` We were easily pleased and quite content with our lives at home , when one morning the officials who had been sent to find wives for the Sultan saw us , and were struck with our beauty . We had always expected something of the sort , and were resigned to our lot , when we chanced to see two young men enter our house . The elder , who was about twenty years of age , had black hair and very bright eyes . The other could not have been more than fifteen , and was so fair that he might easily have passed for a girl . ` They knocked at the door with a timid air and begged our parents to give them shelter , as they had lost their way . After some hesitation their request was granted , and they were invited into the room in which we were . And if our parents ' hearts were touched by their beauty , our own were not any harder , so that our departure for the palace , which had been arranged for the next day , suddenly became intolerable to us . ` Night came , and I awoke from my sleep to find the younger of the two strangers sitting at my bedside and felt him take my hand . ' `` Fear nothing , lovely Dely , '' he whispered , `` from one who never knew love till he saw you . My name , '' he went on , `` is Prince Delicate , and I am the son of the King of the Isle of Black Marble . My friend , who travels with me , is one of the richest nobles of my country , and the secrets which he knows are the envy of the Sultan himself . And we left our native country because my father wished me to marry a lady of great beauty , but with one eye a trifle smaller than the other . '' ` My vanity was flattered at so speedy a conquest , and I was charmed with the way the young man had declared his passion . I turned my eyes slowly on him , and the look I gave him caused him almost to lose his senses . He fell fainting forward , and I was unable to move till Tezila , who had hastily put on a dress , ran to my assistance together with Thelamis , the young noble of whom the Prince had spoken . ` As soon as we were all ourselves again we began to bewail our fate , and the journey that we were to take that very day to Constantinople . But we felt a little comforted when Thelamis assured us that he and the prince would follow in our steps , and would somehow contrive to speak to us . Then they kissed our hands , and left the house by a side-way . ' A few moments later our parents came to tell us that the escort had arrived , and having taken farewell of them we mounted the camels , and took our seats in a kind of box that was fixed to the side of the animal . These boxes were large enough for us to sleep in comfortably , and as there was a window in the upper part , we were able to see the country through which we passed .
` For several days we journeyed on , feeling sad and anxious as to what might become of us , when one XXXXX as I was looking out of the window of our room , I heard my name called , and beheld a beautifully dressed girl jumping out of the box on the other side of our camel .
Dely Marble Night Prince Sultan Thelamis day left morning side-way