After the king of Persia had given this order, he came to the fair slave again: Madam, said he, pardon me for leaving you so abruptly, since you have been the occasion of it; but I hope you will entertain me some other time, since I am desirous to know of you several things of a much greater consequence. However, in the mean time, tell me, I beseech you, my dearest charmer, what were the powerful reasons that induced you to persist in that obstinate silence for a whole year together, though every day you saw me, heard me talk to you, ate and drank with me, and every night lay with me? I shall pass by your not speaking; but how you could carry yourself after such an indifferent manner, that I could never discover whether you were sensible of what I said to you, or no, I must confess it surpasses my understanding: and I cannot yet comprehend, how you could contain yourself so long: therefore I must conclude the occasion of it to be very extraordinary. To satisfy the king of Persia’s curiosity, this fair person replied, Think whether or no to be a slave, far from my own country, without any hopes of ever seeing it again, to have a heart torn with grief, for being separated from my mother, my brother, my friends, and my acquaintance, are not sufficient reasons for my keeping a silence your majesty has thought so strange and unaccountable. The love of our native country is as natural to us as that of our parents; and the loss of liberty is unsupportable to every one, who is not wholly destitute of sense and reason, and knows how to set a value on it. The body indeed may be enslaved, and under the subjection of a master who has the power and authority in his hands; but the will can never be conquered or domineered over, but still remains free and unconfined, depending on itself alone, and your majesty has found an example of it in me; and it is a wonder that I have not followed the example of abundance of unfortunate wretches, whom the loss of liberty has reduced to the mournful resolution of procuring their own deaths a thousand ways, rather than survive it, and wear out a wretched life in shameful slavery. Madam, replied the king, I am now convinced of the truth of what you say; but till this moment I was of opinion, that a person beautiful, well-shaped, with a great deal of wit and good sense, such as yourself, whom her rigorous stars had destined to be a slave, ought to think herself very happy in meeting with a king for her master.