and its ferryman symbolized the last
mysteries of the land of the dwarf-spirits.
He lost consciousness and dreamed back
of his voyage that now had lasted twenty-one years 105.
When he awoke, he found nine carrier-oxen
where there had been six before.
He could not understand how the three oxen
he had given to the little hunchback
could have been restored to him;
for indeed, here they were.
Hammadi exclaimed:
“Truly, I have had strokes of luck
while my friends were star-crossed!”
Hammadi noticed in addition that he had been brought
miraculously to just outside his own yard.
Tradition requires that the traveler,
returning to his village, not enter during daytime 106.
He must wait for dusk when the sun dips
in the west and spreads its luckcolored gold 106.
Hammadi awaited that beneficent moment
while saying to himself: “I have truly triumphed!
I emerged safe and sound from this voyage
of ordeals that lasted twenty-one years.
I came out laden with gold
on this day, like a fabulous mine.
But alas, my mind is incomplete,
since my hunger remains.
I have sighted much, but eaten little,
while my ambition is the pursuit of knowledge.
I shall achieve honor through my duty to knowledge.
This shall henceforth be my effort and goal,
at the price of whatever suffering.”
While Hammadi made his solemn commitment,
Suspicion 108 whose father is Woe 108 said to him:

Notes (Lilyan Kesteloot)
105. A man's life being divided into periods of seven years, Hammadi will thus have passed through three such periods for his initiation.
106. A custom of politeness so that the family not be taken by surprise.
107. Golden yellow is a beneficial color because it is one of the four cloaks of oxen (red, black, white, yellow).
108 Formless beings, spirits providing bad advice.