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