Page:Ossendowski - Beasts, Men and Gods.djvu/329

 CHAPTER XLIX

THE PROPHECY OF THE KING OF THE WORLD IN 1890

HE Hutuktu of Narabanchi related the following to me, when I visited him in his monastery in the beginning of 1921:

"When the King of the World appeared before the Lamas, favored of God, in this monastery thirty years ago he made a prophecy for the coming half century. It was as follows:

"'More and more the people will forget their souls and care about their bodies. The greatest sin and corruption will reign on the earth. People will become as ferocious animals, thirsting for the blood and death of their brothers. The 'Crescent' will grow dim and its followers will descend into beggary and ceaseless war. Its conquerors will be stricken by the sun but will not progress upward and twice they will be visited with the heaviest misfortune, which will end in insult before the eye of the other peoples. The crowns of kings, great and small, will fall &hellip; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. &hellip; There will be a terrible battle among all the peoples. The seas will become red &hellip; the earth and the bottom of the seas will be strewn with bones &hellip; kingdoms will be scattered &hellip; whole peoples will die &hellip; hunger, disease, crimes unknown to the law, never before seen in the world. The enemies of God and of