At last the captain of the ship took compassion on the sorrows and distraction of this wanderer in the mazes of misfor­tune; and also the present of the emerald was a means of his interference. He said, “Ah! thou afflicted by heaven, although assisting thee at present may not be politically consistent with our own safety, yet, seeking the approbation of God, I will afford thee help. Make haste, then, deliver the emerald to my boat’s crew, and hide thyself in the lowest part of the vessel.”

When the woman heard the joyful tidings of acceptance, her pallid counte­nance, from excess of joy, flushed into the scarlet hue of the pomegranate flower, and the rose-bud of her heart expanded into blossom from the breeze of gladness. Taking the emerald from a covering of leaves, which she had made to conceal her nakedness, she delivered it to the commander’s servants, and like an atom of dust put in motion by the rays of the sun, hastened exulting to the boat; but the crew, having obtained their prize, refused her admission with cruelty and force; thus barring the door of hope to her agitated bosom. On this afflicting occurrence, the flames of despair raged in the mind of the woman, already half-consumed by the fire of sorrow. Like the oppressed by calamity, scattering dust upon her head, she rolled herself upon the ground as a bird half killed, and shedding scald­ing tears from her eyes upon her glow­ing cheeks, exclaimed—

“Though you fear not me, yet fear God. Permit not all this cruelty to such an helpless wretch as I am, for in fact it is an injury to thyself. Dread that period, when, at the throne of a divine judge, I shall ask judgment, and complain of thy oppression.”

The captain of the ship was alarmed, and impressed by this speech, and com­manded the wretched female, so long a stranger to the path of repose, to be brought into the vessel. Being now relieved from her distresses, and in a place of safety, she gave thanks to God, and sat down silent in a corner, her heart being at ease. The crew weighed anchor, and just as the ship was getting under weigh, the savage appeared on the shore with the two children in his arms, attended by a numerous host of his fel­lows. The sailors, when they beheld the multitude of the savages, from dread and cowardice losing the power of com­mand over themselves, were stricken with panic. The woman observing their alarm, and fearing lest they should throw her overboard, and subject her again to the captivity of the savages, exerted all her courage, and said, “Brave sailors! it is not becoming to shew all this terror. Fear not, as no injury can possibly happen to you from the savages, for they are afraid of you, but laying that aside, they cannot make any exertions in the water.”

The crew, being assured of safety, exerted themselves in trimming the ves­sel, and by lucky chance a favourable wind arising wafted them into deep water. The savage then perceiving his want of power, stood on the shore in a sup­plicating attitude towards the woman, and holding out his children, seemed to say; “Have compassion on their tender years and suckling state, for, after all, they are thy offspring, and without thee their living will be ha­zardous.” He continued to shew signs of grief till the ship was out of sight. The woman, once more eased of alarm, repeated grateful thanksgivings to the Almighty for her deliverance.

As the changeful sky is ever produc­ing new revolutions from its azure canopy on the face of appearance, it shortly brought about an event, cruel, and most distressing to the mind. After three day’s favourable sailing, at the instant when the golden vessel of the sun, quit­ting his anchor, was whelmed in the whirlpool of the west, suddenly, from the point of divine anger, a contrary wind arose; which snatching the sails of controul from the hands of the pilot and sailors, in a few hours carried the ship two months passage out of the desired course, and whirled it into the eddy of destruction.

Though the crew, lifting up their hands in prayer to heaven, made earnest petitions to the awful throne of the Divinity, acceptance was not impressed on the tablets of their fate, nor did any sign of compliance appear. Decree was not to be changed. Suddenly a mon­strous fish, like a vast rock, whose bulk and strength cannot any way be con­ceived, lifted his head from the sea, and in the twinkling of an eye rushing against the devoted vessel and the ill-starred crew, grasped it in his jaws. By com­mand of the supreme power, the ship, notwithstanding its bulk and strength, at one crash of the monster’s teeth was broken in pieces, like chrystal against a stone, the brittle glass of the lives of the crew shattered on the rocks of destruction, and all with their cargo, hur­ried by the waves into the abyss of annihilation. The unfortunate and ill-fated woman alone remained upon a plank, which was driven by the wind for three nights and days, with the swiftness of an arrow shot from a bow.

