The supper

For at this point the soothsayer interrupted the greeting of Zarathustra and his guests: he pressed forward as one who had no time to lose, seized Zarathustra’s hand and exclaimed: “But Zarathustra! One thing is more…

The soothsayer interrupts the greeting, reminds Zarathustra he was invited to table, and complains of hunger, thirst and the lack of wine. Zarathustra's animals flee in terror at his appetite.

On this occasion, when the soothsayer was longing for wine, it happened that the king on the left, the silent one, also found expression for once. “WE took care,” said he, “about wine, I, along with my brother the king…

The silent king says they have wine but no bread. Zarathustra answers that anchorites have none, offers two lambs, roots, fruits and nuts, and says everyone, kings included, must help.

I am a law only for mine own; I am not a law for all.

The voluntary beggar objects to the flesh, wine and spices. Zarathustra tells him to keep his own customs and describes those who belong to him, who take the best food, sky, thoughts and women.

Thus spake Zarathustra; the king on the right however answered and said: “Strange! Did one ever hear such sensible things out of the mouth of a wise man? And verily, it is the strangest thing in a wise man, if over and…

The king on the right marvels that a wise man can be sensible and not an ass. The ass answers 'Ye-a' with ill-will, and the long supper begins, with talk only of the higher man.