Page 85 - Bulbul Hezar

princess; which innocent babe underwent the same fate as
the princes her brothers, but was preserved from a certain

death by the compassion and charity of the intendant, as well
as the two princes her brothers.
To this inhumanity the two sisters added a lie, and used the
same cheat as before. They produced a piece of wood, and
affirmed it to be a mole, which the sultaness was delivered
of.
The sultan Khosrouschah could no longer contain himself,

when he was informed of the news. What! said he, this
woman, unworthy of my bed, will fill my palace with
monsters? Let her live! No, it shall not be, added he; she is a
monster herself, and I will rid the world of her. He
pronounced this sentence of death, and ordered the grand
visier to take care to have her executed.
The grand visier and the courtiers who were present cast
themselves at the sultan's feet, to beg of him to revoke that
sentence. Your majesty, I hope, will give me leave, said the

grand visier, to represent to you, that the laws which
condemn persons to death were made to punish crimes: The
three extraordinary lyings-in of the sultaness are no crimes;
for in what can she be said to have contributed towards
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