Part 5

After the emperor had clarified this monosyllabically, the court’s trivial machinations peacefully resumed. Nishan was happy to prophesy only that which would please the king. One day however, when he asked the stars to tell him what would befall the emperor, there were no pleasant predictions. So he hastily selected a prophecy that he deemed less distressing than the others, and set off to give the ruler his daily horoscope. On arriving at the emperor’s chambers, Nishan was embarrassed to find that the emperor had no clothes. The monarch was slightly frivolous, but a kind man all the same, so he bade Nishan sit down and disregard his appearance. Nishan did so, and proceeded to relate, as gently as he could, the “dark” prophesy, saying: “Majesty, I consulted my astrological arts this morning, and found there were no prophesies that might be acceptable to your… selective tastes. This is my prediction: about a hundred sacred tree frogs escaped from the royal menagerie last night. When you go forth from your rooms today, you will presently step on one of them and squash it to death.”
“Well, I don’t have to do that. I’ll just stay in bed!” said the emperor. Nishan had no qualms with this, so he advised the ruler to do as he wished.
The remainder of the day passed smoothly, until around six o’clock. The old soothsayer was walking out through the palace gates, when one of the great stone pillars that held them up collapsed onto its side, nearly crushing him. Nishan picked himself up and dazedly made his way back to his home. When night fell, he went up to the top of his roof, as he always did, to speak to the stars. He observed that they were shining brighter than usual, and the first sentence he decoded surprised him considerably: “Old man, you have disobeyed us!”