‘“Insolent fellow, do you not know that it is forbidden to men to stop under the windows of this palace? Retire instantly. If the sultan’s officers were to surprise you in this place, they would put you to death.”

‘Instead of being alarmed at these words and taking flight, I bowed my face to the ground, then, having risen: “Madam,” I said, “I am a stranger. I am ignorant of the customs of Cairo, and did I know them your beauty would prevent my observ­ing them.”

‘“Ah! bold fellow,” she cried, “tremble lest I summon slaves to punish your audacity.”

‘Thus saying she disappeared, and I thought that, indignant at my boldness, she was really going to call her people to ill-treat me. I expected to see armed men pounce down upon me, but more affected by the anger of the lady than by her threats, I was insensible to the peril in which I found myself. What a cruel night it was for me! An ardent fever, caused by the agitation of my love, excited my blood and caused me to dream frightfully.

‘However, the desire to see the lady again and the hope of being more favourably looked upon by her, although I had no occasion to expect it, calmed my transports.

‘Carried away by my mad passion, I walked again the next day along the banks of the Nile, and placed myself on the same spot as on the preceding days.

‘The young lady appeared as soon as she saw me, but she looked so proud that I was afraid.

‘“What, miserable wretch!” said she, “after the threats I uttered, you return to this place! Fly from this palace! I will warn you once more out of pity that your destruction is certain if you do not disappear at once.”

‘“What can keep you?” she added, a moment later, seeing that I did not go away. “Tremble, bold youth, the thunderbolt is ready to fall on you!”

‘At this speech, which would doubtless have persuaded a man less enamoured than myself, instead of leaving the lady, I looked at her and replied:

‘“Lovely lady, do you suppose that an unhappy man who has allowed himself to be charmed and who adores you hopelessly, can fear death? Alas! I prefer death to life without you.”

‘“Well,” she replied, “since you are so obstinate, go and pass the rest of the day in the town and return to-night beneath my windows.”

‘At these words she disappeared precipitately and left me filled with astonishment, love, and joy.

‘If till then I had been rebellious to the rigorous commands of the lady, you can well imagine that I now submitted very willingly, as the new con­dition added to it softened its rigour. In the expectation of the pleasures which I promised myself, I forgot my misfortunes.

‘“I should no longer,” I said, “complain of for­tune; she becomes as favourable to me as she was unfavourable.” I retired home, where I occupied myself in adorning and perfuming myself.

‘When night had come and I thought it time to go whither my love called me, I betook myself there in the darkness. I found a rope suspended from the window of the lady’s apartment.

‘I made use of it to ascend. I traversed two rooms to gain a third, which was magnificently furnished, in the middle of which was a silver throne.

‘I paid little attention to the precious furniture and all the rare things which it contained. The lady alone attracted my attention. How fair she was! Whether Nature had formed her to show men that she knew, when it pleased her, how to make a perfect work, or whether, but too enamoured of her, my charmed imagination con­cealed her defects from my eyes, I was enchanted with her beauty.

‘She made me ascend the throne, sat herself beside me, and asked who I was. I related my history to her with all sincerity. I perceived that she listened very attentively. She even appeared to me touched by the situation to which fortune had reduced me, and this pity, which indicated a generous heart, succeeded in making me the most enamoured of men. “Madam,” I said, “however unhappy I may be, I cease to be an object of pity, since you are sensible of my misfortunes.”

‘Insensibly we engaged in a tender conversation which she sustained with much brilliancy, and she admitted to me, that if I had been struck at sight of her, she, on her side, had not been able to help being interested in me.

‘“Since you have informed me who you are,” she continued, “I would like you to know who I am.

‘“My name is Dardané. I was born in the town of Damascus. My father was one of the vizirs of the prince who reigns there to-day, and was called Behrouz. As the glory of his master and the welfare of the state regulated all his actions, he numbered among his enemies all those who had other principles, and these enemies poisoned the king’s mind against him. The unfortunate Behrouz, after several years’ service, was removed from the court. He retired to a house which he possessed at the gates of the town, where he devoted himself entirely to my education. But, alas! he had not the pleasure of enjoying the fruit of his labours, he died whilst I was still a child. My mother no sooner saw him dead than she sold all his effects, and this wretched woman, after having sold me to a slave merchant, departed for the Indies with a young man whom she loved.

‘“The slave merchant took me to Cairo with several other girls whom he had bought. He dressed us very magnificently, and when he thought us fit to be presented to the Sultan of Egypt, he made us enter a great room where the sultan was seated on his throne. One after the other we passed before this prince, who seemed charmed at the sight of me. He descended from his throne, and having approached me, ‘How well made she is!’ he cried. ‘What eyes! what a mouth! My friend,’ he continued, addressing the merchant, ‘since you have sold me slaves you have never brought me one so beautiful as this one. No, nothing is to be compared to this young person. Ask what you wish for her. I cannot sufficiently pay you for so charming an object.’ Finally, the prince, transported with joy and already very amorous, gave a large sum to the merchant, and dismissed him with his other slaves. He then called the chief of the eunuchs: ‘Keyd Kabir,’ said he, ‘conduct this sun into a separate apart­ment.’ Keyd Kabir obeyed, and brought me into this one, which is the richest in the palace. I was no sooner there than several slaves, young and old, entered. Some brought me magnificent clothes, others refreshments, and others had lutes, on which they played well. They all told me that they were sent by the sultan: that the prince destined them for my service, and that they would spare nothing to acquit themselves well.

‘“I soon received a visit from the sultan. He declared his love for me in the most ardent terms, and the simple replies I made to speeches so new to me, instead of displeasing the prince, inflamed his passion.

‘“And now you behold me favourite sultana. All the slaves who thought themselves beautiful enough to merit my place were very jealous of me, and you cannot imagine all the means employed by them for three years past to destroy me.

‘“But I keep guard so well that their malice has been futile till now. It is not that I am content with my fate, for I cannot love the sultan, and I am not ambitious enough to be dazzled by the honours done to me.

‘“I am only piqued by all the efforts that my rivals make to destroy me, and I wish to baffle them. You must pardon that in a woman.

‘“Their chagrin,” she continued, “gives me more pleasure than the sultan’s love. I must admit, however, that the prince is amiable, but whether it does not depend upon us to love, or whether the conquest of my heart was reserved for you, you are the first man who has attracted my attention.”

‘In response to such an amiable avowal, which seemed to me to increase the value of my good fortune, I promised the young lady an immortal love, and I besought her to grant me her love. My passionate address melted her, but fortune delights in presenting to the unfortunate deceptive hopes, and my unlucky star had not yet shed on me all its evil influence. At the moment when the beautiful Dardané, listening to my pressing and tender demands, was about to answer me, a loud knocking was heard at the door of the room. We were both alarmed. “O heaven!” said the lady, quite low, to me, “I have been betrayed! We are lost! It is the sultan himself!”

‘Had the rope of which I had made use for ascending been attached to the window of the room where we were, I could easily have saved myself, but it was at a window of the very room through which the sultan had passed. So, having recourse to the only move left to me, I hid under the throne, and Dardané went to open the door.

‘The sultan, followed by several black eunuchs who carried torches, entered with a furious air. “Unhappy woman,” he cried, “what man is here with you? One has been seen to climb to a window, and the rope is still attached to it.” The lady remained speechless at these words. She could not answer a single syllable, and though she strove to put on a bold front, her terror but too surely condemned her. “Search everywhere,” added the sultan, “and don’t let the villain escape my vengeance!”