"But, sir," continued Gulnare, "let us drop this subject, and
give me leave to assure you of the sincere friendship the queen
my mother and the king my brother are pleased to honour you with;
they earnestly desire to see you, and tell you so themselves: I
intended to have had some conversation with them by ordering a
banquet for them, before I introduced them to your majesty; but
they are impatient to pay their respects to you; and therefore I
beseech your majesty to be pleased to honour them with your
presence."

"Madam," said the king of Persia, "I should be glad to salute
persons who have the honour to be so nearly related to you, but I
am afraid of the flames they breathe at their mouths and
nostrils." "Sir," replied the queen laughing, "you need not in
the least fear those flames, which are nothing but a sign of
their unwillingness to eat in your palace, without your honouring
them with your presence, and eating with them."

The king of Persia, encouraged by these words, rose and went into
the apartment with his Queen Gulnare She presented him to the
queen her mother, to the king her brother, and to her other
relations; who instantly threw themselves at his feet, with their
faces to the ground. The king of Persia ran to them, and lifting
them up, embraced them one after another. After they were all
seated, King Saleh began: "Sir;" said he to the king of Persia,
"we are at a loss for words to express our joy, to think that the
queen my sister, in her disgrace, should have the happiness of
falling under the protection of so powerful a monarch. We can
assure you, she is not unworthy of the high rank to which you
have been pleased to raise her; and we have always had so much