Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 2.djvu/41

do? My Strength is ſo far ſpent that I cannot lift up my Arm; and if I could, how ſhould I have the Heart to take away an innocent Man’s Life, and one I do not know? This Refuſal, ſaid the Genie to the Princeſs, ſufficiently informs me of the Crime. Upon which, turning to me, And thou (ſaid he) doſt thou not know her?

I ſhould have been the moſt ungrateful Wretch, and the moſt perfidious of all Mankind, if I had not ſhown my ſelf as faithful to the Princeſs as ſhe was to me, who had been the Cauſe of her Misfortunes. Therefore I anſwer’d the Genie, How ſhould I know her, that never ſaw her till now? If that be ſo, ſaid he, Take the Scimeter and cut off her Head: On this Condition I will ſet thee at Liberty, for then I ſhall be convinc’d that thou didſt never ſee her till this very Moment, as thou ſay’ſt thy ſelf. With all my Heart, reply’d I, and took the Scimeter in my Hand.

But, Sir, ſaid Scheherazade, ’tis Day, and I ought not to abuſe your Majeſty’s Patience. Theſe are wonderful Events, ſaid the Sultan to himſelf. We ſhall know to Morrow if the Prince was ſo cruel as to give Obedience to the Genie’s Command.

WHen the Night was near at an end Dinarzade calls upon the Sultaneſs, Siſter, if you be not aſleep, I would pray you to continue the Story which you could not finiſh Yeſterday, I will, ſaid Scheherazade, and without Loſs of Time you ſhall underſtand, that the ſecond Callender went on thus.

Do not think, Madam, that I drew near to the fair Princeſs of the Ile Ebene, to be the Executioner of the Genie’s Barbarity, I did it only to demonſtrate by my Behaviour, as much as poſſible, that as ſhe had ſhown her Reſolution, to ſacrifice her Life for my ſake, that I would not refuſe to ſacrifice mine for hers. The Princeſs, notwithſtanding, her Pain and Suffering, underſtood my Meaning; which ſhe ſignified by an obliging Look, and made me underſtand her Willingneſs to die for me; and that ſhe was ſatisfied to