'
'Very unhappy.'
'If I were only a man!'
'What a hero you would be!'
'I should like to live in endless confusion.'
'I have not the least doubt of it.'
'Have you got me the books?' eagerly inquired the Princess.
'My slave bears them,' replied Honain.
'Let me see them directly.'
Honain took the bag from Alroy, and unfolded its contents; the very
volumes of Greek romances which Ali, the merchant, had obtained for him.
'I am tired of poetry,' said the Princess, glancing over the costly
volumes, and tossing them away; 'I long to see the world.'
'You would soon be tired of that,' replied the physician.
'I suppose common people are never tired.' said the Princess.
'Except with labour;' said the physician; 'care keeps them alive.'
'What is care?' asked the Princess, with a smile.
'It is a god,' replied the physician, 'invisible, but omnipotent. It
steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes
away the appetite, and turns the hair grey.'
'It is no true divinity, then,' replied the Princess, 'but an idol we
make ourselves. I am a sincere Moslem, and will not worship it. Tell me
some news, Honain.'
'The young King of Karasme----'
'Again! the barbarian! You are in his pay.
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