ted into
English, by the Son of a Mandarin, residing in London."[5]

After the introduction has given a fantastic account of the
Pre-Adamitical world, and explained with elaborate unconvincingness how
the manuscript of the book came into existence, the tale commences like
a moral allegory, but soon lapses into mere extravagant adventure.
Capable at all times of using a _deus ex machina_ as the readiest way of
solving a situation, Mrs. Haywood here makes immoderate use of magic
elements.

Eojaeu, King of Ijaveo, leaves to his daughter, Eovaai, a precious
jewel, upon the keeping of which her happiness depends. One day as she
is gazing at it in the garden, it slips from its setting and is carried
away by a little bird. Immediately the princess is forsaken by her
quarreling subjects and abandoned by her suitors, save only the wicked
Ochihatou, prime minister of the neighboring kingdom of Hypotofa, who
has gained ascendancy over his sovereign by black magic, caused the
promising young prince to be banished, and used his power to promote his
ambitions and lusts. By infernal agencies he conveys Eovaai to the
Hypotofan court, where he corrupts her mind and is about to triumph in
her charms when he is summoned to quell a political disturbance. The
princess, left languishing in a bower, is saved by her good Genius, who
enables her to discern the true deformity of her betrayer and to escape
to the castle of the good Alhahuza, and ultimately into the kingdom of
Oozoff, where Ochihatou's magic has no power over her. During her stay
there she listens to much political theorizing of a republican trend.
Ochihatou succeeds in kidnapping her, and she is only saved from his
loathed embraces by discovering one of his former mistresses in the form
of a monkey whom she manages to change back into human shape and
substitutes in her stead. While the statesman is employed as a lover,
the populace led by Alhahuza storm the palace. Ochihatou discovers the
trick that has been played upon him, hastily transforms his unlucky
mistress into a rat, and conveys himself and Eovaai through the air into
a kingdom near at hand, where he hopes to make head against the rebels.
His pretensions are encouraged, but learning by his magic that the
Hypotofan monarch has been freed from the power of his spells, he
persuades the princess to return to Ijaveo with him in hopes of
regaining her kingdom. He transforms her into a dove, himself into a
vulture, and flies