“But you saw the soothsaying?”
“I did; and I heard it. There was a sort of smudge, a seething and squeaking, and shadows, so that I was frightened. She was standing in the middle of the room, looking stern, with sullen black brows, and repeated: ‘The Pole is near her! the Pole is near her! Chili! huk! chili! the Pole is near her!’ Then she poured wheat into a sieve, and looked. The grains went around like insects, and she repeated: ‘Chili! huk! chili! the Pole is near her!’ Oh, my master, if he were not such a robber it would be sad to look at his despair! After every answer she gave he used to grow white as a shirt, fall on his back, clasp his hands over his head, twist and whine, and beg forgiveness of the princess that he came with violence to Rozlogi and killed her cousins. ‘Where art
