[Both raise their hands to their breasts and look at each other in astonishment.
KING.
Why did you try to prevent my touching it?
FIRST ATTENDANT.
Listen, great Monarch. This amulet, known as 'The Invincible,' was given to the boy by the divine son of Maríchi, soon after his birth, when the natal ceremony was performed. Its peculiar virtue is, that when it falls on the ground, no one except the father or mother of the child can touch it unhurt.
KING.
And suppose another person touches it?
FIRST ATTENDANT.
Then it instantly becomes a serpent, and bites him.