ys.

THE STORY OF GULNARE OF THE SEA

There was, in olden time, and in an ancient age and period, in the land
of the Persians, a king named Shahzeman, and the place of his residence
was Khorassan. He had not been blest, during his whole life, with a male
child nor a female; and he reflected upon this, one day, and lamented
that the greater portion of his life had passed, and he had no heir to
take the kingdom after him as he had inherited it from his fathers and
forefathers. So the utmost grief befell him on this account.

Now while he was sitting one day, one of his mamelukes came in to him,
and said to him: "O my lord, at the door is a slave-girl with a
merchant: none more beautiful than she hath been seen." And he replied:
"Bring to me the merchant and the slave-girl." The merchant and the
slave-girl therefore came to him; and when he saw her, he found her to
resemble the lance in straightness and slenderness. She was wrapped in a
garment of silk embroidered with gold, and the merchant uncovered her
face, whereupon the place was illuminated by her beauty, and there hung
down from her forehead seven locks of hair reaching to her anklets. The
King, therefore, wondered at the sight of her, and at her beauty, and
her stature and justness of form; and he said to the merchant: "O
sheikh, for how much is this damsel to be sold?" The merchant answered:
"O my lord, I purchased her for two thousand pieces of gold of the
merchant who owned her before me, and I have been for three years
travelling with her, and she hath cost, to the period of her arrival at
this place, three thousand pieces of gold; and she is a present from me
unto thee." Upon this, the king conferred upon him a magnificent robe of
honour, and gave orders to present him with ten thousand pieces of gold.
So he took them, and kissed the hands of the king, thanking him for his
beneficence, and departed. Then the king committed the damsel to the
tirewomen, saying to them: "Amend the state of this damsel, and deck
her, and furnish for her a private chamber, and take her into it." He
also gave orders to his chamberlains that everything which she required
should be conveyed to her. The seat of government where he resided was
on the shore of the sea, and his city was called the White City. And
they conducted the damsel into a private chamber, which chamber had
windows overlooking the sea; and the king commanded his chamberlains to
close all the doors upon her