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ibrahim al-koni
but did hear her voice. “I never
expected to see the token of
the disease still around the
eyes of the hero of heroes
after the prophecy.”
“How futile!”
“I am not disappointed about
losing any hope of receiving
a payment for the prophecy,
because the wealth of diviners
is not a gift from the physical
world but a prophecy from
the Spirit World. What has
shaken me is a husband’s
disillusionment with his wife’s
chastity.”
He moaned expansively, and
his fingers trembled violently.
Slender fingers, which no
longer resembled those that
had earned him the title of
hero, extended and slipped
through the fuzz of the leather
mat’s thick hair in an attempt
to stifle his emotion and to
mask the trembling of his
fingers.
He spoke with the nobility of
the last of the nobles. “Had it
not been for my longstanding
confidence in it, I would
have doubted the truth of
prophecy.”
“Is it right for a champion of
the intellect to doubt the Spirit
World and instead believe a
woman’s word?”
“I admit, my lady, that this
would be inappropriate. I
acknowledge to my lady that
this would be sheer stupidity.
But what does a man have
left when he is deceived by
a wife whose nobility has
been discussed by the tribes
and whose chastity has been
celebrated in extremely
beautiful verses by poets?”
“The ultimate wisdom is not
to believe a woman. The
ultimate wisdom is never to
trust a woman.”