Page:Swahili tales.djvu/381

Rh And they went together and went, till when they arrived, the King of the Snakes said to him, "Did I not tell you, you would come to kill me?" And he said, "It was not I, look at my back." And he asked, "Who has beaten you in this way?" And he said, "The Vizir." And he said, "Well, then, I am already dead; but you must carry me to your place yourself." And he carried him, and the soldiers returned, and the Vizir was there within.

And he said to his friend on the road, "When I arrive I shall be killed, and my flesh will be cooked; the first skimming the Vizir will tell you to drink, but do not you drink it; put it in a bottle and set it on one side. The second you must drink, and you will become a great physician. It is the third that is your Sultan's medicine. And that first one, when he comes and asks you, 'Have you drunk the first?' tell him, 'I have, and this is your second one.' The Vizir will take it, and when he has drunk it he will die, and your soul will rest."

And they went their way, till they arrived in the town, and they did just as his friend had directed him.

The Vizir drank and died, and the second one he drank himself, and the third he prepared as the medicine for the Sultan, and he was cured.

And the Sultan loved him much, and he became a great physician in that city, and dwelt in peace and health until the end.