At an early hour, before it was yet market time, we went through the streets of the city. The soldiers let us pass through the Gate of Brass along a way that has on each side great lions carved in stone. We came to the palace, and my master spoke to the doorkeepers and they permitted us to enter. We went through the outer courts where there were soldiers who carried naked swords in their hands. And because my master gave himself out to be a merchant from far-off parts, and because the King greatly desired to speak with those who came from far-off parts, we were brought into the presence of the King of Babylon. He looked, O King Manus, like a King that was of a long line of Kings. His black beard was powdered with gold, and spices burned before him. But his face was white, and it was like to the face of a man in a dream. Only one person stood near him--a dwarf from the Country of the Dwarfs. He had on his head a crown of scarlet feathers. When we came before him, and after we had bowed, the King looked upon us. He spoke to my master, and said, “What have you to sell, merchant?” And my master, before he spoke, let fall his merchant’s robe, and he showed himself in the straight garb that was covered with curious figures--the garb of a Magus it was. “What I have to sell,” he said, “is the meaning of dreams, O King.” And now, O King Manus, I have to tell of a cheat worked upon a King, and of a cheat worked by my master, Zabulun the Enchanter, upon the King of Babylon. Pretending to speak of the meaning of dreams he led the King to destruction, hoping thereby to encompass the destruction of Babylon. The King turned to his ancient dwarf and he said, “Remind me of my dreams.” And then the ancient dwarf said to the King, “Of the three dreams that seemed remarkable to you, O King, the first was the Dream of the Three Dishes.” “It is even so,” said the King. “I dreamed that there were three dishes set before me, no more than three dishes. And then I dreamed that afterward these three dishes were hidden from me and were not to be found. There was no one to tell me the signification of this dream.” “The signification of this dream,” said Zabulun the Enchanter cunningly, “is easy to discover. In the lore of the Chaldeans a dish signifies a treasure. You have dreamed of a threefold treasure that is hidden away.” But the dwarf who was beside the King spoke up and said, “Why does a dish signify a treasure?” “That is something I may not reveal,” said my master, Zabulun the Enchanter, and he turned to the dwarf the staff that was formed of two serpents twisting together. The end of the staff lifted itself as though the serpents were rising up. The dwarf covered his eyes, and cried out, “O Magus!” “Remind me of the second dream that was considered remarkable,” said the King. And the dwarf said, “The second dream was the Dream of the Laden Ass.”