your commands, will soon convince you, that
it is very often in vain for us to have an aversion for some certain
things: I have experienced it myself; and the only thing I had an
abhorrence to, either justly, or by the malice of my stars, has happened
to me here. She began to relate the whole story of what had befallen her
since her quitting the sea, in a violent passion, for the earth. As soon
as she had made an end, and had acquainted them with her having been sold
to the king of Persia, in whose palace she was at present; Sister, cried
the king her brother, you have been mightily wronged in having so many
affronts offered you; but you can blame nobody but yourself: you have it
in your power now to free yourself; and I cannot but admire your
patience, that you could endure so long a slavery. Rise, and return with
us into my kingdom, that I have reconquered, and taken from the proud
usurper that was once master of it.
The king of Persia, who heard these killing words from the closet where
he stood, was in the utmost confusion imaginable. Ah! said he to himself,
I am ruined and undone; and if my queen, my angel, leaves me, I shall
surely die, for it is impossible for me to live without her: and will
they be so barbarous as to deprive me of her? But the queen Gulnare soon
put him out of his fears, and eased the sorrow of his heart.
Brother, said she, and smiled, what I have just now heard, gives me a
greater proof than ever I had of the sincerity of your friendship for me;
but as heretofore I could not brook your proposing a match between me and
a prince of the earth, so now I can scarce forbear being angry with you,
for advising me to break the engagement I have made with the most
puissant and most renowned monarch in the world. I do not speak here of
an engagement between a slave and her master; if that were all, it would
be easy to return the ten thousand pieces of gold that I cost him; but I
speak now of a contract between a woman and her husband, who has never
given her the least reason to complain or be discontented: besides, he is
a king, wise, temperate, religious, and just, and has given me the most
essential demonstrations of his love that possibly he could. What can be
a greater instance of the violence of his passion, than sending away all
his women (of which he had a great number) immediately upon my arrival,
and confining himself only to me? I am now his wife, and he has lately
declared me queen of Persia; and I am to sit with him in the council:
besides, I am breeding; and if Heaven shall be pleased to favour me with
a son, that shall be another motive to engage my affections to him the
more. So, brother, continued the queen Gulnare, instead of following your
advice, you see I have all the reason in the world, not only to love the
king of Persia as passionately as I do, but also to live and die with
him, more out of gratitude than duty. I hope, then, neither my mother,
nor you, nor any of my cousins, will disapprove of the resolution and
alliance I have made, which will be an equal honour to the kings of both
the sea and earth. I ask a thousand pardons for giving you the trouble of
coming hither from the bottom of the deep to partake of it; and I return
you thanks for the pleasure of seeing you after so long a separation.
Sister, replied king Saleh, the proposition I made you of going back with
us into my kingdom, upon the recital of your adventures, (which I could
not hear without concern,) was to let you see what a particular love and
honour I had for you, and that nothing in the world was so dear to me as
your welfare and happiness. Upon the same account, then, for my own part,
I cannot condemn a resolution so reasonable, and so worthy of yourself,
after what you have told me of the king of Persia your husband, and the
many obligations you have to him; and I am persuaded that the queen our
mother will be of the same opinion.
The queen confirmed what her son had just spoken, and addressing herself
immediately to her daughter, said, My dear, I am very glad to hear you
are pleased; and I have nothing else to add to what your brother has
already said to you. I should have been the first that would have
condemned you, if you had not expressed all the gratitude you were
capable of for a monarch that loves you so passionately, and has done
such mighty things to oblige you.
As the king of Persia, who was still in the closet, had been extremely
concerned for fear of losing his beloved queen, so now he was transported
with joy at her resolution never to forsake him; and having no room to
doubt of her love, after so open a declaration, he began to love her more
than ever, and was resolved within himself to give her all the outward
proofs of it, after the most sensible manner he possibly could.
While the king was entertaining himself with a pleasure that cannot
easily be imagined, the queen Gulnare clapped her hands aloud, and
presently in came some of her slaves, whom she had ordered to bring in a
collation. As soon as it was served up, she invited the queen her mother,
the king her brother, and her cousins, to sit down and take part of it.
They began to consider, that, without ever asking leave, they were got
into the palace of a mighty king, who had never seen or heard of them,
and were all of the same opinion, that it would be a great piece of
rudeness and incivility to eat at his table without him. This reflection
raised a blush in their faces, and their eyes glowing with the concern
they were in, they breathed nothing but flames at their mouths and
nostrils.
This unexpected sight put the king of Persia, who was perfectly ignorant
of the cause of it, into a most dreadful consternation. The queen Gulnare
fancying that his majesty might be a little surprised at it, and finding
her relations desirous of the honour of seeing him, rose from her seat,
and told them she would be back in a moment. She went directly to the
closet, and by her presence recovered the king of Persia from his
surprise: Sir, said she, I doubt not but that your majesty is well
pleased with the acknowledgment I have lately made of the many favours
that I am still indebted to your goodness for. It was wholly in my power
to have complied with my relations, who would fain have persuaded me to
have forsaken you, and gone back with them into their dominions; but
alas! I am not capable of being guilty of such ingratitude as I should
have condemned in another. Ah! my queen, cried the king of Persia, speak
no more of your obligations to me, for indeed you have none; it is I that
am your debtor so much, that I am afraid I shall never be able to repay,
or return you thanks equal to the favour you have done me; for I never
thought it possible you could have loved me so tenderly as you do, and as
you have made it appear to me, after the most signal manner in the world.
Ah! sir, replied the queen Gulnare, could I do less than I have done? I
rather fear I have not done enough, considering all the honours and
favours that your majesty has heaped upon me; and it is impossible for me
to remain insensible of your passion, after so many convincing proofs as
you have given me. But let us drop this, and give me leave to assure you
of the sincere friendship that the queen my mother, and the king my
brother, are pleased to honour you with; they earnestly desire to see
you, and tell you themselves. I intended to have discoursed with them a
little before I introduced them to your majesty, and accordingly I have
ordered a banquet for them; but they are very impatient to pay their
respects to you, and therefore I desire your majesty would be pleased to
walk in, and honour them with your presence.
Madam, said the king of Persia, I should be very glad to salute persons
that have the honour to be so nearly related to you; but I am afraid of
the flames that they breathe at their mouths and nostrils. Sir, replied
the queen, laughing, you need not in the least be afraid of those flames,
which are nothing but a sign of their unwillingness to eat in your palace
without your honouring them with your presence, and eating with them.
The king of Persia taking heart at these words, went into his chamber
with his queen Gulnare. She presented him to the queen her mother, to the
king her brother, and to her other relations, who instantly threw
themselves at his feet, with their faces to the ground. The king of
Persia ran to them, and lifting them up, embraced them one after another
after a very tender manner. After they were all seated, king Saleh began
his speech: Sir, said he to the king of Persia, we are at a loss for
words to express our joy, to think that the queen my sister, after all
her hardships and affronts, should have the happiness of falling under
the protection of so powerful a monarch as your majesty. We can assure
you, sir, she is not unworthy of the high honour that you have been
pleased to raise her to; and we have always had so much love and
tenderness for her, that we could never think of parting with her, even
to the most puissant princes of the sea, who have often demanded her in
marriage before she came of age: but Heaven has reserved her for you,
sir; and we have no better way of returning thanks for the favour it has
done her, than beseeching it to grant your majesty a long and happy life
with her, and to crown your days with content and satisfaction.