Alas! prince, said she, (sighing once more,) you have just cause
to believe this rich and pompous prison cannot be otherwise than
a most wearisome abode; the most charming place in the world
being nowise delightful when we are detained in it contrary to
our will. It is not possible but you have heard of the great
Epitimarus, king of the isle of Ebone, so called from that
precious wood it produces in abundance; I am the princess his
daughter.
The king my father had chosen for me a husband, a prince that was
my cousin; but, on my wedding-night, in the midst of the
rejoicing there was in the court and the capital city of the
kingdom of the isle of Ebone, before I was given to my spouse, a
genie took me away. I fainted at the same moment, and lost all my
senses; but, when I came to myself again, I found myself in this
place. I was a longtime inconsolable; but time and necessity have
accustomed me to see and receive the genie. It is twenty-five
years, as I told you before, that I have continued in this place,
where, I must confess, I have every thing that I can wish for
necessary to life; and also every thing that can satisfy a
princess that loves nothing but fine dress and fashions.
Every ten days, says the princess, the genie comes hither to lie
with me one night, which he never exceeds; and the excuse he
makes for it is, that he is married to another wife, who would
grow jealous if she came to know how unfaithful he was to her.
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