glass, till the following
morning, when they all had supper, and then crept off on tip-toe to bed.
The people clapped their hands and sang and danced in the squares and
streets, till those who danced the longest got sore throats, and those
who sang the loudest got footsore. The whole city could not sleep for
joy. The young Prince was the first-born, and would one day sit upon the
throne: was this a thing to put under the pillow? On with the dance!
Another song! Drink deep to the young Prince!

The doctors smiled, and stroked the smile down to the tips of their grey
beards as they nodded to one another amiably. The child was strong and
healthy, and would live; and besides, they all agreed upon the point
that he was a Prince, and had his father's nose. But alas! doctors are
not everybody. After the revel a wise man from Persia, who was staying
in the city at the time, awoke from his slumbers and dressed himself,
and went to see the King. Sunk in a deep sleep, he had missed the
celebrations, but he had found a vision of the future; and he was now
hastening to see the King about it, for, as you must understand, when a
wise man knows the worst he can never keep it to himself.

When he came before the King, he had scarcely the heart to tell him
what would befall his first-born; but the King bade him speak out, and
he obeyed.

'Sire,' he said humbly, 'I come not to tell thee bad news, but rather to
warn thee in time, lest a vision that came to me in the night should
perchance come true.'

The King looked a little anxious, for he had heard tales, strange but
true, about this wise man from Persia and his wonderful powers.

'Speak on, Ferdasan,' he said.

'Sire,' replied the seer, 'the dream that came to me was a deep-sleep
vision. Doubt not that it is a warning entrusted to me to lay before
you. O King, this is the substance of it. Fifteen years came and went
before my inner eyes, and the son that has been born to you from heaven
grew more beautiful year by year. But at the close of the fifteenth year
he--flew away!'

'Flew away!' cried the King, startled. 'And what was the manner of his
flight, O Ferdasan?'

'Sire, in the midst of the palace gardens, Hausa, the Bird of the Sun,
came to seek him or to be sought by him. He mounted on the back of this
bird; and then, as the twilight fell, it carried him away westward.'

'With what purpose, Ferdasan?'

'That, sire, I can reveal to you only in words that hide my thoughts