"I do not know how long we were travelling, but after the first day
there was only the man who carried me, and another. I was brought
here, and there were many people, and I was very much frightened. Then
I found myself only among women, and they took off my clothes and
dressed me in their fashion. I think I was very happy, when I once got
accustomed to it. The ladies made a sort of pet of me, and I was
taught to dance and to sing little native songs. There were other
white girls here, and they were all very kind to me, though they
always seemed very sad, and I could not make out why they cried so
often, especially when they were beaten for crying.
"As I grew bigger, I was not so happy. I had ceased to be a plaything,
and little by little I was set to work to sweep and dust, and then to
sew, and then to do all sorts of work, like the other slave girls. The
other white girls gradually went away, the oldest first. The last two,
who were two or three years older than I was, went about three years
ago.
"At first, I used to wonder why they cried so when they went, and why
the others all cried, too; but by the time the last two left, I had
come to know all about it, and knew that they had been given by the
sultan to his favourite officers.
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