`` listen to what i read now , '' said the old man , `` because i will translate it for you only once : `` 'woe unto him who destroys these bones , for if it can be don which is not known even to the wisest , that one should loose into the world a spirit of incalculable power , masterless and ungovernably doomed to remain in the air forever , unable to mount the ladder t heaven , or unlock the gates of perdition .