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CHAP. III.
The first Mistress's Intercession.
WHEN the day appointed for the execution of the Princess was come, the people assembled with weeping eyes to go thereto. Then came Halicujah, the first mistress to the Empress and said, Most gracious lady, the Divine Being knows your daughter is innocent of the crime she is charged with by Radamanthus and that she is not speechless without a good cause; and if you put her to death, it will happen to you as it did to the queen of Syria, who poisoned her husband through the persuasion of a wicked person. The empress desirous to hear the story, respited the execution of the Princess, and the Mistress began:
Once in Syria reigned a Queen, who was fond of seeing jests and tournaments, and having one day appointed her courtiers to try their valour before her, none so well pleased her as the valour of Darsius, son to the king of Parthia; and finding him to be an accom-
