‘Then the king went to his palace and passed the night without food. Nor were diversions brought before him. And his sleep fled from him.'
It is to the kings credit that he was genuinely greatly distressed. He could not eat and he waved away the diversions with which his servants sought to distract him. He wanted no entertainment. He was torn apart by what had happened. His feelings must have been very mixed up. He knew that he had been hoodwinked, and was perhaps already planning the fate of the men who had done it. He knew that he had been foolish and had behaved as no king should behave. He knew that he had had to pass a death sentence that should never have been passed. And he knew that he had brought about the death of an old man who did not deserve it, a good man, a man whom he had trusted. No wonder he could not eat or sleep.