a
quarter to twelve
The binding of one of these copies was covered with diamonds . This copy the Chief Mufti brought to the Sultan , and gave into his hands the needle with which the august ceremony was to be accomplished . Meanwhile Ibrahim glanced impatiently at the three magnificent clocks standing in the room , one beside the other . They all pointed to a quarter to twelve . It was already late , and this ceremony of the pricking of the Koran always took up such a lot of time . The Sultan opened the book at the last page , pricked through by the needle , and these were the words he read : `` He who fears the sword will find the sword his enemy , and better a rust-eaten sword in the hand than a brightly burnished one in a sheath . '' `` La illah il Allah !