Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 2.djvu/66
at the ſight of me. But to rid him of his Fear, I ſpoke to him as I came in, thus; Whoever you be, Sir, do not fear any thing, a King, and the Son of a King, as I am, is not capable of doing you any Prejudice. On the contrary, it’s probable, that your good Deſtiny has brought me hither, to deliver you out of this Tomb, where, it ſeems, they have buried you alive, for Reaſons unknown to me. But that which makes me wonder, and what I cannot conceive (for you muſt know that I have been Witneſs to all that hath paſſed ſince your coming into this Iſland) is, that you ſuffered your ſelf to be buried in this Place without any Reſiſtance.
Scheherazade broke off here, and the Sultan aroſe very impatient to know why this young Lad was thus abandoned in a deſart Iſland, as to which he promis’d himſelf Satisfaction next Night.
DInarzade perceiving it was time to call upon the Sultaneſs ſaid, Siſter, it you be not aſleep, pray re-aſſume the Story of the third Callender, Scheherazade gave her no occaſion to repeat her requeſt, and went on in this manner:
The young Man, continued the third Callender, recovered himſelf theſe Words, and pray’d me, with a ſmiling Countenance, to ſit down by him; which when I had done, he ſaid, Prince, I am to acquaint you with a Matter ſo odd in it ſelf, that it cannot but ſurprize you.
My Father is a Merchant-Jeweller, who has acquired thro’ his Ingenuity in his Calling, a great Eſtate; he hath a great many Slaves, and alſo Deputies, whom he employ’s to go as Super-Cargoes to Sea with his own Ships, on purpoſe to maintain the Correſpondence he has at ſeveral Courts, which he furniſhes with ſuch precious Stones as they want.
He had been married a long while and without Iſſue, when he underſtood by a Dream that he ſhould have a Son, though his Life would be but ſhort, at which he was very much concern’d when he awak’d. Some Days after my Mother acquainted him that ſhe was with Child, and the Time which ſhe ſuppoſed to be that of her Conception a-