I did not know what to say to them; I felt inclined to send them back; but one cannot return the presents of a prince; it would have been a mortal insult. I was obliged, therefore, to keep them, and to install this troop of children in my rooms.
They stood motionless, looking at me, waiting for my orders, trying to read my thoughts in my eyes. Confound such a present! How dreadfully it was in my way. At last, thinking that I must be looking rather ridiculous, I asked the eldest her name.
"Châli," she replied.
This little creature, with her beautiful skin, which was slightly yellow, like old ivory, was a marvel, a perfect statue, with her face and its long and severe lines.
I then asked, in order to see what she would reply, and also, perhaps, to embarrass her:
"What have you come here for?"
She replied, in her soft, harmonious voice:
"I have come to be altogether at my lord's disposal, and to do whatever he wishes."
She was evidently quite resigned.
I put the same question to the youngest, who answered immediately in her shrill voice: