robbed me; and by my spirit and her spirit you shall pay!  Yet listen.  Hand back the girl, as you may do—­for she is not yet your wife—­and choose another for your queen, and I will undo all that I have done, and I will find you a means, Hafela, to carry out your will.  Ay, before six suns have set, the regiments rushing past you shall hail you King of the Nation of the Amasuka, Lord of the ancient House of Fire!”

“I cannot,” groaned the prince; “death were better than this!”

“Ay, death were better; but you shall not die, you shall live a servant, and your name shall become a mockery, a name for women to make rhymes on.”

Now the prince sprang up.

“Take her!” he hissed; “take her! you, who are an evil ghost; you, beneath whose eyes children wail, and at whose passing the hairs on the backs of hounds stand up!  Take her, priest of death and ill; but take my curse with her!  Ah!  I also can prophecy; and I tell you that this woman whom you have taught, this witch of many spells, whose glance can shrivel the hearts of men, shall give you to drink of your own medicine; ay, she shall dog you to the death, and mock you while you perish by an end of shame!”

“What,” laughed the wizard, “have I a rival in my own arts?  Nay, Hafela, if you would learn the trade, pay me well and I will give you lessons.  Yet I counsel you not; for you are flesh, nothing but flesh, and he who would rule the air must cultivate the spirit.  Why, I tell you, Prince, that even the love for her who is my heart, the lady whom we both would wed, partaking of the flesh as, alas! it does, has cost me half my powers.  Now let us cease from empty scoldings, and strike our bargain.

“Listen.  On the last day of the feast, when all the regiments are gathered to salute the king there in his Great Place according to custom, you shall stand forth before the king and renounce Noma, and she shall pass back to the care of my household.  You yourself shall bring her to where I stand, and as I take her from you I will put into your hand a certain powder.  Then you shall return to the side of the king, and after our fashion shall give him to drink the bowl of the first-fruits; but as you stir the beer, you will let fall into it that powder which I have given you.  The king will drink, and what he leaves undrunk you will throw out upon the dust.

“Now he will rise to give out to the people his royal decree, whereby, Prince, you are to be deposed from your place as heir, and your brother, Nodwengo, is to be set in your seat.  But of that decree never a word shall pass his lips; if it does, recall your saying and take back the lady Noma from where she stands beside me.  I tell you that never a word will pass his lips; for even as he rises a stroke shall take him, such a stroke as often falls upon the fat and aged, and he will sink to the ground snoring through his nostrils.  For a while thereafter—­it may be six hours, it may be twelve—­he shall lie insensible, and then a cry will arise that the king is dead!”