O revered saint ! I am in this difficulty : I do not know the way to Waq of the Caucasus . ' The old man of good counsel looked at the young prince and said : ` Turn back from this dangerous undertaking . Do not go ; choose some other task ! If you had a hundred lives you would not bring one out safe from this journey . ' But his words had no effect on the prince 's resolve . ` What object have you , ' the old man asked , ` in thus consuming your life ? ' ' I have an important piece of business to do , and only this journey makes it possible . I must go ; I pray you , ill God 's name , tell me the way . ' When the saint saw that the prince was not to be moved , he said : ` Learn and know , O youth ! that Waq of Qaf is in the Caucasus and is a dependency of it . In it there are jins , demons , and peris . You must go on along this road till it forks into three ; take neither the right hand nor the left , but the middle path . Follow this for a day and a night . Then you will come to a column on which is a marble slab inscribed with Cufic characters . Do what is written there ; beware of disobedience . ' Then he gave his good wishes for the journey and his blessing , and the prince kissed his feet , said good-bye , and , with thanks to the Causer of Causes , took the road . After a day and a night he saw the column rise in silent beauty to the heavens . Everything was as the wise old man had said it would be , and the prince , who was skilled in all tongues , read the following Cufic inscription : ' O travellers ! be it known to you that this column has been set up with its tablet to give true directions about these roads .
XXXXX a man would pass his life in ease and pleasantness , let him take the right-hand path .
If about as at from in on out to with