Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/171

 And he a king. And in front of his car rode many horsemen, and behind his car also there were horsemen, and above his head the golden payong was held.

And the sun shone with burning beams, and scorched the earth, so that the grassblades withered.

And the king murmured that the sun burnt his face, and had power above him. And he was not contented.

He sighed, and exclaimed: “I wish I were the sun!”

And there came an angel from heaven, and said: “Be it unto thee as thou hast said.”

And he the sun. And he sent his beams upward and downward, to right and left, and all round.

And he scorched the grassblades on the earth, and the faces of the kings that were on the earth.

And a cloud placed itself between him and the earth, and it threw back the beams of the sun.

And he grew wroth that his power was resisted, and he murmured that the cloud had power above him. And he was not contented.

He wished to be the cloud, which was so powerful.

And there came an angel from heaven and said: “Be it unto thee as thou hast said.”

And he became a cloud, and placed himself between the sun and the earth, and caught the sunbeams, so that the grass grew green.

And the cloud rained in large drops on the earth, and made the rivers swell, and banjirs carried away the herds.

And the volume of his waters destroyed the fields.

And he fell upon a rock, which yielded not. And he plashed down in great streams, but the rock yielded not.

And he waxed wroth because the rock would not yield, and because the strength of his streams was useless. And he was not contented.