'Listen to me, my boy, ' he said in a fatherly way, 'I have some advice for you.'
Pafadnam looked with surprise at the old man, who was calmly fanning himself with a palm frond. 'In the days when the French were here, they had a nice little saying they were always drumming into us: "Don't sell the fur before you've killed the bear." We have a different saying, though the meaning's much the same. We say that each of our dreams is guarded on its right by an angel and on its left by a djinn, and that these two creatures are in perpetual conflict. For a dream to come true, the two of them have to come to an agreement first. When a dream seems to come true too quickly, that means that the djinn has bowed out. Now if its in such a hurry, there must be a snake in the grass that you have to beware of as if it were the Devil himself. So stop all that singing and dancing and keep your celebrations for the day you're finally reunited with your generous cousin in Mantes-la-Jolie. And in the meantime, put away that money, you big donkey, or you'll get it stolen!'