Chapter 10

It will be remembered, that, in the usual version of the tales, a certain monarch having good cause to be jealous of his queen, not only puts her to death, but makes a vow, by his beard and the prophet, to espouse each night the most beautiful maiden in his dominions, and the next morning to deliver her up to the executioner. Having fulfilled this vow for many years to the letter, and with a religious punctuality and method that conferred great credit upon him as a man of d…