To Give The Better Colour To My Madness, I Always Carried Some
Stones In The Lap Of My Shirt, As I Had No Other Clothing Whatever.
The
queen hearing of my madness, used oftentimes to look from her windows to
see me, more instigated by a secret love for my person than the pleasure
she derived from my mad pranks, as afterwards appeared.
One time, when
some of the natives played the knave with me in view of the queen, whose
secret favour towards me I began to perceive, I threw off my shirt, and
went to a place near the windows, where the queen might see me all
naked, which I perceived gave her great pleasure, as she always
contrived some device to prevent me going out of her sight, and would
sometimes spend almost the whole day in looking at me. In the mean time
she often sent me secretly abundance of good meat by her maids; and when
she saw the boys or others doing me harm or vexing me, she called to me
to kill them, reviling them also as dogs and beasts.
There was a great fat sheep that was fed in the court of the palace, of
that kind whereof the tail only will sometimes weigh eleven or twelve
pounds. Under colour of my madness, I one day laid hold of this sheep,
repeating _Leila illala Mahumet resullah_, the words which the Sultan
desired me to repeat in his presence, by way of proof whether I was a
Mahometan or professed Mameluke.
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