“My father is a jeweller, who has acquired, by his industry and skill in his profession, a very large fortune. He has a great number of slaves and factors, who make many voyages for him in his own vessels. He has also correspondents in many courts, which he supplies with all the precious stones and jewels they have occasion for. He had been married a long time without having any children, when one night he dreamed that he should have a son, whose life, however, would be but short. This dream, when he awoke, gave him great uneasiness. Some time after this, my mother informed him that she was with child and the very time when she thought she had conceived, agreed exactly with my father’s dream. At the end of nine months I was born, to the great joy of all the family. My father having observed with the greatest exactness the moment of my birth, consulted the astrologers, who answered, “Your son shall live without any accident or misfortune till he is fifteen, but he will then run a great risk of losing his life, and will not escape from it without much difficulty. If, however, he should have the good fortune not to perish, his life will continue many years. About this time too,” they added, “the equestrian statue of brass which stands on the top of the loadstone mountain will be overthrown by prince Agib, the son of king Cassib, and fall into the sea; and the stars also discover that fifty days afterwards your son will be killed by that prince. “As this prediction agreed with my father’s dream, he was very much struck and afflicted by it. He did not, however, omit taking the greatest care of my education till the present moment, which is the fifteenth year of my age. He was yesterday informed that ten days ago the brazen figure was overthrown by the prince whom I mentioned to you: and this intelligence cost him so many tears and alarms, that he hardly looks like the same man. “Upon this prediction of the astrologers, my father tried every means to deceive my horoscope, and preserve my life. For a long time past he has taken the precaution to have this habitation built, in order to conceal me for the fifty days after he learnt that the statue had been overthrown. It was on this account, that as soon as he knew what had happened ten days since, he came here for the purpose of concealing me during the forty days that remain; and he has promised, at the expiration of that time, to come and take me back. As for myself,” he added, “I have the greatest hopes, for I do not believe that prince Agib will come and look for me under ground in the midst of a desert island. This, my lord, is all I had to inform you of.”