14/17 They know not that in anguish of heart I besought the king not to bestow his hand upon me, and thereby rouse all the ladies of his kingdom as foes against me. They know not that I confessed that I loved him, merely that I might be able to add that I was ready, out of love to him, to sacrifice my own happiness to his, and so conjured him to choose a consort worthy of himself, from the hereditary princesses of Europe. He wished to make a queen, in order to possess a wife, who may be his own property--whose blood, as her lord and master, he can shed. I have accepted my lot, and henceforth my existence will be a ceaseless struggle and wrestling with death. |