In a word, thy soul hath always appeared to me to be as pure and unsullied as thy beauty. Besides, thou hast some little knowledge in philosophy, which makes me believe that thou wilt take more pleasure than others of thy sex in perusing the work of this venerable sage. It was originally written in the ancient Chaldee, a language which neither thou nor I understand. It was afterward translated into the Arabic, to amuse the famous sultan Oulougbeg, much about the time that the Arabians and the Persians began to write the _Thousand and One Nights_, the _Thousand and One Days_, _etc._ Ouloug was fond of reading _Zadig_, but the sultanas were fonder of the _Thousand and One_. "How can you prefer," said the wise Ouloug to them, "those stories which have neither sense nor meaning?" "It is for that very reason," replied the sultanas, "that we prefer them." I flatter myself that thou wilt not resemble these, thy predecessors; but that thou wilt be a true Ouloug. I even hope, that when thou art tired with those general conversations, which differ from the _Thousand and One_ in nothing but in being less agreeable, I shall have the honor to entertain thee for a moment with a rational discourse. Hadst thou been Thalestris in the time of Scander, the son of Philip; hadst thou been the Queen of Sheba in the time of Solomon; these are the very kings that would have paid thee a visit. I pray the heavenly powers, that thy pleasures may be unmixed, thy beauty never fading, and thy happiness without end. SADI. [Illustration: Caravan approaching Babylon.] I. THE BLIND OF ONE EYE.