Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 02.djvu/239

Rh have not more command over yourself, you are undone.

.—Ah, pardon me, sir. I will not repeat my indiscretion. Go on, I beseech you.

.—This great king, the most valiant of men, victorious wherever he carried his arms, often dreamed when asleep, and forgot his dreams when awake. He wanted his magicians to remember and inform him what he had dreamed, otherwise he declared he would hang them; for that nothing was more equitable. It is now nearly seven years since he dreamed a fine dream, which he entirely forgot when he awoke; and a young Jew, full of experience, having revealed it to him, this amiable king was immediately changed into an ox for—

.—Ah! it is my dear Neb

She could not finish; she fainted away. Mambres, who listened at a distance, saw her fall, and believed her dead.

Mambres runs to her, weeping. The serpent is affected. He, alas, cannot weep, but he hisses in a mournful tone. He cries out, "She is dead." The ass repeats, "She is dead." The raven tells it over