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the emperor’s vision
5
the small creatures with the gleaming eyes and bushy
tails, stealing along towards the fire, were they not
jackals ? And yet the shepherds did not hurl their
staves at them, the dogs continued to sleep, the
sheep did not flee, and the wild beasts lay down to
rest beside human beings. This the sibyl saw, but
she knew nothing of what passed behind her on the
hill. She did not know that an altar was being raised
there, fire kindled and incense scattered, and that the
emperor took one of the doves out of the cage to
sacrifice it. But his hands were so benumbed that
he could not hold the bird. With one stroke of the
wing she escaped and vanished above in the
darkness.
When this happened, the courtiers cast suspicious
glances at the old sibyl. They thought that it was
she who caused the mishap.
How could they know that the sibyl was in fancy
standing by the shepherds’ fire, and that she now
listened to a faint sound reverberating through the
dead silence of the night. She heard it a long while
before she was aware that it did not come from the
earth but from the sky. Finally lifting her head,
she saw shining forms gliding along in the darkness.
It was flocks of angels, who, sweetly singing, flew
back and forth over the wide plain, as if seeking
something.
While the sibyl listened to the song of the angels,
the emperor prepared for a new sacrifice. He
washed his hands, purified the altar and received the
second dove. But although he exerted himself to the
utmost to hold it, the dove glided out of his hands
and flew away into the impenetrable night.
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