Then he came back and
said to me, 'Know that eight degrees and six minutes have elapsed
of this our day, which is Friday, the tenth of Sefer, in the six
hundred and fifty-third year of the Flight of the Prophet (upon
whom be the most excellent of blessing and peace!) and the seven
thousand three hundred and twentieth year of the Alexandrian era,
and the planet now in the ascendant, according to the rules of
mathematics, is Mars, which being in conjunction with Mercury,
denotes a favourable time for cutting hair; and this also
indicates to me that thou purposest to foregather with some one
and that your interview will be propitious; but after this there
occurs a sign, respecting a thing which I will not name to thee.'
'By Allah,' exclaimed I, 'thou weariest me and pesterest me with
thy foolish auguries, when I only sent for thee to shave my head!
So come, shave me at once and give me no more talk.' 'By Allah,'
rejoined he, 'if thou knewest what is about to befall thee, thou
wouldst do nothing this day; and I counsel thee to do as I shall
tell thee, by observation of the stars.' 'By Allah,' said I, 'I
never saw a barber skilled in astrology except thee: but I think
and know that thou art prodigal of idle talk. I sent for thee to
shave my head, and thou plaguest me with this sorry prate!' 'What
more wouldst thou have!' replied he. 'God hath vouchsafed thee a
barber, who is an astrologer, versed in the arts of alchemy and
white magic, syntax, grammar and lexicology, rhetoric and logic,
arithmetic, astronomy and geometry, as well as in the knowledge
of the Law and the Traditions of the Prophet and in exegesis.
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