The Prince was indignant, for he thought any girl should be proud to have him offer to marry her and make her Queen.
“Sire,” Celia went on, “you are handsome and rich and powerful, I know; but the man I marry must be good.”
This speech made the Prince so angry that he ordered his men to take Celia off to the palace as a prisoner.
“this little gold ring is my gift to you”
Now, the Prince had a foster-brother who was a very wicked man. When the Prince told him about Celia, he said:
“What! a peasant girl refuse to marry the Prince! How ridiculous! The whole kingdom would laugh if they knew about it.”
This speech hurt the Prince’s pride, and he decided to make Celia consent to marry him at any cost. He rushed off to find her. His men had given him the key to the cell where they had imprisoned her. But the cell was quite empty.
The Prince was terribly angry, and swore that he would put to death the person who had helped Celia to escape. It happened that this threat gave some of the Prince’s wicked friends the very chance they wanted to get rid of the Prince’s tutor, an old nobleman whom they all hated because he was good.
Soon these wicked men had everyone in the court whispering: “Yes, it was Suliman who helped Celia escape.” Some men even were found who swore that Suliman himself had told them about it. When the Prince heard it he was still more angry. To think that his old tutor could treat him so! He ordered his men to arrest the supposed offender, put him in chains, as if he were a murderer, and bring him to court.