pe, will give me leave," said the
grand vizier, "to represent to you, that the laws which condemn
persons to death were made to punish crimes; the three
extraordinary labours of the queen are not crimes; for in what
can she be said to have contributed towards them? Many other
women have had, and have the same every day, and are to be
pitied, but not punished. Your majesty may abstain from seeing
her, but let her live. The affliction in which she will spend the
rest of her life, after the loss of your favour, will be a
punishment sufficiently distressing."

The emperor of Persia considered with himself, and reflecting
that it was unjust to condemn the queen to death for what had
happened, said, "Let her live then; I will spare her life; but it
shall be on this condition, that she shall desire to die more
than once every day. Let a wooden shed be built for her at the
gate of the principal mosque, with iron bars to the windows, and
let her be put into it, in the coarsest habit; and every
Mussulmaun that shall go into the mosque to prayers shall spit in
her face. If any one fail, I will have him exposed to the same
punishment; and that I maybe punctually obeyed, I charge you,
vizier, to appoint persons to see this done."

The emperor pronounced his sentence in such a tone that the grand
vizier durst not further remonstrate; and it was executed, to the
great satisfaction of the two envious sisters. A shed was built,
and the queen, truly worthy of compassion, was put into it, and
exposed ignominiously to the contempt of the people; which usage,
as she did not deserve it, she bore with a patient resignation
that excited the admiration as well as compassion of those who
judged of things better than the vulgar.

The two princes and the princess were, in the mean time, nursed
and brought up by the intendant of the gardens and his wife with
all the tenderness of a father and mother; and as they advanced
in age, they all shewed marks of superior dignity, but the
princess in particular, which discovered itself every day by
their docility and inclinations above trifles, different from
those of common children, and by a certain air which could only
belong to exalted birth. All this increased the affections of the
intendant and his wife, who called the eldest prince Bahman, and
the second Perviz, both of them names of the most ancient
emperors of Persia, and the princess, Perie-zadeh, which name
also had been borne by several que