The person trapped in the sombre quotidian who scouts around for a brighter future snatches greedily at coincidences in order to scrabble out any kind of prophetic intimation. The indecisive man discovers his salvation only in the resolve to submit to the pronouncement of the lot that’s cast. To this category belongs the universally practised convention of seeking an oracle from a significant book, between the pages of which one places a pin and then gazes credulously at the passage indicated when the book is opened. We were once closely associated with people who sought trustworthy advice in just such a manner from the Bible, the Schatzkästlein,83 and other edifying works, and often got solace in the sorest need, nay, they were fortified for a lifetime.
We find this custom practised in the Orient too; it is called fal and the honour of the practice fell to Hafiz immediately after his death.84 At the time, the strictly orthodox didn’t want to accord him proper obsequies; his poems were consulted and since the passage indicated mentioned that wanderers would honour his grave, the conclusion was drawn that he too had to be honourably buried. The Western poet plays on this practice as well and hopes that a comparable honour may befall his own book.85