Well, it makes the darkness of this sepulchre easier to bear and prepares me for my own.

'Tis full a hundred and twenty years since first I looked upon the light, and now the time of sleep draws near.

Come hither, my nephew, and kiss me on the brow, remembering in your strength that a day will dawn when as I am, so shall you be, if the gods spare you so long." So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly.

Then he sent Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I did.

Why he did this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already and once or twice corrected me in certain matters that I had forgotten, for instance as to the exact words that I had used to the Great King in my rage and as to the fashion in which I was tied in the boat.