The youngest sister's were
solemnized with all the rejoicings usual at the marriages of the
emperors of Persia; and those of the other two sisters according to
the quality and distinction of their husbands; the one as the sultan's
chief baker, and the other as head cook.
The two elder sisters felt strongly the disproportion of their
marriages to that of their younger sister. This consideration made
them far from being content, though they were arrived at the utmost
height of their late wishes, and much beyond their hopes. They gave
themselves up to an excess of jealousy, and frequently met together to
consult how they might revenge themselves on the queen. They proposed
a great many ways, which they could not accomplish, but dissimulated
all the time to flatter the queen with every demonstration of
affection and respect.
Some months after her marriage, the queen gave birth to a young
prince, as bright as the day; but her sisters, to whom the child was
given at his birth, wrapped him up in a basket and floated it away on
a canal that ran near the palace, and declared that the queen had
given birth to a little dog. This made the emperor very angry.
In the meantime, the basket in which the little prince was exposed was
carried by the stream toward the garden of the palace. By chance the
intendant of the emperor's gardens, one of the principal and most
considerable officers of the kingdom, was walking by the side of this
canal, and perceiving a basket floating called to a gardener, who was
not far off, to bring it to shore that he might see what it contained.
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