“‘My husband being stricken with the fever, the physician hath ordered that I take these fruits to him;’ and the captain of the guard made answer, ‘If this be so, then take the fruits in to him, but loiter not; return in all speed.’ As soon as the wife entered the prison she changed dresses hastily with Naran Gerel, bidding her escape and go hence privately to her own apartment, while she remained beside her husband.
“In the meantime morning had come, and the King and all his court and his judges were astir, and before all other causes the captain of the guard went to give account of the arrest of Naran Gerel and the minister Ssaran. The high King was very wroth when he heard what his daughter had done and the minister, and commanded that they should instantly be brought before him. So the captain of the guard went straight to the prison, and without waiting so much as to look at them brought the two prisoners before the throne of the King.
“When the King saw the minister and his wife standing before him, he asked them in a voice of thunder,—
“‘Where is Naran Gerel?’
“And the minister’s wife made answer,—
“‘How can we tell thee this thing, seeing we have been kept in durance all through the night?’
“‘And wherefore have ye been kept in durance all through the night?’ pursued the King.
“‘Concerning that also we know nothing further than that the captain of the guard told us it was by the King’s decree,’ replied the woman.
“‘Explain this matter,’ then said the King, addressing the minister. And he, his wife telling him what to say, made answer, ‘Most high King, how shall I explain the matter, seeing that I myself fail to know why we were arrested? My wife desired to see the garden of the King, and I, thinking it was not beyond a minister’s privilege, took her yesterday to walk there, and we spent the day together under the shady tree. For this were we put in prison.’
“The King then spoke to the captain of the guard, saying, ‘Shall not a man pass the day in a garden with his wife? Wherefore should they be put in prison? Behold, since thou hast done this thing, thy life is in this man’s hand.’ And he delivered the captain of the guard to the minister to deal with him as he listed.