he king of Samandal, "you would not make me
such a present unless you had a request proportionable to it to
propose. If there be any thing in my power to grant, you may
freely command me, and I shall feel the greatest pleasure in
complying with your wishes. Speak, and tell me frankly, wherein I
can serve you?"

"I must own ingenuously," replied King Saleh, "I have a boon to
ask of your majesty; and I shall take care to ask nothing but
what is in your power to bestow. The thing depends so absolutely
on yourself, that it would be to no purpose to ask it of any one
else. I ask it then with all possible earnestness, and I beg of
you not to refuse me." "If it be so," replied the king of
Samandal, "you have nothing to do but acquaint me what it is, and
you shall see after what manner I can oblige when it is in my
power."

"Sir," said King Saleh, "after the confidence with which your
majesty has been pleased to inspire me, I will not dissemble any
longer, that I came to beg of you to honour our house with your
alliance by the marriage of your daughter, and to strengthen the
good understanding that has so long subsisted between our two
crowns."

At these words the king of Samandal burst into a loud laugh,
falling back in his throne against a cushion that supported him,
and with an imperious and scornful air, said, "King Saleh, I have
always hitherto thought you a prince of great wisdom, and
prudence; but what you say convinces me I was mistaken. Tell me,
I beseech you, where was your wit or discretion, when you formed
to yourself such a chimera as you have proposed to me? Could you
conceive a thought of aspiring in marriage to a princess, the
daughter of so powerful a monarch as myself? You ought to have
considered the great distance between us, and not run the risk of
losing in a moment the esteem I always had for you."

King Saleh was hurt at this affronting answer, and could scarcely
restrain his resentment; however he replied with all possible
moderation, "God reward your majesty as you deserve! I have the
honour to inform you, I do not demand the princess your daughter
in marriage for myself; had I done even that, your majesty and
the princess, so far from being offended, should have thought it
an honour done to both. Your majesty well knows I am one of the
kings of the sea as well as yourself; that my ancestors yield not
in antiquity to any royal house; and that the kingdom I inherit
is no less potent and flourish