"Hast thou anything to say why thou shouldst not be impaled or given to
the tigers to eat?" demanded the king in a terrible voice.
"Lord of the world," replied the unfortunate man, "last night thou didst
ask to become disciple to our lord's slave. Will the disciple order his
teacher to be executed? When our lord's slave was beneath the royal
astrologer's house he discovered that his new disciple was the Eater of
the Country and so when our lord of the Golden Palace ordered his slave
to enter, he would have been worthy of death had he not obeyed. Will the
Son of the Sun execute his slave for following his words?"
Then when the king heard that the robber had known who he really was, he
marveled much at his wisdom, and said:
"Assuredly thou art too wise a man for the tigers to eat. Take thou
yonder sword, it belonged to him who yesterday was captain of the royal
guard. Follow me and thou shalt later become my chief _amat_."
[6] Literally, "The counselor who fell from his rank," _i. e._, was
degraded.