The queen Gulnare immediately threw herself at her mother’s feet, and after rising up and kissing her hand, said, Madam, I own I have been guilty of a very great crime, and I shall be indebted to your goodness for the pardon which I hope you will be pleased to grant me. What I am going to say, in obedience to your commands, will soon convince you, that it is very often in vain for us to have an aversion for some certain things: I have experienced it myself; and the only thing I had an abhorrence to, either justly, or by the malice of my stars, has happened to me here. She began to relate the whole story of what had befallen her since her quitting the sea, in a violent passion, for the earth. As soon as she had made an end, and had acquainted them with her having been sold to the king of Persia, in whose palace she was at present; Sister, cried the king her brother, you have been mightily wronged in having so many affronts offered you; but you can blame nobody but yourself: you have it in your power now to free yourself; and I cannot but admire your patience, that you could endure so long a slavery. Rise, and return with us into my kingdom, that I have reconquered, and taken from the proud usurper that was once master of it.
The king of Persia, who heard these killing words from the closet where he stood, was in the utmost confusion imaginable. Ah! said he to himself, I am ruined and undone; and if my queen, my angel, leaves me, I shall surely die, for it is impossible for me to live without her: and will they be so barbarous as to deprive me of her? But the queen Gulnare soon put him out of his fears, and eased the sorrow of his heart.
Brother, said she, and smiled, what I have just now heard, gives me a greater proof than ever I had of the sincerity of your friendship for me; but as heretofore I could not brook your proposing a match between me and a prince of the earth, so now I can scarce forbear being angry with you, for advising me to break the engagement I have made with the most puissant and most renowned monarch in the world. I do not speak here of an engagement between a slave and her master; if that were all, it would be easy to return the ten thousand pieces of gold that I cost him; but I speak now of a contract between a woman and her husband, who has never given her the least reason to complain or be discontented: besides, he is a king, wise, temperate, religious, and just, and has given me the most essential demonstrations of his love that possibly he could. What can be a greater instance of the violence of his passion, than sending away all his women (of which he had a great number) immediately upon my arrival, and confining himself only to me? I am now his wife, and he has lately declared me queen of Persia; and I am to sit with him in the council: besides, I am breeding; and if Heaven shall be pleased to favour me with a son, that shall be another motive to engage my affections to him the more. So, brother, continued the queen Gulnare, instead of following your advice, you see I have all the reason in the world, not only to love the king of Persia as passionately as I do, but also to live and die with him, more out of gratitude than duty. I hope, then, neither my mother, nor you, nor any of my cousins, will disapprove of the resolution and alliance I have made, which will be an equal honour to the kings of both the sea and earth. I ask a thousand pardons for giving you the trouble of coming hither from the bottom of the deep to partake of it; and I return you thanks for the pleasure of seeing you after so long a separation.
Sister, replied king Saleh, the proposition I made you of going back with us into my kingdom, upon the recital of your adventures, (which I could not hear without concern,) was to let you see what a particular love and honour I had for you, and that nothing in the world was so dear to me as your welfare and happiness. Upon the same account, then, for my own part, I cannot condemn a resolution so reasonable, and so worthy of yourself, after what you have told me of the king of Persia your husband, and the many obligations you have to him; and I am persuaded that the queen our mother will be of the same opinion.
The queen confirmed what her son had just spoken, and addressing herself immediately to her daughter, said, My dear, I am very glad to hear you are pleased; and I have nothing else to add to what your brother has already said to you. I should have been the first that would have condemned you, if you had not expressed all the gratitude you were capable of for a monarch that loves you so passionately, and has done such mighty things to oblige you.
As the king of Persia, who was still in the closet, had been extremely concerned for fear of losing his beloved queen, so now he was transported with joy at her resolution never to forsake him; and having no room to doubt of her love, after so open a declaration, he began to love her more than ever, and was resolved within himself to give her all the outward proofs of it, after the most sensible manner he possibly could.
While the king was entertaining himself with a pleasure that cannot easily be imagined, the queen Gulnare clapped her hands aloud, and presently in came some of her slaves, whom she had ordered to bring in a collation. As soon as it was served up, she invited the queen her mother, the king her brother, and her cousins, to sit down and take part of it. They began to consider, that, without ever asking leave, they were got into the palace of a mighty king, who had never seen or heard of them, and were all of the same opinion, that it would be a great piece of rudeness and incivility to eat at his table without him. This reflection raised a blush in their faces, and their eyes glowing with the concern they were in, they breathed nothing but flames at their mouths and nostrils.
This unexpected sight put the king of Persia, who was perfectly ignorant of the cause of it, into a most dreadful consternation. The queen Gulnare fancying that his majesty might be a little surprised at it, and finding her relations desirous of the honour of seeing him, rose from her seat, and told them she would be back in a moment. She went directly to the closet, and by her presence recovered the king of Persia from his surprise: Sir, said she, I doubt not but that your majesty is well pleased with the acknowledgment I have lately made of the many favours that I am still indebted to your goodness for. It was wholly in my power to have complied with my relations, who would fain have persuaded me to have forsaken you, and gone back with them into their dominions; but alas! I am not capable of being guilty of such ingratitude as I should have condemned in another. Ah! my queen, cried the king of Persia, speak no more of your obligations to me, for indeed you have none; it is I that am your debtor so much, that I am afraid I shall never be able to repay, or return you thanks equal to the favour you have done me; for I never thought it possible you could have loved me so tenderly as you do, and as you have made it appear to me, after the most signal manner in the world. Ah! sir, replied the queen Gulnare, could I do less than I have done? I rather fear I have not done enough, considering all the honours and favours that your majesty has heaped upon me; and it is impossible for me to remain insensible of your passion, after so many convincing proofs as you have given me. But let us drop this, and give me leave to assure you of the sincere friendship that the queen my mother, and the king my brother, are pleased to honour you with; they earnestly desire to see you, and tell you themselves. I intended to have discoursed with them a little before I introduced them to your majesty, and accordingly I have ordered a banquet for them; but they are very impatient to pay their respects to you, and therefore I desire your majesty would be pleased to walk in, and honour them with your presence.
Madam, said the king of Persia, I should be very glad to salute persons that have the honour to be so nearly related to you; but I am afraid of the flames that they breathe at their mouths and nostrils. Sir, replied the queen, laughing, you need not in the least be afraid of those flames, which are nothing but a sign of their unwillingness to eat in your palace without your honouring them with your presence, and eating with them.
The king of Persia taking heart at these words, went into his chamber with his queen Gulnare. She presented him to the queen her mother, to the king her brother, and to her other relations, who instantly threw themselves at his feet, with their faces to the ground. The king of Persia ran to them, and lifting them up, embraced them one after another after a very tender manner. After they were all seated, king Saleh began his speech: Sir, said he to the king of Persia, we are at a loss for words to express our joy, to think that the queen my sister, after all her hardships and affronts, should have the happiness of falling under the protection of so powerful a monarch as your majesty. We can assure you, sir, she is not unworthy of the high honour that you have been pleased to raise her to; and we have always had so much love and tenderness for her, that we could never think of parting with her, even to the most puissant princes of the sea, who have often demanded her in marriage before she came of age: but Heaven has reserved her for you, sir; and we have no better way of returning thanks for the favour it has done her, than beseeching it to grant your majesty a long and happy life with her, and to crown your days with content and satisfaction.