He
therefore threw himself at his majesty's feet, and said, 'After
what I have heard and observed, sir, it will be to no purpose for
me to think of curing the princess, since I have no remedies suited
to her malady, for which reason I humbly submit my life to your
majesty's pleasure.' The king, enraged at his incapacity and the
trouble he had given him, caused him immediately to be beheaded.
Some days afterwards, his majesty, unwilling to have it said that
he had neglected his daughter's cure, put forth a proclamation in
his capital, to the effect that if there were any physician,
astrologer, or magician, who would undertake to restore the
princess to her senses, he need only come, and he should be
employed, on condition of losing his head if he miscarried. He had
the same published in the other principal cities and towns of his
dominions, and in the courts of the princes his neighbours.
The first that presented himself was an astrologer and magician,
whom the king caused to be conducted to the princess's prison. The
astrologer drew forth out of a bag he carried under his arm an
astrolabe, a small sphere, a chafing dish, several sorts of drugs
for fumigations, a brass pot, with many other things, and desired
he might have a fire lighted.
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