After a year, the soul came down to the sea and called the young fisherman. He came out of the sea, and said, ‘Why do you call me?’

 

The soul answered, ‘Come nearer. I want to speak to you because I saw marvellous things.’

 

So he came nearer, and sat in the water and listened.

 

The soul said to him, ‘When I left you, I went towards the East and travelled. Everything wise comes from the East. After six days I came to the land of the Tartars. One night I saw a fire in a camp of a company of merchants. I went to them and the chief of merchants stood up and took his sword.

 

‘”Who are you?” he asked.

 

‘”I am a Prince and I escaped from the Tartars,” I replied.

 

‘He lowered his head as a sign of respect and took my hand.

 

‘Then we left the country of the Tartars and we travelled in many strange lands and saw many strange people. I travelled on a camel next to the chief. There were forty camels in the caravan and eighty mules.

 

‘During our journey we battled with the tribe of the Magadae. They are born old and grow younger every year, and die when they are little children. We battled with the Laktroi. They think they are the sons of tigers, and they paint their bodies yellow and black. We also battled with the Sibians. They have horses’ feet and they run quicker than horses.

 

‘In the fourth month we arrived in the city of Illel. It was night and we waited for day to come.

 

That morning we knocked at the gate of the city. The gate was of red bronze and it had images of sea-dragons and dragons with wings.

 

‘A guard then said to us, “What do you want?”

 

“‘We are from the island of Syria and we have a lot of merchandise to sell,” we answered.

 

“‘Then wait here until midday,” he said.

 

‘At midday they opened the gates and we went to the marketplace.

 

‘After a month in the city of Illel, I became tired of it. I walked in the streets of the city and came to the garden of the god of the city.

 

The priests in their yellow tunics walked silently in the garden. There was a red house. This was the home of the god. The doors had images of golden animals and peacocks on them.

 

‘There was a pool of clear water in front of the temple. I sat down near it. One of the priests came to me and stood behind me.

 

“‘What do you want?” he asked me.

 

“‘I want to see the god,” I replied.

 

“‘The god is hunting in a forest,” said the priest, and he looked at me strangely.

 

“‘Which forest is he in? Tell me, and I will go there,” I answered.

 

‘He moved his hands on his soft tunic. “The god is asleep,” he murmured.

 

“‘Which bed is he in? Tell me, and I will stand near him,” I answered.

 

“‘The god is at the feast,” he cried.

 

“‘I will drink bitter or sweet wine with him,” I said.

 

‘He was surprised and accompanied me into the temple.

 

‘In the first room I saw an ebony idol on a throne and it the size of a man. There was a ruby on its forehead. Its feet were red from the blood of a baby goat.

 

‘I said to the priest, “Is this the god?”

 

‘”This is the god,” he answered.

 

‘”This is not the god. Show me the god,” I cried, “or I will kill you.” I touched his hand, and it became small and dry.

 

“‘Make my hand better, and I will show you the god,” he cried.

 

‘So I breathed on his hand, and it became better. He trembled and accompanied me into the second room. I saw an ivory idol on a lotus of jade with great emeralds on it. This idol was twice as big as a man.

 

“‘Is this the god?” I asked him.

 

“‘This is the god,” he replied.

 

‘”This is not the god. Show me the god,” I cried, “or I will kill you!” I touched his eyes, and they became blind.

 

‘”Please make my eyes better. Then I will show you the god,” he cried.

 

‘So I breathed on his eyes and they could see again. The priest trembled and accompanied me into the third room. There was not an idol in it, only a mirror.

 

‘I said to the priest, “Where is the god?”

 

‘He answered me, “There is no god, but this is the Mirror of Wisdom. It reflects all the things in heaven and on earth. But it does not reflect the face of the person if they look into it. So, this person can become wise. There are many other mirrors, but they are mirrors of Opinion. This is the only Mirror of Wisdom. When you possess this mirror, you know everything. So, it is a god, and we pray to this god.” I looked into the mirror. The priest didn’t lie.

 

‘Then I did something strange, but it is not important. I placed the mirror in a valley near here. We can walk there in three days. Let me enter you again and be your servant, and you will have wisdom.’

 

But the young fisherman laughed. ‘Love is better than wisdom,’ he cried, ‘and the little mermaid loves me.’

 

‘No, there is nothing better than wisdom,’ said the soul.

 

‘Love is better,’ answered the young fisherman. He went back to the sea, and the soul walked away and cried.