He saw political advantage in assuming a House Atreides identity, and so he assumed one. After his. victor} in the Battle of Arrakeen he astutely allowed his Fremen followers to spend their centuries of pent fury on the universe in the Second Jihad, leaving him on Arrakis to rule in relative quiet. An attempt on his life in 10205 resulted in his blindness; he died shortly thereafter, having voluntarily exiled himself into the desert. For a century or more after Paul's disappearance it was not uncommon for sun-crazed blind Fremen, banished from one sietch or another, to stumble into the city claiming to be the returned Muad'Dib, Some of these "blind seers" even attracted cult followers and had much made of themselves. Such occurrences have grown increasingly rare over the centuries; still, die quickest way for any pitiful desert prophet to gain an appreciative audience even today is to pronounce himself Paul Atreides resurrected. D.M. 21If, indeed, the historians are to be trusted. -t d.f "Wnat on earth does I/MI mean?-j b. ^According to legend, the method of assassination was to have been stoneburner. Obviously ftiul could not in actuality have survived such an attack *-t d f *Nor could Arrakis have. .-j.b ^It also assured the retention of his honor among the Fremen, kept him from becoming merely an object of pity, and staved off the inevitable next attempt on his life.-e.d. 25Also on the fervor of the user.-j.b. 26According to Fremen custom If he had in fact been nobility he would simply have had Tleilaxu eyes in-slalled in his head. That he chose to die instead suggests Fremen, not Atreides instincts.*-t.d.f. *I'd not thought of that.-j b ATREIDES, MUL ATREIDES, PAUL ATREIDES, PAUL. "HOW MUAD'DIB GOT HIS NAME" A FOLKTALE FROM THE ORAL HISTORY When Usul was still a boy, he became no longer content to stay in the sietch with his mother. He went to her to take leave, but she said, "Usul, your minha, the season for your testing, has not yet come. Stay with me a while." But he said to her, "Every hour seems like a day. I will go forth into the desert, where the time will not pass so slowly, and where I shall see wonders." So he went out of his sietch into the bled, and went on from morn till night, and whichever way his path led him, it was all the same to him. It came to pass mat, as the sun was setting, he saw some little way off a castle made all of sand. The walls were sand, the towers were sand, even the doors were sand. Now Usul was tired from Ms journey and he longed to lie down, but he thought, "Who knows what will happen if I push one of these doors? The whole place may come down on me." So he readied himself to sleep outside, but as he did so, he saw to one side an open door, and he went in. Inside the castle was a room, empty but for a table of sand on which stood a jug of liban aad a bowl with some apricots. Usul ate and drank, and when he had filled himself, he wrapped his cloak about him and lay down on the floor to steep.