The vessel fell from the monarch’s hand! Paleness gathered on his brow! A sudden trembling shook his whole frame! A cry of terror broke from his lips!
On the wall, over against the candlestick, there appeared the fingers of a man’s hand, which wrote on the plaster. This was the mysterious sight that gave terror to the king and alarmed the merry throng.
“Haste ye!” cried the terrified king, “and bring hither my wise men, and let them give me the signification of the writing. Go in haste!”
Messengers were speedily hurried to summon the magicians and wise men into the presence of the monarch, and within a short period the whole “college” stood before the agitated sovereign in the midst of the banqueting hall.
“Look ye yonder!” said the king, with a trembling voice, pointing to the mysterious writing. “Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
The wise men gazed in silent astonishment on the writing, cast solemn glances at one another, and at last frankly confessed that it was written in a language with which they had no acquaintance—peradventure, understood only by the gods.
“What shall I do?” cried the king, in deep agony. “I fear some awful calamity is about to befall me! A curse upon you pretenders’ Depart from my presence! O ye gods, what shall I do?”
The great fear of the king had been made known to the queen-mother, the famous Nitocris, wife of Nebuchadnezzar. She hastened to the banquet chamber, where she found all in the greatest consternation, especially the king.
“O king, live forever!” cried the queen-mother. “Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor thy countenance thus be changed in the presence of thy mighty lords, lest hereafter they despise thy fear. There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and, in the days of thy grandfather, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him, whom the king, Nebuchadnezzar, thy grandfather—I say the king himself—made master of the magicians, astrologers and soothsayers; and this was a sure sign of his superior wisdom. This great man is not found among thy nobles. Since in thy great wisdom thou didst see fit to deprive all Hebrews of office, this mighty Daniel, whom thy grandfather called Belteshazzar, has been seen but seldom. But be it known to thee, O king, that he is not utterly forgotten.”
Without delay messengers were sent to the house of Daniel, and in a short time a venerable person, with his hair silvered over, slowly marched into the banqueting hall, and, without the least embarrassment, stood in the presence of the pale and trembling Belshazzar.