Zito the Magician

To amuse His Royal Majesty he will change water into wine.
Frogs into footman. Beetles into bailiffs. And make a Minister

out of a rat. He bows, and daisies grow out of his finger-tips.
And a talking bird sits on his shoulder.

There.

Think up something else, demands His Royal Majesty.
Think up a black star. So he thinks up a black star.
Think up dry water. So he thinks up dry water.
Think up a river bound with straw-bands. So he does.

There.

Then along comes a student and asks: Think up sine alpha
greater than one.

And Zito grows pale and sad: Terribly sorry. Sine is
between plus one and minus one. Nothing you can do about that.
And he leaves the great royal empire, quietly weaves his way
through the throng of courtiers, to his home
in a nutshell.


by Miroslav Holub, trans. by George Theiner