of negroes appeared,
and fell on me on all sides, and began to attack me without delay
with their swords and spears; what could one single unarmed man
do? In a moment they covered me with wounds; I had no sensation or
recollection of myself. When I recovered my senses, I found myself on
a bed, which two soldiers were carrying along [on their shoulders];
they were speaking to each other; one said, 'Let us throw the corpse
of this dead man on the plain; the dogs and crows will soon eat
it up.' The other replied, 'If the king should make investigation,
and learn this circumstance, he will bury us alive, and grind our
children to paste; what! are our lives become a burthen to us, that
we should act so rashly?'

"On hearing this conversation, I said to the two [ruffians] Gog and
Magog, 'for God's sake take some pity on me, I have still a spark of
life left; when I die, do with me what you please; the dead are in
the hands of the living; [372] but tell me what has happened to me;
why have I been wounded, and who are you? pray explain thus much to
me.' They then having taken pity on me, said, 'The young man who is
confined in the cage is the nephew of the king of this country; and
his father was previously on the throne. At the time of his death he
gave this injunction to his brother: 'My son, who is heir to my throne,
is as yet young and inexperienced; do you continue to guide the affairs
of state with zeal and prudence; when he is of age, marry your daughter
to him, and make him master of the whole empire and treasury.'

"After saying this his majesty died, and the younger brother became
king; he did not attend to the [late king's] last injunctions; on
the contrary, he gave it out that [his nephew was] mad and insane,
and put him into a cage, and has placed such strict guards on the four
sides of the garden that no bird can there flap its wing; and many a
time he has administered to [his nephew] the poison called _halahal_;
[373] but his life is stronger and the poison has had no effect. Now
the princess and this prince are lover and mistress; she is distracted
at home, and he in the cage; she sent him a love-letter by your hands;
the spies instantly conveyed intelligence [of this circumstance]
to the king; a body of Abyssinians were ordered out and treated you
thus. The king has consulted his _wazir_ on the means of putting to
death this imprisoned prince, and that ungrateful wretch has persuaded
the princess to kill the