they left him for dead, and the stars disappeared from the sky.
it began to rain, and the wind whipped the rags he was wearing.
he tried to get up, and he could not.
he fell asleep and dreamed.
or was it a dream?
he walked down a street of gold in a great city in a burning desert.
a jade palace stood at the end of the street of gold.
the jade palace was guarded by a hundred hooded swordsmen on ebony steeds.
and by fifty silent white lions.
and by fifty silent green dragons.
and by twenty sabre-toothed tigers whose roarings ripped the sky.
and by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, astride a red dinosaur, and wielding a sword that flashed in the sun.
but they all stood aside and let him pass.
he entered the door of the palace.
and found himself in a long, windowless corridor lit by a single sputtering lamp.
at the end of the corridor was a room, furnished only with a large bed.
on the bed lay his enemy.
the enemy had shrunk to the size of a child’s doll, and his face was the face of a spider.
he put his hand on the throat of his enemy.
spare me! cried the enemy. spare me and this kingdom is yours!
his hand began to tighten on the enemy’s throat.
listen! the enemy cried. i have only one hour to live! i have died nine hundred and ninety nine deaths, and this is the thousandth snd last! spare me this last hour - one hour! - and the kingdom is yours!
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