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66 THIRD DISCOURSE. ON ASTROLOGERS
" I knew it, Sire," answerJj he. Said Mahmud, " Where is the
proof?" So Abu E.ayhdn called for his servant, took the Almanac
from him, and produced the prognostications out of the Almanac;
and amongst the predicti9ns of that "
day was written : To-day
they will cast me down from a high place, but I shall reach the
earth in safety, and arise sound in body.''
All this was not according to' Mahmud's mind. He waxed
still angrier, and ordered Abu Rayhan to be detained in the
citadel. So Abu Rayhan was confined in the citadel of Ghazna,
where he remained forr six months.
ANECDOTE XXIV.
It is said that during that period of six months none dared
speak to Mahmud about Abu Rayhan; (A) but one of his
servants was deputed to wait upon him, and go out to get
this servant
what he wanted, and return therewith. One day
was passing through the Park (Marghzdr) of Ghazna when a
fortune-teller called him and said, " I perceive several things
worth mentioning in your fortune : give me a present, that I
may reveal them to you." The servant gave him two dirhams,
whereupon the Sooth-sayer said, " One dear to thee is in
affliction, but ere three days are past he will be delivered from
that affliction, will be invested with a robe of honour and mark
of favour, and will again become distinguished and ennobled."
The servant proceeded to the citadel and told this incident
to his master as a piece of good tidings. Abu Rayhan laughed
and said, "O foolish. fellow, dost thou not know that one ought
not to loiter in such places ? Thou hast wasted two dirhams"
It is said that the Prime Minister Ahmad ibn Hasan of Maymand
(may God be merciful to him!) was for six months seeking
an opportunity to say a word on behalf of Abu Rayhan. At
length, when engaged in the chase, he Found the King in a good
humour, and, working from one topic to another, he brought the
conversation round to Astrology. Then her said, " Poor Abu
Rayhan uttered two such good prognostications, and, instead
of decorations and a robe of honour, earned only bonds and
imprisonment." "Know, my lord," replied Mahmud, -'for I have
discovered it, and all men admit it, that this man has no equal in
the world save Abu 'All [ibn] Sfna (Avicenna). But both his
prognostications were opposed to my will and ; kings are like
little children; in order to receive rewards from them, onfc should
speak in accordance with their views. It would have been better
for him on that day if one of those two prognostications had
been wrong. But to-morrow order him to be brought forth, and
to be given a horse caparisoned with gold, a royal iobe, a^ satin
turban, a thousand dinars, a boy slave and a handmaiden."