hen came the question as to whether the
nobles would recognise the prince with a girl's body, and indeed, when
we came to think of it, which was prince and which was girl?

'At last, after much argument, my head carried the day and we set out;
but only to find that the king had declared the Princess Okimpare his
successor. The greater part of the senators and nobles openly professed
that they would much have preferred the rightful heir, but as they could
not recognise him either in the prince or me, they chose to consider us
as impostors and threw us into prison.

'A few days later Tezila and Thelamis, who had followed us to the
capital, came to tell us that the new queen had accused us of high
treason, and had herself been present at our trial--which was conducted
without us. They had been in mortal terror as to what would be our
sentence, but by a piece of extraordinary luck we had been condemned to
be beheaded.

'I told my sister that I did not see exactly where the luck came in, but
Thelamis interrupted me rudely:

'"What!" he cried, "of course I shall make use of the pastilles, and--"
but here the officers arrived to lead us to the great square where the
execution was to take place--for Okimpare was determined there should be
no delay.

'The square was crowded with people of all ages and all ranks, and in
the middle a platform had been erected on which was the scaffold, with
the executioner, in a black mask, standing by. At a sign from him I
mounted first, and in a moment my head was rolling at his feet. With a
bound my sister and Thelamis were beside me, and like lightning Thelamis
seized the sabre from the headsman, and cut off the head of the prince.
And before the multitude had recovered from their astonishment at these
strange proceedings, our bodies were joined to our right heads, and the
pastilles placed on our tongues. Then Thelamis led the prince to the
edge of the platform and presented him to the people, saying, "Behold
your lawful king."

'Shouts of joy rent the air at the sound of Thelamis's words, and the
noise reached Okimpare in the palace. Smitten with despair at the news,
she fell down unconscious on her balcony, and was lifted up by the
slaves and taken back to her own house.

'Meanwhile our happiness was all turned to sorrow. I had rushed up
to the prince to embrace him fondly, when he suddenly grew pale and
staggered.

'"I die faithful to you," he murmured, turning his eyes towards me