“The bird appeared to me three days and uttered the same message. Upon the third day my mother, concealed within a closet, heard all that was said. She, as well as I, was terrified. She determined to save me by flight. But, while we slept, some mysterious power took me from her side and placed me in this palace. [[58]]
“I have not seen my mother since, and do not know whether she is dead from the grief of our separation. As for myself, during forty days and nights I watched beside the bier of this prince who is now my master. Hadst thou been in my place, O stone! couldst thou have been utterly patient?”
As she thus spoke, the patience stone began to swell with sympathy. As it did so, it whispered, “Bravo! bravo!”
“With the first streak of light upon the fortieth morning,” continued the speaker, “a ship passed the palace. Loneliness was heavy upon me. I signaled it and asked that I might buy a slave girl. For her I offered ten thousand piasters of the money my mother had put upon me.
“They sent me this slave who is now my mistress. I received her gladly. I kissed her and put my own gold coins about her neck. I was kind to her and felt that it was good to have companionship other than a stiff and silent corpse.
“When the morning had fully dawned I, being restless, left my slave to watch for a little while beside the bier while I wandered through the beautiful rooms of the palace.
“Scarcely had I left his presence, when the spell was broken and the noble prince was restored to life. I returned to find that he had made my slave his [[59]]princess. Immediately upon my return this false princess spoke roughly to me, calling out that I was her slave.
“Since then she has required bitter things of me. Often in the absence of the prince she beats me. Now she threatens my life. O, thou wise stone, couldst thou have had patience to endure all this?”
When this pitiful question was sobbed forth, the patience stone cried “Bravo!” once again, then it burst into a thousand pieces.
“O, patience stone,” cried the girl, “if thou couldst not bear this that has been put upon me, how can I longer do so? Let me rather hang myself, before my cruel slave mistress tortures me to death.”