Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 19.3.3

19.3.3

Nearly every man continued pent up in the same spot, for it was impossible, in many places, to advance or recede, and the thieving varlets of porters with the tents and provisions were not within reach. My usual good fortune, however, attended me; I contrived to clamber out of the line of march and find a spot whereon I and my horse slept pretty comfortably. The servant who followed me had a small quantity of bread, which we shared. It was here, I recollect, that in stirring some stones, we found a large black scorpion, which a young Mogol of my acquaintance took up and squeezed in his hand, then in the hand of my servant, and lastly in mine, without any of us being stung. This young cavalier pretended that he had charmed the scorpion, as he had charmed many others, with a passage from the Koran; 'but I will not,' added he, 'teach you that passage, because the occult power would then depart from me and rest with you, in the same manner as it left my teacher the moment he imparted the secret.'