Again he carried off the king’s family priest, and, by supernatural power depriving him of his senses, kept him in a cave in the mountain.
While he himself assumed the priest’s form and went and lay down on his sumptuous couch. At daybreak the king woke and was astonished to find himself at home. Much impressed with the hermit’s power, he rose and went out unperceived by the queen, and, mounting his horse, rode off to the wood, without any of the people in the city knowing it. When it was noon he returned, and in every house there were rejoicings with music and singing. When he saw the family priest, he looked at him in amazement, remembering the work in hand. The three days seemed like an age, so absorbed was he in expectation of the false hermit’s coming. When the appointed time had come, the priest took the king aside and told him the whole plot.
While he himself assumed the priest’s form and went and lay down on his sumptuous couch. At daybreak the king woke and was astonished to find himself at home. Much impressed with the hermit’s power, he rose and went out unperceived by the queen, and, mounting his horse, rode off to the wood, without any of the people in the city knowing it. When it was noon he returned, and in every house there were rejoicings with music and singing. When he saw the family priest, he looked at him in amazement, remembering the work in hand. The three days seemed like an age, so absorbed was he in expectation of the false hermit’s coming. When the appointed time had come, the priest took the king aside and told him the whole plot.