Weeping, I assured them of my prudence, and after embracing me
tenderly, they went their ways.
Every day I opened two or three fresh doors, each of which contained
behind it so many curious things that I had no chance of feeling dull,
much as I regretted the absence of the ladies. Sometimes it was an
orchard, whose fruit far exceeded in bigness any that grew in my
father's garden. Sometimes it was a court planted with roses,
jessamine, dafeodils, hyacinths and anemones, and a thousand other
flowers of which I did not know the names. Or again, it would be an
aviary, fitted with all kinds of singing birds, or a treasury heaped up
with precious stones; but whatever I might see, all was perfect of its
own sort.
Thirty-nine days passed away more rapidly than I could have conceived
possible, and the following morning the princesses were to return to
the castle. But alas! I had explored every corner, save only the room
that was shut in by the Golden Door, and I had no longer anything to
amuse myself with. I stood before the forbidden place for some time,
gazing at its beauty; then a happy inspiration struck me, that because
I unlocked the door it was not necessary that I should enter the
chamber. It would be enough for me to stand outside and view whatever
hidden wonders might be therein.