By the time he had read through the two hundred pages devoted to the word Sleep, the venerable wizard was very uneasy, but he was a persevering person and he did not abandon his endeavours. Merlin's wise books having failed him, he cast about for other means to learn what he desired, and consulted his oracle.
Now his oracle was a stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling, and a voice came from it which told him to repeat the magic formula.
The magic formula is a sentence made up of all the sounds that are left out of ordinary speech, and it is a fearsome thing to listen to. It is also very exhausting to say, and after the venerable wizard had repeated it, he was obliged to rest for several hours. Then he rose again and drew pentagons on the rocky floor of his cave, and crossed triangles and circles bordered with all the signs of the Zodiac. And he stood in the middle of the pentagons and the crossed triangles and the circles and went through all sorts of strange and secret rites, but all to no purpose.
But still he would not give up trying; and he went to mysterious places in the woods and gathered strange herbs in the dark of the moon. And, returning home, he cast the herbs into a brazier and they burnt with flames of many colours, giving out clouds of dense smoke and a most horrible smell. Then, as these exercises did not bring him the result he desired, he gazed into crystals and poured ink into the palm of his hand, and did all the other things that he had learnt to do in all the years since he was apprenticed to magic as a very small boy.
And just as he was going to give up the quest in despair, a thought came into his head, and he cried aloud for joy, for he knew he had discovered what he sought. This shows how even the most difficult things may be attained by perseverance and patience.
At the top of his speed he hastened back to the palace and asked an audience of the King. This was immediately granted, for, to tell the truth, the King was awaiting his return with considerable anxiety.
"Well," said he, "have you succeeded in finding a way?"
"I have," answered the venerable wizard. "My arts have not failed me!" And he handed the King a piece of parchment on which were written the following words. They were written in Latin to make them look more important, but very likely it was not good Latin, for the venerable wizard had been apprenticed to his trade at an early age, and in consequence his classical education had been somewhat neglected. But this was the meaning of them:
Shall spindle prick?—then spindle burn,
No thread weave and no wheel turn;
If there's no spindle and there's no wheel,
Then no finger the spindle can feel.