And on the twenty-first day of my life, as I was being christened, the priest said to my mother, "You should indeed be happy, madame, that your son was born a christian."
And I was surprised,—and I said to the priest, "Then your mother in Heaven should be unhappy, for you were not born a christian."
But the priest too did not understand my language.
And after seven moons, one day a soothsayer looked at me, and he said to my mother, "Your son will be a statesman and a great leader of men."
But I cried out,—"That is a false prophecy; for I shall be a musician, and naught but a musician shall I be."
But even at that age my language was not understood—and great was my astonishment.
And after three and thirty years, during which my mother, and the nurse, and the
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