Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/60

 Accompanied by a wise and educated young man with whom I went from city to city, we used to discuss along the road the notable things of nature. One day he told me that he knew of one marvel that was superior to any other. Which was, that whenever he liked, he could kill an animal of any species, he would then speak some words, above the body of the dead animal and his own vital spirit would enter the body of the animal and leave his own body for dead while the animal would become alive with his spirit. He would stay there as long as he liked. When he returned with the animal's body to his own and spoke the same magic words, his vital spirit would enter his body again and, as before, the irrational animal would fall dead, and he would return to its previous state. Which seemed impossible to me and when he saw that he had difficulty persuading me, he proved it in my presence. Since I had never seen a greater miracle than this, I ardently desired to learn about it. I therefore entered into a long-time acquaintance with the young man, and because I constantly begged him, after a long time, he satisfied me by revealing it.”

After the philosopher had told this to the Emperor, the latter said, "How can you persuade me if I judge this miracle to be impossible without seeing the proof of it."

The philosopher replied: "Well, let's do the experiment, so you will easily believe it.