Indeed,
without me, you would be sacrificed to a snake!" She seated herself,
and said, "Be not afraid: swear to me by the Prophet that you will
take me for your wife, and you shall to-day be delivered from your
prison."

Jussuf swore; and now she turned to her father, and spoke earnestly
with him in his language. But the faithful slave approached the cage,
and interpreted all that was said.

"It is not prudent to keep this man imprisoned without knowing whether
he is the right one to offer to the snake. You have seized the best,
and in the meanwhile justice is forgotten. Have the priests to the
snake called, that they may see him, and that I may speak with them."

The King answered that this would be easy, as two priests had arrived
from the snake's temple, before they had gone into the garden, to
demand an audience.

They were called, and there soon appeared the priests in long white
garments, with particoloured girdles.

"Is this the man pointed out by your god?" asked she, as they
approached Jussuf's cage.

"It is, it is!" they cried in the same voice, and bowed humbly before
the Princess.

"What have you for a sign?" she again asked.

"We have no sign," they answered; "but he it is."

"You have no sign! How, then, do you know he is the right one?" asked
she.

To which they answered, "The divine snake has discovered it."

Then she replied, with contempt, "Be silent to me about your snake!"
And she turned to the King, and said, "My King and father, will you
suffer yourself any longer to be deceived by these stupid and
obstinate men? They give out that they have divine knowledge, and yet
they are as ignorant as a maiden of sixteen! I beg you, have their
god, the snake, brought here, and I will prove that I speak truth; but
they, only deceit and falsehood."

At these words, the priests doubled their fists, and struck their
foreheads and breasts, and bowed themselves to the ground, and jumped
about as if seized by convulsions.

Then the King looked at the Princess with a frightened countenance,
and said, "Child, take heed what you do; revile not the gods."

All the servants who stood around were astonished, not rightly
comprehending what was passing. But the Princess earnestly coaxed the
King to cause the priests to bring the divine serpent there, that they
might test the truth of what she had spoken. The King gave the
command, and the priests left; at the Princess's request the King
remained. All sto