THE EARLY DEATH OF ABOU ALHASSAN ALY[43]

  Soon hast thou run the race of life,
    Nor could our tears thy speed control—­
  Still in the courser’s gen’rous strife
    The best will soonest reach the goal.

  As Death upon his hand turns o’er
    The different gems the world displays,
  He seizes first to swell his store
    The brightest jewel he surveys.

  Thy name, by every breath convey’d,
    Stretch’d o’er the globe its boundless flight;
  Alas! in eve the lengthening shade
    But lengthens to be lost in night!

  If gracious Allah bade thee close
    Thy youthful eyes so soon on day,
  ’Tis that he readiest welcomes those
    Who love him best and best obey.

Alnassar Ledin Allah.

[43] Alnassar Ledin Allah was the thirty-fourth Abasside Caliph, and
     the last excepting three who enjoyed this splendid title, which
     was finally abolished by the Tartars in the year 656.

THE INTERVIEW

A Song

Darkness clos’d around, loud the tempest drove,
When thro’ yonder glen I saw my lover rove,
Dearest youth! 
Soon he reach’d our cot—­weary, wet, and cold,
But warmth, wine, and I, to cheer his spirits strove,
Dearest youth! 
How my love, cried I, durst thou hither stray
Thro’ the gloom, nor fear the ghosts that haunt the grove? 
Dearest youth! 
In this heart, said he, fear no seat can find,
When each thought is fill’d alone with thee and love,
Dearest maid!

ARABIAN NIGHTS

[Selected tales edited by Andrew Lang]

THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINDBAD

In the times of the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid there lived in Bagdad a poor porter named Hindbad, who, on a very hot day, was sent to carry a heavy load from one end of the city to the other.  Before he had accomplished half the distance he was so tired that, finding himself in a quiet street where the pavement was sprinkled with rose-water, and a cool breeze was blowing, he set his burden upon the ground, and sat down to rest in the shade of a grand house.  Very soon he decided that he could not have chosen a pleasanter place; a delicious perfume of aloes-wood and pastilles came from the open windows and mingled with the scent of the rose-water which steamed up from the hot pavement.  Within the palace he heard some music, as of many instruments cunningly played, and the melodious warble of nightingales and other birds, and by this, and the appetizing smell of many dainty dishes of which he presently became aware, he judged that feasting and merry-making were going on.  He wondered who lived in this magnificent house which he had never seen before, the street in which it stood being one which he seldom had occasion to pass.  To satisfy his curiosity he went up to some splendidly dressed servants who stood at the door, and asked one of them the name of the master of the mansion.