Страница 353 из 1116

Said the Ifrit, "Lengthen not thy words! As to my slaying thee

fear it not, and as to my pardoning thee hope it not; but from my

bewitching thee there is no escape." Then he tore me from the

ground which closed under my feet and flew with me into the

firmament till I saw the earth as a large white cloud or a

saucer[FN#225] in the midst of the waters. Presently he set me

down on a mountain, and taking a little dust, over which he

muttered some magical words, sprinkled me therewith, saying,

"Quit that shape and take thou the shape of an ape!" And on the

instant I became an ape, a tailless baboon, the son of a

century[FN#226]. Now when he had left me and I saw myself in this

ugly and hateful shape, I wept for myself, but resigned my soul

to the tyranny of Time and Circumstance, well weeting that

Fortune is fair and constant to no man.