On the fourth morning, when the golden boat of heaven appeared in the azure sea of the firmament, the plank rested on the surface of the water; and by order of the ever-existing God, in whose boundless contrivances Why and Where­fore have no admission, remained immoveable for a night and day. You would have supposed it fixed by a pon­derous anchor. On the second day, at the first dispersion of the gleams of dawn, when the gale of morning gently waved, it suddenly moved, and in half an hour reaching the shore, spontaneously stopped upon the beach.

The woman now quitted the plank, and sat down awhile upon the strand, offering up thanks to God with the utmost fervour of human devotion; then, having recovered herself, she advanced onwards, and began to hasten on the wings of speed, in hopes that she might conduct herself to a cultivated spot, and be gratified by the sight of population. Far she journeyed, but no other object appeared in view on her right and left, except a wild waste and frightful desart. Weariness overpowered her limbs; but, as here was no desireable place of repose, she despondingly proceeded. At length she reached a piece of water, of trans­parent clearness, over whose margin grew numerous trees laden with fruit, the shade of which, with the lightness of the air, the moisture of the verdant grass, and the bloom of the flowers, afforded her new life. Having refreshed herself with the fruit, she lay down to repose, when sleep overcame her, and casting his mantle over her eyes, relieved her awhile from the vicissitudes of the world. When she arose, she proceeded timidly, lest in this wilderness a new calamity should befal her. At length she perceived under some trees a band of human figures, at sight of whom the rose-bud of her heart expanded with the gale of rejoicing, and she advanced towards them with exultation and delight.

When she approached nearer, she beheld forty men and women, who, like Adam and Eve, were naked, excepting from a slight covering of leaves round their waists. They refrained from speak­ing, and their eyes were intent only on the perfections of the Divinity. Sub­mitting to a state of mortification and penance, they were employed in con­templation of the Deity. The unfortu­nate woman, led captive in the army of famine, at sight of this religious band, who fed only on roots and herbs, was once more plunged in despair, and experienced disappointment in propor­tion to the hopes she had cherished.

As the soul-enlightened devotees, with minds clear as the sun, from their internal knowledge were acquainted with the wish of the woman, they beckoned, and pointed out to her a certain path, which she pursued. Speedily a grove of beautiful trees struck her view, and underneath a most transparent fountain, which might be said to originate from the spring of Kousir.* On its border was a hut of reeds, but no one within it; yet on the floor stood an earthen pot upon a clay stove with fire under it blazing. Seeing the place empty and the pot boiling (to her of all sights the most gratifying), she entered it with all eagerness, and lifted up the cover, but found only a few leaves stewing in water. More desponding now than ever, from excess of weakness, she fell down, faint­ing under the shade of a tree.

When a short interval had elapsed, a personage of shining countenance, and aspect brilliant as the sun and moon, stood before her. The dignified looks of this quaffer of the wine of unity, and diver in the sea of divine research, so overcame the woman, that trembling seized her frame, and she lost her recol­lection. The heavenly youth, inwardly enlightened, without her opening her lips in speech to relate her story, was acquainted with the secrets of her soul, and all her adventures. With compassionate gentleness, laying his hands upon her head, he eased her fears, and commanded her to shut her eyes. She obeyed his orders, and on opening them, through his life-saving kindness, enjoying deliverance from the mazes of adversity, found herself on her father’s threshold; and after the experience of such numerous misfortunes and occurrence of so many calamities, arrived at the asylum of repose.

It is clear, my prince, (continued the sharok) that had not the merchant’s daughter, (without trying the intrinsic value of the young man’s merit on the touchstone of experience, or proving the justness of his claims to dignity by proper enquiries) bound herself in the knot of matrimony, she would not have become a butt for the arrow of calamity, or a target for the darts of misfortune.

Look not upon thy enemy as despi­cable; lest, like the Prince of Geelaun, thou become branded over the world with shame and dishonour. The prince enquired the story of the chief of Gee­laun; and the sharok related the follow­ing tale.