OFF DUTY
But not long after Zarathustra had rid himself of the wizard, he again saw some one sitting by the way he went, namely a black tall man with a lean, pale face. He annoyed him sorely. " Alas ! " said he unto his heart, " there sitteth affliction disguised. That seemeth unto me to be of the tribe of priests. What want tJiey in my kingdom ?
What ! Scarce have I escaped from that wizard, until another necromancer is fated to cross my path, some sorcerer with laying on of hands ; an obscure wonderworker by the grace of God ; an anointed calumniator of the world whom the devil seize !
But the devil is never on the spot proper for him. He always cometh too late, that cursed dwarf and club-foot ! "
Thus Zarathustra impatiently swore in his heart and meditated how, with his face turned away, he might pass unseen by the black man. But behold, it came to pass otherwise. For in the same moment the sitting one had seen him, and not unlike one who meeteth with an unlooked-for happiness, he jumped up and walked towards Zarathustra.
"Whosoever thou art, thou wanderer," he said,
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