He looked, O King Manus, like a King that was of a long line of Kings. His black beard was powdered with gold, and spices burned before him. But his face was white, and it was like to the face of a man in a dream. Only one person stood near him—a dwarf from the Country of the Dwarfs. He had on his head a crown of scarlet feathers.
When we came before him, and after we had bowed, the King looked upon us. He spoke to my master, and said, “What have you to sell, merchant?”
And my master, before he spoke, let fall his merchant’s robe, and he showed himself in the straight garb that was covered with curious figures—the garb of a Magus it was.
“What I have to sell,” he said, “is the meaning of dreams, O King.”
And now, O King Manus, I have to tell of a cheat worked upon a King, and of a cheat worked by my master, Zabulun the Enchanter, upon the King of Babylon. Pretending to speak of the meaning of dreams he led the King to destruction, hoping thereby to encompass the destruction of Babylon.
The King turned to his ancient dwarf and he said, “Remind me of my dreams.” And then the ancient dwarf said to the King, “Of the three dreams that seemed remarkable to you, O King, the first was the Dream of the Three Dishes.”
“It is even so,” said the King. “I dreamed that there were three dishes set before me, no more than three dishes. And then I dreamed that afterward these three dishes were hidden from me and were not to be found. There was no one to tell me the signification of this dream.”
“The signification of this dream,” said Zabulun the Enchanter cunningly, “is easy to discover. In the lore of the Chaldeans a dish signifies a treasure. You have dreamed of a threefold treasure that is hidden away.”
But the dwarf who was beside the King spoke up and said, “Why does a dish signify a treasure?”