ace. He
seized us both, and to disappoint the search he well knew my
husband would cause to be made for me, removed from the country
inhabited by those Saracens, and brought us into this wood, where
he has kept me some days. Deplorable as my condition is, it is
still a great satisfaction to me to think that the giant, though
so brutal, never used force to obtain what I always refused to
his entreaties. Not but that he has a hundred times threatened
that he would have recourse to the worst of extremities, in case
he could not otherwise prevail upon me; and I must confess to
you, that awhile ago, when I provoked his anger by my words, I
was less concerned for my life than for my honour.

"This, my lord," said the prince of the Saracens' wife, "is the
faithful account of my misfortunes, and I question not but you
will think me worthy of your compassion, and that you will not
repent having so generously relieved me." "Madam," answered my
father, "be assured your troubles have affected me, and I will do
all in my power to make you happy. To-morrow, as soon as day
appears, we will quit this wood, and endeavour to fall into the
road which leads to the great city of Deryabar, of which I am
sovereign; and if you think fit, you shall be lodged in my
palace, till the prince your husband comes to claim you."

The Saracen lady accepted the offer, and the next day followed
the sultan my father, who found all his retinue upon the skirts
of the wood, they having spent the night in searching for him,
and being very uneasy because they could not find him. They were
no less rejoiced to meet with, than amazed to see him with a
lady, whose beauty surprised them. He told them how he had found
her, and the risk he had run in approaching the hut, where he
must certainly have lost his life had the giant discovered him.
One of his servants took up the lady behind him, and another
carried the child.

Thus they arrived at the palace of my father, who assigned the
beautiful Saracen lady an apartment, and caused her child to be
carefully educated. The lady was not insensible of the sultan's
goodness to her, and expressed as much gratitude as he could
desire. She had at first appeared very uneasy and impatient that
her husband did not claim her; but by degrees she lost that
uneasiness. The respect my father paid her dispelled her
impatience; and I am of opinion she would at last have blamed
fortune more for restoring her to her kindre