378 The Adventures of Prince Hassan. [OcT. 



to deliver her. The princess did not confess her curiosity, which caused her 

 to go to the temple of Morpheus ; and, fearing to betray her secrets, she 

 quitted the island. 



The princess explained to her father what the fairy meant by a man ster 

 who killed by being looked on, and related to him the history of Prince 

 Hassan. The king, affected by the misfortunes of that unfortunate prince, 

 caused to be taken to the Dark Tower every thing that he could require 

 to make life agreeable. He frequently went there to entertain him, accom- 

 panied by his daughter ; and they both endeavoured to alleviate the rigours 

 of his prison. But, alas ! in endeavouring to contribute to his ease, she 

 lost her own. She loved with a violence that she could not restrain ; she 

 hid herself in the depths of the forests, to tell it to the echoes. Her words 

 were broken, and, at times, were without meaning ; her eyes had lost their 

 brilliancy ; her complexion had lost its fine transparency ; her beauty was 

 nearly effaced : scarcely could they trace in her the likeness of her former 

 self. She could no longer resist : it was absolutely necessary that she must 

 confess her love to her conqueror. 



She embarked for the Dark Tower : her heart beat violently as she 

 approached it. She had no sooner arrived than she called on Prince Has- 

 san. That prince, who had always replied to the slightest signal, now 

 appeared not. The princess trembled. She called him several times, but 

 in vain. As the tower could not be ascended without a ladder, she returned 

 to her island, and sent one of her slaves to fetch one. She went back to the 

 tower, and ascended herself, as she knew every part of it. Alas ! she did 

 not search long. Scarce was she mounted on the balcony, when she struck 

 something with her feet. She felt it, and found it was a body without 

 motion, and colder than marble. She doubted not it was the prince. " Oh, 

 ye gods, my love is dead!" screamed she. A torrent of tears came to her 

 relief, and her sighs deprived her of words. It at length became necessary 

 to tear herself away from the corpse, which she caused to be brought 

 away by her slaves, and erected a magnificent tomb, in the midst of a 

 grove of cypresses, on the sea-side. Then she caused a funeral pile of 

 cedar-wood to be made, where the body was consumed. She herself col- 

 lected the ashes, which she put into an urn made out of a single emerald. 

 This urn was inclosed in the tomb. The tomb was of black marble 

 four bronze statues ornamented the four corners and on the front was 

 engraven these words : 



" Here lies the unfortunate Prince Hassan !" 



It was at the foot of this tomb that the princess passed every moment that 

 she could steal away from court. She no longer feared to avow her love 

 for Prince Hassan; she made the echoes resound with it; she told it to 

 the brooks and fountains ; her sighs and lamentations broke the silence of 

 the groves ; she thought he was no more. Useless tears ! superfluous sighs! 

 The prince still lived. Some pirates, who had heard that the king of the 

 Island of Night had shut up his daughter in a tower built in the middle of 

 the sea, attracted by the hopes of a considerable ransom, had come to carry 

 her off; but, instead of the princess, they had found Prince Hassan, who, 

 in spite of his resistance, had been compelled to yield to the efforts and 

 numbers of these barbarians. He had strangled the' first who had attacked 

 him ; but, having all closed on him, they seized him, and bound him to the 

 mast of their vessel, and made sail. It was thus he was constrained to 



