[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Histoire de la dernière révolution des États du Grand Mogol](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier) › [Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable) › 3.5.6 # Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 3.5.6 Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 3.5.6 - **Language:** English ### [3.5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.3.5.6) A man, eighty years of age, having presented to the King four-and-twenty sons, all of mature age, and able to carry arms, was asked by His Majesty whether those were the only children he could exhibit? The old gentleman answered that they were indeed the whole of the male part of his family, but that he was also the father of a few daughters. 'Out then from my presence, thou old calf!' was the King's rejoinder. 'I am astonished that instead of feeling shame, thou presumest to appear before me. Is there a lack of women in my dominions that thou, a man well stricken in years, canst boast of only two dozen sons?' The Ethiopian King himself has at least eighty children, who are met running about indiscriminately in all parts \[qui couroient pêle mêle\] of the seraglio. They are known by a round stick varnished, resembling a small mace, which the King had made for them, and which they carry about with great delight, as a sceptre, to distinguish them from those who are the children of certain slaves or other people of the seraglio. - [Previous: 3.5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.3.5.5) - [Next: 3.5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.3.5.7) - [Up: 3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.3.5) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.3.5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.3.5.6) · Pramāṇa