The old man preferred not to answer;
leaning on his fantastic staff,
he said, “On the level of the wood-gatherer
your friends and you had, without knowing it,
completely crossed the frontier zones
that separate men from the land
of Kaydara the magnificent.
The putrid dwelling is the tomb
and house where beings are transformed
and where thoughts are metamorphosed
and are brought back to the body, where they stir the spirit.
Ignorance must die that knowledge live.
Kaydara the supernatural appeared to you
with seven heads, each of which represented a day;
with thirty feet, he caused movement
in the instants that pile up and which he manoeuvers
with the help of his twelve arms.
He gave you gold in order to open up to you
the doors of happiness, or else to be a heavy
and hard burden that would break necks.”
“Master! In the name of God, tell me who you are!”
Hammadi arose, disobeying the order to sit
that the old man had given.
“I am the eavesdropper who saw you kill
the game in the heart of the ancestor-forest.
The multicolored chameleon of the valley
I saw, as I did the bat
hanging head down; I avoided the scorpion
armed with pinchers, and a poisonous stinger.
I saw the pond gorged with water, symbol
of the well-maintained state.
I know the inexhaustible, providential footprint,
I saw the great flattering salamander.
When the bustard taunted you, I was not far away.
I know the bearded goat which wears itself out.