and we all know that when
a woman meddles with anything, _pena be khoda_, it is then time to
put one's trust in God; but after her, they had a Paul, who was a pure
madman; who, to give you an instance of what his folly was, wanted to
march an army to India; just as if the _Kizzil Bashes_[55] would ever
have allowed it. A Russian puts on a hat, a tight coat, and tight
breeches, shaves his beard, and then calls himself a European. You might
just as well tie the wings of a goose to your back and call yourself an
angel.'

'Wonderful, wonderful,' exclaimed the head of the nobles; 'the
Shah-in-Shah speaks like an angel. Show us a king in Europe that would
speak like him.'

'Yes, yes,' was chorused by all the bystanders.

'May he live a thousand years,' said one.

'May his shadow never be less,' said another.

'But it is of their women,' continued the king, 'of whom we hear
the most extraordinary accounts. In the first place, they have no
_anderun_[56] in their houses; men and women all live together; then the
women never wear veils--they show their faces to whoever chooses to look
at them, like those of our wandering tribes. Tell me, Mirza Ahmak, you
that are a doctor and a philosopher, by what extraordinary arrangement
of providence does it happen, that we Mussulmans should be the only
people on earth who can depend upon our wives, and who can keep them in
subjection. You,' said his majesty, smiling ironically, 'you I hear are
blessed above all men in an obedient and dutiful wife.'

'Possessed of the kindness and protection of the King of Kings,'
answered the doctor, 'I am blessed with everything that can make life
happy. I, my wife, my family, are your humble slaves, and everything
we have your property. If your slave possesses any merit, it is none
of his; it all emanates from the asylum of the world: even my failings
become virtues, when the king commands me. "But what lamp can shine in
the face of, the sun, or what minaret can be called high at the foot
of the mountain of Alwend?" With respect to what your majesty has been
pleased to say concerning women, it appears to the meanest of your
slaves, that there must be a great affinity between beasts and
Europeans, and which accounts for the inferiority of the latter to
Mussulmans. Male and female beasts herd promiscuously together; so do
the Europeans. The female beasts do not hide their faces; neither do the
Europeans. They wash not, nor do they pray five times a da