It is stated that once when Sulṭán Maḥmúd b. Náṣiru'd-Dín *

was sitting on the roof of a four-doored summer-house in Ghazna, in the Garden of a Thousand Trees, he turned his face to Abú Rayḥán*

and said, “By which of these four doors shall I go out?” (for all four were practicable) “Decide, and write the decision on a piece of paper, and put it under my quilt.” Abú Rayḥán called for an astrolabe, took the altitude, worked out the ascendant, reflected for a while, and then wrote down his decision on a piece of paper, and placed it under the quilt. “Hast thou decided?” asked Maḥmúd. He answered, “Yes.”

Then Maḥmúd bade them make an opening in the wall, and they brought mattocks and spades, and in the wall which was on the eastern side dug out a fifth door, through which he went out. Then he bade them bring the paper. So they brought it, and on it was written: “He will go out through none of these four doors, but they will dig a fifth door on the side of the eastern wall, by which door he will go forth.” Maḥmúd, on reading this, was furious, and bade them cast Abú Rayḥán down from the midst of the palace. So they did even as he had said. Now a net had been stretched here to keep off the flies,*

and on it Abú Rayḥán fell. The net tore, and he subsided gently to the ground, so that he received no injury. “Bring him in,” said Maḥmúd. So they brought him in, and Maḥmúd said: “O Abú Rayḥán, didst thou know this?” “I knew it, sire,” he answered, and, taking the Almanac from the servant, produced the prognostications out of the Almanac;*

and amongst the predictions for that day was written: “To-day they will cast me down from a high place, but I shall reach the earth in safety, and arise sound in body.”

All this was not according to Maḥmúd's mind. He waxed still angrier, and ordered Abú Rayḥán to be detained in the citadel. So Abú Rayḥán was confined in the citadel of Ghazna, where he remained for six months. It is said that during that period of six months none dared speak to Maḥmúd about Abú Rayḥán, one of whose servants was, however, deputed to wait upon him, and to go out to get what he wanted, and to return therewith. One day this servant was passing through the Park of Ghazna,*

when a fortune-teller called to him and said, “I perceive several things worth mentioning in your fortune: give me a present, that I may reveal them to you.” The servant gave him two dirhams, whereupon the soothsayer said: “One dear to thee is in affliction, but ere three days are past he will be delivered from that affliction, will be invested with a robe of honour, and will again be loaded with honours and favours.”

The servant proceeded to the citadel, and told this incident to his master as a piece of good tidings. Abú Rayḥán smiled and said, “O foolish fellow, dost thou not know that on such occasions one ought not to stand still? Thou hast informed me too late.”*

It is said that the Prime Minister Aḥmad Ḥasan of Maymand (may God be merciful to him!) was for six months seeking an opportunity to say a word on behalf of Abú Rayḥán. At length, when engaged in the chase, he found the King in a good humour, and, working from one topic to another, he brought the conversation round to Astrology. Then he said: “Poor Abú Rayḥán uttered two such good prognostications, and instead of decorations and a robe of honour obtained bonds and imprisonment.” “Know, my lord,” replied Maḥmúd, “for I have proved it,*

that this man is said to have no equal in the world save Abú 'Alí Síná (Avicenna), but both his prognostications were opposed to my will; and kings are like little children*

—in order to receive rewards from them, one should speak in accordance with their opinion. It would have been better for him on that day if one of those two prognostications had been wrong. But to-morrow order him to be brought forth, and to be given a horse caparisoned with gold, a royal robe, a satin turban, a thousand dínárs, a slave, and a handmaiden.”

So, on the very day specified by the soothsayer, they brought forth Abú Rayḥán, and the gift of honour detailed above was conferred upon him, and the King apologized to him, saying: “If thou desirest always to reap advantage from me, speak according to my desire, not according to the dictates of thy science.” So thereafter Abú Rayḥán altered his practice; and this is one of the conditions of the service of kings, that one must be with them in right or wrong, and speak according to their wish.

Now when Abú Rayḥán reached his house, the learned came to congratulate him. He related to them the incident of the soothsayer, whereat they were amazed, and sent to summon him. They found him most illiterate, knowing nothing. Then Abú Rayḥán said, “Hast thou the horo­scope of thy nativity?” “I have,” replied he. Then Abú Rayḥán examined it, and the Share of the Unseen fell directly on the degree of his Ascendant,*

so that whatever he said, though he spoke blindly, came near to the truth.