t, and tell the Story thus:
* * * * *
[Illustration 3]
* * * * *
Sec. 3. They say, that there lay, not far from this our Island, another
Great Island very fertile and well peopled; which was then govern'd by a
Prince of a Proud and Jealous Disposition: he had a Sister of exquisite
Beauty, which he confin'd and restrain'd from Marriage, because he could
not match her to one suitable to her quality He had a near Relation
whose Name was _Yokdhan_, that courted this Princess, and Married her
privately, according to the Rites of Matrimony then in use among them;
it was not long before she prov'd with Child, and was brought to Bed of
a Son; and being afraid that it should be discovered, she took him in
the Evening, and when she had Suckled him she put him into a little Ark
which she closed up fast, and so Conveys him to the Sea shore, with some
of her Servants and Friends as she could trust; and there with an Heart
equally affected with Love and Fear, she takes her last leave of him in
these Words, _O God, thou form'dst this Child out of nothing, and didst
Cherish him in the Dark recesses of my Womb, till he was compleat in all
his parts; I fearing the Cruelty of a Proud and unjust King, commit him
to thy Goodness, hoping that thou who art infinitely merciful, will be
pleas'd by thy gracious Providence to protect him, and never leave him
destitute of thy Care_.
Sec.4. Then she set him afloat, and that very Night the Tide carried him
ashore on that Island we just now mention'd; it fortun'd that the Water
being high, carried the Ark a great way on shore, farther than it would
have done at another time, (for it rises so high but once a Year) and
cast the Ark into a little shady Grove, thick set with Trees, a pleasant
place, where he was secured both from Wind and Sun; when the Tide ebb'd,
the Ark was left there, and the Wind rising blew an heap of Sand
together between the Ark and the Sea, sufficient to secure him from any
future danger of such another Flood.
Sec. 5. The Violence of the Waves had loosned the Joints of the Ark; the
Boy was Hungry and Cry'd. It happen'd fortunately at that Juncture of
time, that a Roe wandring about the Island in search of her Fawn, which
straying was devoured by an Eagle, heard the Boy cry, and following the
voice (imagining it to have been her Fawn) came up to the Ark, which she
immediately attack'd, and what with her beat
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