Trafika Europe 6 - Arabesque

the scarecrow

“My tongue may possibly reveal something that embarrasses me.” 3 “In the urine of a woman who has known only her husband is found the cure.” The prophecy was inscribed on soft gazelle-skin parchment wrapped in a piece of faded linen and fastened with straps of colored leather. Her messenger brought it at twilight. He said his mistress refused to accept any fee for this prophecy until the cure was effected. “In the urine of a woman who has known only her husband is found the cure.” WhatcorrelationdoestheSpirit World see between women’s liquids and sorceries that blind the eye? Why does prophecy

keep surprising us with one marvel after another? Or— does the secret of prophecy rest in its marvelous quality? Would prophecy lose its magic if marvel were not its mate? But he knew better than to ask too many questions. He knew that what is covert is the Spirit World’s share and that he had no right to question a matter that time had not brought to the badlands. He knew that stubborn resistance to a sign differs from a hero’s stubborn resistance to enemies with spears or swords. He knew that obtaining a prophecy’s text was easier than expounding it and that the exegesis of a prophecy was easier than searching for the secret behind a prophecy. But ...how could he find a woman in this desert who had known only her husband? In an oasis where nations mixed

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