Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 2.djvu/75
to ſubmit; and let it coſt me what it would, I begged them to grant my Requeſt.
The ten Gentlemen, perceiving that I was ſo poſitive in my Reſolution, took a Sheep and kill’d it, and after they had taken off the Skin preſented me with the Knife, telling me it would be uſeful to me on a certain Occaſion, which they ſhould tell me of preſently. We muſt ſew you into this Skin, ſaid they, and then leave you; upon which a Fowl of a monſtrous Size, call’d a Roc, will appear in the Air, and taking you to be a Sheep, will come down upon you, and carry you up to the very Sky; but let not that frighten you, he will come down with you again, and lay you upon the Top of a Mountain: When you find your ſelf upon the Ground, cut the Skin with the Knife, and throw it off, As ſoon as the Roc ſees you, he will fly away for Fear, and leave you at Liberty: Do not ſtay, but walk on till you come to a prodigious large Cattle, all cover’d with Plates of Gold, large Emerals, and other precious Stones: Go up to the Gate, which always ſtands open, and walk in: We have been in the Caſtle as long as we have been here; we will tell you nothing of what we ſaw, or what befel us there, you will learn it of your ſelf; all that we can inform you is, that it hath coſt each of us our Right-Eye, and the Penance which you have been Witneſs to, is what weare obliged to do, becauſe we have been there. The Hiſtory of each of us in particular is ſo full of extraordinary Adventures, that a large Volume would not contain ’em. But we muſt explain our ſelves no further.
Here Scheherazade broke off her Diſcourſe, and ſays to the Sultan of the Indies, Sir, my Siſter call’d upon me this Morning ſooner than ordinary, I fear I have wearied your Majeſty’s Patience. But now Day appears in very good Seaſon, and commands my Silence. Schahriar’s Curioſity prevail’d ſtill upon him to diſpenſe with his cruel Oath.