viting all the young men of
royal extraction, whether natives of the kingdom or strangers, to her
father's feast. On that day Gushtasp and the husbandman had come into
the city from the country, and hearing the proclamation the latter said:
"Let us go, for in this lottery the prize may be drawn in thy name."
They accordingly went. Kitabun's handmaid was in waiting at the door,
and kept every young man standing awhile, that her mistress might mark
him well before she allowed him to pass into the banquet. The keen eyes
of Kitabun soon saw Gushtasp, and her heart instantly acknowledged him
as her promised lord, for he was the same person she had seen in her
dream.

As near the graceful stripling drew,
She cried:--"My dream, my dream is true!
Fortune from visions of the night
Has brought him to my longing sight.
Truth has portrayed his form divine;
He lives--he lives--and he is mine!"

She presently descended from her balcony, and gave him a bunch of roses,
the token by which her choice was made known, and then retired. The
king, when he heard of what she had done, was exceedingly irritated,
thinking that her affections were placed on a beggar, or some nameless
stranger of no birth or fortune, and his first impulse was to have her
put to death. But his people assembled around him, and said:--"What can
be the use of killing her?--It is in vain to resist the flood of
destiny, for what will be, will be.

"The world itself is governed still by Fate,
Fate rules the warrior's and the monarch's state;
And woman's heart, the passions of her soul,
Own the same power, obey the same control;
For what can love's impetuous force restrain?
Blood may be shed, but what will be thy gain?"

After this remonstrance he desired enquiries to be made into the
character and parentage of his proposed son-in-law, and was told his
name, the name of his father, and of his ancestors, and the causes which
led to his present condition. But he would not believe a word of the
narration. He was then informed of his daughter's dream, and other
particulars: and he so far relented as to sanction the marriage; but
indignantly drove her from his house, with her husband, without a dowry,
or any money to supply themselves with food.

Gushtasp and his wife took refuge in a miserable cell, which they
inhabited, and when necessity pressed, he used to cross the river, and
bring in an elk or wild ass from the forest, give half of it to t