some girl friends. The weather was fine, the sea smooth, and they sang
their songs and made merry, to their hearts' content. Suddenly the sail
of a corsair appeared on the smooth mirror of the ocean, pounced
straight down upon the maidens in their boat, and before they could
reach the nearest shore, they were all seized and carried away captive.

"Poor Irene! she was not even able to bid her dear father God speed! Her
thoughts were with him as the pirate-ship sped swiftly away with her,
and she saw the city where he dwelt recede further and further away in
the dim distance. Alas! he was waiting for her now--and would wait in
vain! Her father, she knew it, was standing outside his door and asking
every passer-by if he had not seen his little daughter coming. A banquet
had been prepared for her at home, and all the invited guests were
already there, but still no sign of her! And now she could see him
coming down to the sea-shore, and sweep the smooth shining watery mirror
with his eyes in every direction, and ask the sailor-men: 'Where is my
daughter? Do you know anything about her?'"

Here the eyes of the father and the husband involuntarily filled with
tears.

"Wherefore do you weep? How silly of you! Why, you know, of course, it
is only a tale. Listen now to how it goes on! The robber carried the
maiden he had stolen to Stambul. He took her straight to the Kizlar-Aga
whose office it is to purchase slave-girls for the harem of the
Padishah. The bargaining did not take long. The Kizlar-Aga paid down at
once the price which the slave-merchant demanded, and forthwith handed
Irene over to the slave-women of the Seraglio, who immediately conducted
her to a bath fragrant with perfumes. Her face, her figure, her charms,
amazed them exceedingly, and they lifted up their voices and praised her