Taking with
him the emperor's portrait and other pictures, he procures access to the
princess of Rum; shows her, first, the portrait of the emperor of China,
and then pictures of animals in the royal menagerie, among others that
of a deer, concerning which he relates a story to the effect that the
emperor, sitting one day in his summer-house, saw a deer, his doe, and
their fawn on the bank of the river, when suddenly the waters overflowed
the banks, and the doe, in terror for her life, fled away, while the
deer bravely remained with the fawn and was drowned. This story, so
closely resembling her own, struck the fair princess with wonder and
admiration, and she at once gave her consent to be united to the emperor
of China; and we may suppose that "they continued together in joy and
happiness until they were overtaken by the terminater of delights and
the separator of companions."
[46] Originally, Rumelia (Rum Eyli) was only implied by the
word _Rum_, but in course of time it was employed to
designate the whole Turkish empire.
* * * * *
There can be little or no doubt, I think, that in this tale we find the
original of the frame, or leading story, of the Persian Tales, ascribed
to a dervish named Mukhlis, of Isfahan, and written after the _Arabian
Nights_, as it is believed, in which the nurse of the Princess has to
relate almost as many stories to overcome her aversion against men (the
result of an incident similar to that witnessed by the Lady of Rum) as
the renowned Sheherazade had to tell her lord, who entertained--for a
very different reason--a bitter dislike of women.
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