foe, darkness,
that now beset him, and usurped part of his yet lively tail, and settled
on his head, and coated part of his body. So when this tadpole, that was
once terrible to me, became turbaned, shoed, and shawled with darkness,
and there was little of him remaining visible, lo! a concluding flash
shot from thy star, and he fell heavily down the sky and below the hills,
into the sea, that is the Enchanted Sea, whose Queen is Rabesqurat,
Mistress of Illusions. Now when my soul recovered from amazement at the
marvels seen, I arose and went from the starry roofs to consult my books
of magic, and 'twas revealed to me that one was wandering to a junction
with my destiny, and that by his means the great aim would of a surety be
accomplished--Shagpat Shaved! So my purpose was to discover him; and I
made calculations, and summoned them that serve me to search for such a
youth as thou art; fairly, O my betrothed, did I preconceive thee. And so
it was that I traced a magic line from the sand-hills to the city, and
from the outer hills to the sand-hills; and whoso approached by that line
I knew was he marked out as my champion, my betrothed,--a youth destined
for great things. Was I right? The egg hatcheth. Thou art already proved
by thwackings, seasoned to the undertaking, and I doubt not thou art he
that will finish with that tadpole Shagpat, and sit in the high seat, thy
name an odour in distant lands, a joy to the historian, the Compiler of
Events, thou Master of the Event, the greatest which time will witness
for ages to come.'

When she had spoken Shibli Bagarag considered her words, and the
knowledge that he was selected by destiny as Master of the Event inflated
him; and he was a hawk in eagerness, a peacock in pride, an ostrich in
fulness of chest, crying, 'O Noorna bin Noorka! is't really so? Truly it
must be, for the readers of planets were also busy with me at the time of
my birth, interpreting of me in excessive agitation; and the thing they
foretold is as thou foretellest. I am, wullahy! marked: I walk manifest
in the eye of Providence.'

Thereupon he exulted, and his mind strutted through the future of his
days, and down the ladder of all time, exacting homage from men, his
brethren; and 'twas beyond the art of Noorna to fix him to the present
duties of the enterprise: he was as feathered seed before the breath of
vanity.

Now, while the twain discoursed, she of the preparations for shaving
Shagpat, he of his