On This Occasion,
His Son Curseroo, [Cusero] Who Had Been Made Prisoner, Rode Beside
Him, Bare-Footed, On An Elephant, And The King Asked Him How He Liked
That Spectacle?
To this the prince answered, That he was sorry to see so
much cruelty and injustice in his father, in thus executing those who
had only done their duty, as they had lived on his bread and salt:
But
that his father had done justly if he had pardoned these brave men, and
punished him, who was their master, and the author of this rebellion.
Sultan Cusero has only one wife, owing to the following circumstance:
During his confinement, the king proposed to make a hunting progress of
four months, and consulted how he might keep his son in safe custody
during his absence. He at length determined to build a tower in which to
immure him, having neither door nor window, and only a few small holes
to let in air, and these so high as to be beyond reach. Into this tower
were to be put along with the prince all sorts of provisions and
necessaries, with a few servants to attend him. While this was building,
the wife of Cusero fell at the king's feet, and would not leave him till
she obtained his consent to be shut up along with her husband. The king
endeavoured to persuade her to enjoy her liberty, but she utterly
refused any other comfort than to be the companion of her husband's
miseries. Among these, this was the greatest, that if any of those who
were to be shut up along with him, to the number of fifty in all, should
happen to die during the king's absence, there were no means either to
remove or bury the body, as no person was to be allowed to come near the
tower.
It is a frequent custom of the present Mogul, when he happens to be
awake in the night time, he calls for certain poor old men, making them
sit beside him, and passes his time in familiar discourse with them,
giving them clothes and bountiful alms when he dismisses them. At one
time, when residing at Ajimeer, he went a-foot on pilgrimage to the tomb
of a saint or prophet called Haji Mundin, and there kindled a fire with
his own hands, under an immense Heidelbergian equipolent brass pot, in
which victuals were cooked for five thousand poor persons. When the
victuals were ready, he took out the first platter with his own hands,
and served the mess to a poor person. Noor Mahal took out and served the
second, and the rest was served by the other ladies of his
court. - Crack me this nut, all ye papal charity-vaunters.
One day an Armenian procured a nobleman to present him to the king, as
one who desired to become an Mahometan; on which the king asked him, if
he had been converted from hope of preferment; to which the Armenian
answered, that be had no such motive.
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