We hope,
nevertheless, that you will follow the advice we give you, as you
tender your own quiet, and the happiness of your life; therefore
take heed that you do not give way to indiscreet curiosity, for
you will do yourself a considerable prejudice. We conjure you,
therefore, not to commit this fault, but to let us have the
comfort of finding you here again after forty days. We would
willingly carry the key of the golden door along with us; but it
would be an affront to a prince like you to question your
discretion and modesty.
This discourse of the fair princesses made me extremely
sorrowful. I omitted not to make them sensible how much their
absence would afflict me: I thanked them for their good advice,
and assured them that I would follow it, and willingly do what
was much more difficult, in order to be so happy as to pass the
rest of my days with ladies of such rare qualifications. We took
leave of one another with a great deal of tenderness; and having
embraced them all, they at last departed, and I was left alone in
the castle. Their agreeable company, the good cheer, the concert
of music, and other pleasures, had so much diverted me during the
whole year, that I neither had time, nor the least desire, to see
the wonderful things contained in this enchanted palace. Nay, I
did not so much as take notice of a.
Pages:
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250