The old man, having sat a little while, rose up, and went out; but he returned in a minute or two, brought in supper for the ten gentlemen, distributed to each man his proportion by himself, and likewise brought me mine, which I ate by myself, as the rest did, and when supper was almost done, he presented to each of us a cup of wine.
They thought my story so extraordinary, that they made me repeat it after supper, and this gave occasion to discourses which lasted a good part of the night. One of the gentlemen, observing that it was late, said to the old man, You see it is time to go to bed, and you do not bring us that with which we may acquit ourselves of our duty. At these words the old man rose, and went into a closet, from whence he brought out upon his head ten basons, one after another, all covered with blue stuff: He set one before every gentleman, together with a light.
They uncovered their basons, in, which there were ashes, coal- dust, and lamp-black; they mixed all together, and rubbed and bedaubed their faces with it in such a manner, that they looked very frightful. After having thus blackened themselves, they fell a-weeping and lamenting, beating their heads and breasts, and cried continually, This is the fruit of our idleness and debauches.
They continued this almost the whole night, and when they left off, the old man brought them water, with which they washed their faces and hands; they also changed their clothes, which were spoiled, and put on others; so that they did not look in the least as if they had been doing so strange an action.
You may judge, Madam, how uneasy I was all the while; I had a mind a thousand times to break the silence which these young gentlemen had imposed upon me, and ask questions; nor was it possible for me to sleep that night.
After we got up next day, we went out to walk, and then I told them, Gentlemen, I declare to you that I must renounce that law which you prescribed to me last night, for I cannot observe it. You are men of sense, and all of you have wit in abundance; you have convinced me of it, yet I have seen you do such actions, as none but madmen could be capable of. Whatever misfortune befals me, I cannot forbear asking, why you bedaubed your faces with black? How it comes that each of you have but one eye? Some singular thing must have been the cause of it, therefore I conjure you to satisfy my curiosity. To these pressing instances they answered nothing, but that it was none of my business to ask such questions, and that I should do well to hold my peace.
We passed that day in discourses upon different subjects, and when night was come, and every man had supped, the old man brought in the blue basons, and the young gentlemen bedaubed their faces, wept, and beat themselves, crying, This is the fruit of our idleness and debauches, as before, and continued the same actions the following night. At last, not being able to resist my curiosity, I earnestly prayed them to satisfy me, or to show me how to return to my own kingdom, for it was impossible for me to keep them company any longer, and to see every night such an odd spectacle, without being permitted to know the reason.
One of the gentlemen answered in behalf of the rest, Do not wonder at our conduct in regard to yourself; and that hitherto we have not granted your request; it is out of mere kindness, and to prevent the sorrow of your being reduced to the same condition with us. If you have a mind to try our unfortunate destiny, you need but speak, and we will give you the satisfaction you desire. I told them I was resolved on it, let come what will. Once more, said the same gentleman, we advise you to restrain your curiosity; it will cost you the loss of your right eye. No matter, said I; I declare to you, that if such a misfortune befal me, I will not impute it to you, but to myself. He further represented to me, that when I had lost an eye, I must not hope to stay with them, if I were so minded, because their number was complete, and no addition could be made to it. I told them, that it would be a great satisfaction to me never to part from such honest gentlemen, but, if there was necessity for it, I was ready to submit; and, let it cost what it would, I begged them to grant my request.
The ten gentlemen, perceiving that I was positive in my resolution, took a sheep and killed it, and, after they had taken off the skin, presented me with the knife, telling me it would be useful to me on a certain occasion, which they should tell me of presently. We must sew you into this skin, said they, and then leave you; upon which a fowl of monstrous size, called a roc, will appear in the air, and, taking you to be a sheep, will come down upon you, and carry you up to the very sky; but let not that frighten you, he will come down again with you, and lay you upon the top of a mountain. When you find yourself upon the ground, cut the skin with the knife, and throw it off. As soon as the roc sees you, he will fly away for fear, and leave you at liberty. Do not stay, but walk on till you come to a prodigious castle, all covered with plates of gold, large emeralds, and other precious stones: Go up to the gate, which always stands open, and walk in: We have been in the castle as long as we have been here: We will tell you nothing of what we saw, or what befel us there, because you will learn it yourself; all that we can inform you is, that it has cost each of us our right eye, and the penance which you have been witness to is what we are obliged to do, because we have been there. The history of each of us in particular is so full of extraordinary adventures, that a large volume would not contain them; but we must explain ourselves no further.
When the gentleman had ended this discourse, I wrapt myself in the sheep's skin, held fast the knife which was given me; and after those young gentlemen had been at the trouble to sew the skin about me, they retired into the hall, and left me on the place. The roc they had spoken of was not long a-coming; he fell down upon me, took me up between his talons like a sheep, and carried me to the top of the mountain. When I found myself upon the ground, I made use of the knife, cut the skin, and throwing it off, the roc at the first sight of me flew away. This roc is a white bird of a monstrous size; his strength is such that he can lift up elephants from the plains, and carry them to the tops of mountains, where he feeds upon them. Being impatient till I reached the castle, I lost no time, but made so much haste, that I got thither in half a day's journey, and I must say, that I found it surpassed the description they had given me of it. The gate being open, I entered into a court that was square, and so large, that there were round it ninety-nine gates of wood of sanders and aloes, with one of gold, without counting those of several magnificent stair-cases that led up to apartments above, besides many more I could not see. The hundred doors I spoke of opened into gardens or store-houses full of riches, or into palaces that contained things wonderful to be seen. I saw a door standing open just before me, through which I entered into a large hall, where I found forty voung ladies of such perfect beauty, that imagination could not go beyond it; they were all most sumptuously apparelled; and as soon as they saw me, they rose up, and, without expecting my compliments, said to me, with demonstrations of joy, Noble sir, you are very welcome. And one spoke to me in the name of the rest thus: We have been in expectation a long while of such a gentleman as you; your mien assures us that you are master of all the good qualities we can wish for, and we hope you will not find our company disagreeable or unworthy of yours. They forced me, notwithstanding all the opposition I could make, to sit down on a seat that was higher than theirs, and though I signified that I was uneasy. That is your place, said they; you are at present our lord, master, and judge, and we are your slaves, ready to obey your commands.
Nothing in the world, madam, so much astonished me as the passion and eagerness of those fair ladies to do me all possible service. One brought hot water to wash my feet; a second poured sweet scented water on my hands; some brought me all sorts of necessaries, and change of apparel; others brought in a magnificent collation; and the rest came with glasses in their hands to fill me delicious wines, all in good order, and in the most charming manner that could be. I ate and drank; after which the ladies placed themselves about me, and desired an account of my travels. I gave them a full relation of my adventures, which lasted till night came on.
When I had made an end of my story, which I related to the forty ladies, some of them that sat nearest me staid to keep me company, whilst the rest, seeing it