Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/199

187 and skill in the interpretation of dreams and of that which I know of the extent of thy wisdom and the greatness of thine understanding.’

The vizier bowed his head awhile and presently raising it, smiled; whereupon the king said to him, ‘What deemest thou, O Shimas? Tell me the truth of the matter and hide nothing from me.’ ‘O king,’ answered Shimas, ‘verily God the Most High granteth thee thy wish and solaceth thine eyes; for the matter of this dream presageth all good, to wit, that God will bless thee with a son, who shall inherit the kingdom from thee, after thy long life. But there is somewhat else that I desire not to expound at this present, seeing that the time is not favourable for its exposition.’ The king rejoiced in this with an exceeding joy and great was his contentment; his trouble ceased from him and he said, ‘If the case be thus of the happy presage of my dream, do thou complete to me its interpretation, when the fitting time cometh: for that which it behoveth not to expound to me now, it behoveth that thou expound to me, when its time cometh, so my joy may be fulfilled, because I seek nought in this but the approof of God, blessed and exalted be He!’

When the vizier saw that the king was urgent to have the rest of the exposition, he put him off with a pretext; but Jelyaad assembled all the astrologers and interpreters of dreams of his realm and related to them his dream, saying, ‘I desire you to tell me the true interpretation of this.’ Whereupon one of them came forward and craved the king’s leave to speak, which being granted, he said, ‘Know, O king, that thy Vizier Shimas is nowise unable to the interpretation of this thy dream; but he shrank from troubling thy repose: wherefore he expounded not unto thee the whole thereof: but, if thou bid me speak, I will acquaint thee with that which he hid from thee.’ [sic] ‘Speak without fear, O interpreter,’ replied Jelyaad, ‘and