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any more: Tell me the Cauſe of your Sorrow. Alas! ſaid they, what other Thing could be capable of grieving us, but the neceſſity of parting from you. It may ſo happen, that we ſhall never ſee you again; but if you be fo minded, and have Command enough over your ſelf, it is not impoſſible for us to meet again. Ladies, ſaid I, I do not underſtand your Meaning, pray explain your ſelves more clearly.
Oh then! ſaid one of them, to ſatisfie you, we muſt acquaint you that we are all Princeſſes, Daughters of Kings, we live here together in ſuch Manner as you have ſeen; but at the End of every Year we are oblig’d to be abſent forty Days upon indiſpenſible Duties, which we are not Permitted to reveal; and afterwards we return again to this Caſtle. Yeſterday was the laſt of the Year, and we muſt leave you this Day, which is the Cauſe of our Grief. Before we depart, we will leave you the Keys to every thing, eſpecially thoſe belonging to the hundred Doors, where you will find enough to ſatisfy your Curioſity, and to ſweeten your Solitude during our Abſence: But for your own Welfare and our particular Concern in you, we recommend unto you to forbear opening the golden Door,for if you do, we ſhall never ſee you again; and the Fear of this augments our Grief. We hope, never the lefs, that you will follow the Advice we give you, as you tender you own Quiet and the Happineſs of your Life; therefore take heed that you do not give way to indiſcreet Curioſity, for you will do your ſelf a conſiderable Prejudice. We conjure you therefore not to commit this Fault, but to let us have the Comfort of finding you here again after forty Days. We would willingly carry the Key of the golden Door along with us; but that wou’d be an Affront to a Prince like you, to queſtion your Diſcretion and Modeſty. Scheherazade had a mind to go on; but ſhe ſaw Day appear, and ſtopped, the Sultan, being curious to know what the third Callender would do when the forty Ladies were gone, and had left him alone in the Caſtle, referred the hearing of it till next Day.
The
