_Twenty-first and twenty-second Trials of the Ring._
Fricamona and Callipiga.
The African author does not inform us what became of Mangogul, while he
waited for Bloculocus. 'Tis very probable that he went out, catechized
some Toys; and that satisfied with the intelligence he received from
them, he returned to the favorite, sending forth shouts of joy, which
begin this chapter. "Victory, victory!" cried he. "You triumph, madam;
the castle, the porcelains, and the little Sapajou are yours."
"'Tis Egle, without doubt?" replied the favorite. "No, madam, no, 'tis
not Egle," interrupted the Sultan, "but another female." "Prince,"
says the favorite, "envy me no longer the comfort of knowing this
Phoenix."----"Well, 'tis: who would have thought it?" "It is?" says
the favorite----"Fricamona," replies Mangogul.----"Fricamona!" says
Mirzoza: "I see no impossibility in that. This woman has spent the
greatest part of her youth in a convent; and since she left it, she has
led the most edifying and most retired life imaginable. No man has set
his foot within her doors, and she has, in some measure, made herself
the abbess of a troop of young devotees, whom she trains up to a state
of perfection, and of whom her house does not grow thin. There was
nothing there to answer your purpose," added the favorite, smiling and
nodding her head.
"Madam, you are in the right," says Mangogul. "I have interrogated her
Toy, but no answer. I doubled the virtue of my ring, by rubbing it once
and again. Nothing came of it. 'To be sure,' said I to myself, 'this
Toy must be deaf:' and I was preparing to leave Fricamona on the couch
where I found her, when she began to speak, by the mouth I mean.
"'Dear Acaris,' cried she, 'how happy am I in those moments, which I
snatch from every thing that employs me, to deliver myself up to thee.
After those which I pass in thy arms, these are the sweetest of my
life.----Nothing disturbs me; around me all is silence: my curtains
not quite closed, let in but just as much day as is necessary for
moving me to tenderness, and gazing on thee. I command my imagination:
it calls thee forth, and immediately I see thee. Dear Acaris, how
beautiful thou appear'st to me!----Yes, those are thy eyes, thy smile,
thy mouth. Hide not that growing bosom from me----Let me kiss it----I
have not sufficiently gazed on it.--Let me kiss it again. Ah! let me
die on it----What fury seizes me?----Acaris, dear Acaris, where art
thou?----Come then, dear Acaris. Ah! dear and tender friend, I swear
to thee, that unknown sentiments have taken possession of my soul.
It is filled with them, it is astonished at them, it is not able to
contain them.----Flow, delightful tears, flow, and ease the ardor which
devours me.----No, dear Acaris, no; that Alizali, whom thou prefer'st
to me, will not love thee as I do---But I hear a noise--Ah! 'tis Acaris
without doubt----Come, dear female friend, come----'
"Fricamona was not deceived," continued Mangogul; "for it was Acaris
herself. I left them to entertain each other; and firmly perswaded that
Fricamona's Toy would persevere in its discretion, I hurried to let
you know that I have lost my wager." "But," replied the Sultana, "I am
quite in the dark with regard to this Fricamona. Either she must be
mad, or she is cruelly afflicted with vapors. No, prince, no, I have
more conscience than you may imagine. I have nothing to object to this
experiment: but yet I perceive somewhat in it, that hinders me from
reaping any advantage by it: and I am resolved to reap none. If ever I
accept your castle and porcelaines, it must be upon a better title."
"Madam," answered Mangogul, "I do not comprehend you. You are
inconceivably difficult. Sure you have not well examined the little
Sapajou."
"Prince, I have thoroughly viewed it," replied Mirzoza. "I know it is
a charming thing. But I suspect that this Fricamona is not the person
I seek. If you desire that I should enjoy it one day or other, apply
elsewhere."
"Faith, madam," says Mangogul after mature consideration, "I see none
but Mirolo's mistress that can make you win the wager."
"Ah! prince, you dream," answered the favorite. "I am not acquainted
with your Mirolo; but whosoever he be, since he has a mistress, he
does not keep her for nothing."
"Very true," says Mangogul; "and yet I would lay another wager, that
Callipiga's Toy knows nothing at all."
"Pray be consistent with yourself," continued the favorite. "Of two
things one must happen, either that Callipiga's Toy----But I was
embarking in a ridiculous argument---Prince, do whatever you think
proper: consult Callipiga's Toy; if it keep silence, so much the worse
for Mirolo, and the better for me."
Mangogul departed, and found himself in an instant close to the jonquil
Sopha, embroidered with silver, on which Callipiga was reposing.
Scarcely had he turned his ring on her, but he heard an obscure voice,
which mutter'd out the following discourse. "What do you ask me? I do
not comprehend your questions. I am not as much as thought of: and yet
I fancy I am as good as another. Mirolo, it is true, often passes by my
door, but----"
_There is a considerable deficiency in this place. The Republic of
Letters would certainty have great obligations to the person, who would
restore the discourse of Callipiga's Toy, of which we have only the two
last lines remaining. We invite the learned to study them, and consider
whether this deficiency be not a voluntary omission of the author,
dissatisfied with what he had said, and who yet found nothing better to
say._
----"It is said that my rival has altars beyond the Alps. Alas! were
it not for Mirolo, the whole universe would erect some to me."
Mangogul returned immediately to the seraglio, and repeated to the
favorite the complaint of Callipiga's Toy, word for word: for he had a
wonderful memory. "Every circumstance of this story, madam," said he,
"concurs to make you win: I give up the whole wager; and you will thank
Callipiga when you shall think proper."
"Sir," answered Mirzoza seriously, "'tis to the most confirmed virtue
that I am resolved to be obliged for the wager, and not----"
"But, madam," replied the Sultan, "I know of none better confirmed than
that which has seen the enemy so near."
"And for my part, prince," replied the favorite, "I understand my own
meaning well: and here come Selim and Bloculocus, who shall be our
judges."
Selim and Bloculocus entered: Mangogul stated the case to them, and
they both gave judgment in Mirzoza's favor.