Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/288

276 prize of our women.”’ [sic] When the king heard this talk, his agitation redoubled and he inclined to the boys, saying, ‘Surely, this boy is a wizard, in that he is acquainted with this thing; for the letter is with me and the secret also and none hath knowledge of this matter but myself. How then knoweth this boy of it? I will resort unto him and talk with him and I pray God that our deliverance may be at his hand.’

Then he approached the boy softly and said to him, ‘O dear boy, what is this thou sayest of our king, that he did ill to the utterest in slaying his viziers and the chiefs of his state? Indeed, he sinned against himself and his people and thou art right in that which thou sayest. But tell me, O my son, whence knowest thou that the King of Farther India hath written him a letter, berating him and bespeaking him with the grievous speech whereof thou tellest?’ ‘O brother,’ answered the boy, ‘I know this from the sand wherewith I tell the tale of night and day and from the saying of the ancients, “No mystery is hidden from God;” for the sons of Adam have in them a spiritual virtue which discovers to them hidden secrets.’ ‘True, O my son,’ answered Wird Khan; ‘but whence learnedst thou the [art of divination by] sand, and thou young of years?’ Quoth the boy, ‘My father taught it me;’ and the king said, ‘Is thy father alive or dead?’ ‘He is dead,’ answered the boy.

Then said Wird Khan, ‘Is there any resource or device for our king, whereby he may ward off this sore calamity from himself and his kingdom?’ And the boy answered, ‘It befits not that I speak with thee [of this]; but, if the king send for me and ask me how he shall do to baffle his enemy and win free of his snares, I will acquaint him with that wherein, by the power of God the Most High,