isit, but he answered, "I cannot
forbear, though I dread my death may be the consequence." In
short, the disguised princess went every evening with the old
nurse to the apartments of the sultan's daughter, till at length
the sultan one night suddenly entered, and perceiving, he
supposed, a man with the princess, commanded him to be seized and
bound hand and foot.

The sultan then sent for an executioner, resolved to put the
culprit to death. The executioner on his arrival seized the
disguised princess; but what was the surprise of all present,
when, on taking off the turban and vest, they discovered her sex.
The sultan commanded her to be conducted to his haram, and
inquired her story, when having no resource but the truth, she
related her adventures.

When the princess had informed the sultan of the treachery of the
vizier, the consequent conduct of her father, the distress of her
mother, her sisters and herself, their being relieved, and her
escape from shipwreck, with what had happened since, he was
filled with wonder and compassion, and ordered his daughter to
accommodate her in the haram. The love of the latter was now
changed to sincere friendship, and under her care and attentions
the unfortunate princess in a few months recovered her former
beauty. It chanced that the sultan visiting his daughter was
fascinated with the charms of the princess, but unwilling to
infringe the rules of hospitality concealed his love, till at
length he became dangerously ill, when the daughter suspecting
the matter, prevailed upon him to reveal the cause of his
complaint. She then informed her friend, and entreated her to
accept her father in marriage; but the princess said, at the same
time weeping bitterly, "Misfortune hath separated me from my
family; I know not whether my sisters, my father and my mother,
are living, or, if so, what is their condition. How can I be
happy or merry, while they are perhaps involved in misery?"

The daughter of the sultan did not refrain from comforting the
unfortunate princess, at the same time representing the hopeless
condition of her father, till at length she consented to the
marriage. This joyful intelligence speedily revived the love-lorn
sultan, and the nuptials were celebrated with the utmost joy and
magnificence.

The aged sultan and sultana continued to lament the loss of their
daughters for some years, when at length the former resolved to
travel in search of them, and having left