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The wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda [tr. by L.D. Stanley].
The wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda - tr. by L.D. Stanley Author:Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Arnoldo; and with so much earnestness and devotion he did, and does still, love her, that a thousand times he wished, instead of making her a slave, to be himsel... more »f her's, and to acknowledge her as his lawful wife, and this too with the full consent of the King, his father, who thought the rare beauty and merits of Auristella deserved even more than to become a queen; but she refused, saying, ' I cannot possibly break a vow that I have made to continue a virgin all my life, nor can I be made to violate this vow either by entreaties or by threats.' " But nevertheless Arnoldo did not cease to hope, trusting much to the effect of time, and the variable nature of woman; until it happened that my mistress, the Lady Auristella, going to the sea-shore as she was accustomed for her amusement, (she being treated more as a queen than a slave,) some corsairs came in a vessel, and seized and carried her off, we know not where. The Prince Arnoldo imagines that these corsairs are the same who sold her the first time, which same corsairs infest all these seas, islands, and shores, stealing or buying the most beautiful maidens that they can find in order to make a profit by selling them to this Island where it is said we now are, and which is inhabited by some barbarians, a savage and cruel race, who hold among themselves as a thing certain and inviolable (persuaded it may be by a demon, or as some say by an ancient sorcerer whom they consider the wisest of men), that there shall spring from among them a King, who will conquer and gain a great part of the world. They know not who this hoped-for king will be, and in order to know it, the sorcerer commands them to sacrifice all the men who come to the Island, and to make their hearts into powder,which is then given in some drink to all the princip...« less