with his finger. We wanted to do as he did, but it was impossible for us; our fingers did not work upon it.

He said to us: "These fruits solidify in your hands; eat what I give you." We ate and found food more delicious than anything we had ever tasted, purer in fragrance and finer in taste.

We asked: "What is the reason that the fruit you ate was not solidified like the one you gave us?"

He said: "The state which has brought you both to this limit. When you are liberated from this shirt you are in, your form in eating shall be like ours, your lifespans like ours, your forms like ours, and your clothing like ours."

My Master said: "We have chosen to know your clothing—how it is distinguished from ours."

He brought us to a great tree with hanging nuts larger than coconuts. He extended his hand to one, plucked it, and broke it. Inside he found a soft green garment, finer than silk and more beautiful than the color of beet-greens; the body feels no touch when it is upon it.

Then he said to us: "If you two choose to know how your clothing is distinguished from ours, do as I did." My Master pointed with his hand to a nut and plucked it, and I did the same. We broke them and saw nothing inside but running water.

He said to us: "If the fruit falls into the hand of one upon whom there remain shirts of postponement, it does not solidify; his nourishment is in the water within it, by which he revives his body and is made known to him. He has no waste (najwā). Likewise is our talk on clothing: if the nut falls into the palm of a man who has fulfilled the shirts of postponement upon him, its water solidifies and becomes as you see. This is the account of our clothing and food."

My Master said to him: "And what becomes of you when you finish this shirt you are in?"