king and his physician Douban is acted just now by
us."

The Grecian king, continued he, instead of having regard to the
prayers of the physician, who begged him to spare his life,
cruelly replied, "No, no; I must of necessity cut you off,
otherwise you may assassinate with as much art as you cured me."
The physician, without bewailing himself for being so ill
rewarded by the king, prepared for death. The executioner tied
his hands, and was going to draw his cimeter.

The courtiers who were present, being moved with compassion,
begged the king to pardon him, assuring his majesty that he was
not guilty of the crime laid to his charge, and that they would
answer for his innocence: but the king was inflexible.

The physician being on his knees, his eyes tied up, and ready to
receive the fatal blow, addressed himself once more to the king:
"Sir," said he, "since your majesty will not revoke the sentence
of death, I beg, at least, that you would give me leave to return
to my house, to give orders about my burial, to bid farewell to
my family, to give alms, and to bequeath my books to those who
are capable of making good use of them. I have one particularly I
would present to your majesty; it is a very precious book, and
worthy of being laid up carefully in your treasury." "What is
it," demanded the king, "that makes it so valuable?" "Sir,"
replied the physician, "it possesses many singular and curious
properties; of which the chief is, that if your majesty will give
yourself the trouble to open it at the sixth leaf, and read the
third line of the left page, my head, after being cut off, will
answer all the questions you ask it." The king being curious,
deferred his death till next day, and sent him home under a
strong guard.

The physician, during that time, put his affairs in order; and
the report being spread, that an unheard of prodigy was to happen
after his death, the viziers, emirs, officers of the guard, and,
in a word, the whole court, repaired next day to the hall of
audience, that they might be witnesses of it.

The physician Douban was brought in, and advancing to the foot of
the throne, with a book in his hand, he called for a basin, and
laid upon it the cover in which the book was wrapped; then
presenting the book to the king, "Take this," said he, "and after
my head is cut off, order that it be put into the basin upon that
cover; as soon as it is placed there, the blood will stop; then
open the book,