And, oh ye detestable wives! I will
not--no, I will not, as ye deserve--wash off the guilt of your
sins with your blood; ye are unworthy of my rage; but perdition
seize me if ever I see you more!
King Camaralzaman was a man of too much religion to break his
vow. He commanded the two queens to be lodged in separate
apartments that very day, where they were kept under strong
guards, and never afterwards saw them.
While the king of the isle of Ebene afflicted himself for the
loss of the princes his sons, of which he thought he had been the
author by too rashly condemning them, the royal youths wandered
through deserts, endeavouring to avoid all places that were
inhabited, and the sight of any human creature. They lived on
herbs and wild fruits, and drank only stinking rainwater, which
they found in the crevices of the rocks. They slept and watched
by turns at night, for fear of wild beasts.
When they had travelled about a month, they came to the foot of a
high mountain inaccessible for its cragginess; the stones being
black, and so rugged, that it was impossible to ascend over them
to the summit of the hill. At last, they discovered a kind of
path; but it was so narrow and difficult, they durst not venture
up it. This obliged them to go along by the foot of the mountain,
in hopes of finding a more easy way to reach the top.
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