1837.] Remarks on the Alif Lrilah. 165 



to death without a doubt, for by healing me of the disease which I had 

 by something - held in the hand, surely it is possible he may slay me with 

 something given me to smell ; hence I fear lest he kill me, and take a 

 bribe for doing it ; since he is a spy, and has come hither for no end but 

 to compass my death; so there is no help for it, — die he must, and after 

 that I shall be assured of my own life.' Then said the physician, ' Spare 

 me, spare me, for the love of God, and kill me not, or God will kill you.' 

 Now when the physician, Oh ufreet, knew for certain that the king would 

 put him to death without a doubt, he said to him, ' Oh king, if there is 

 no help for it, but that I must die, then grant me a space that I may go 

 down to my house, and appoint my people and my kindred where they 

 may bury me, and that I may relieve my soul from its obligations, and 

 distribute my books of medicine. And I have a book, rarest of the rare; 

 I offer it to you as an offering ; keep it as treasure in your treasury.' 

 Then said the king to the physician, ' What is in this book ?' He replied, 

 ' Things countless beyond the power of computation ; and as a small por- 

 tion of the secrets that are in it, if you directly after you cut off my head 

 open three leaves of it, and read three lines of the page on your left hand, 

 then the head will speak with you, and give you answers to every ques- 

 tion which you ask it.' So the king wondered with exceeding wonder and 

 shrugged with satisfaction and said, ' Oh physician, what ! directly I cut 

 off your head will you speak tome?' He answered, ' Even so, O king.' 

 So replied the king, ' This is a strange matter,' and forthwith sent him 

 away closely surrounded by a guard; and the physician went down to his 

 house, and performed all his obligations on that day, and on the next day 

 he went up to the king's hall of audience ; and the umeers and ministers 

 and chamberlains and deputies in office and the supporters of the state 

 went up also, the whole of them, and the presence chamber was as a flow- 

 er bed of the garden: and lo ! the physician came up into the presence 

 chamber and stood before the king surrounded by guards, and with him 

 he had an old volume, and a bottle for holding antimony, and in it a powder : 

 and he sat down and said, ' Give me a charger,' and they gave him a 

 charger ; and he poured the powder upon it, and spread it out, and said, 

 ' Oh king, take this book and open it not until you have cut off my head, 

 and immediately you have cut it off, place it on this charger, and order its 

 being thrown upon that powder, and directly you have done that, the blood 

 will stop flowing ; then open the book.' So the king gave orders for the 

 cutting off the physician's head and took the book; and the executioner 

 arose, and struck the physician's neck with the sword, and placed the head 

 in the middle of the charger, and threw it upon the powder, then the blood 

 stopped flowing, and the physician Dooban opened his eyes, and said, 

 * Open the book, O king ;' so the king opened the book, and found the 

 leaves stuck together, so he put his finger to his mouth, and moistened it 

 with his tongue and opened the first leaf, and the second, and the third, 

 and each leaf did not open but with much trouble ; so the king turned over 

 six leaves and looked upon them, and found nothing written upon them. 



