I remember asking a Moor to explain why the Jews were so ill-treated and despised all over Morocco.  The worthy man explained that the Koran declares that no True Believer might take Jew or Christian to be his friend, that the Veracious Book also assures the Faithful that Jews will be turned to pigs or monkeys for their unbelief, and that the metamorphosis will be painful.  “Moreover,” said the True Believer, who did not know that I was of the despised race, “do you not know that one of these cursed people tried to seize the throne in the time of the great Tafilatta?”

I pleaded ignorance.

“Do you not know the Feast of Scribes, that is held in Marrakesh and Fez?” he asked.

Again I had to make confession that, though I had heard about the Feast, I had never witnessed it.

“Only Allah is omniscient,” he said by way of consolation.  “Doubtless there are some small matters known to Nazarenes and withheld from us—­strange though that may seem to the thoughtful.

“In the name of the Most Merciful—­know that there was a ruler in Taza before Mulai Ismail—­Prince of the Faithful, he who overcame in the name of God—­reigned in the land.  Now this ruler[24] had a Jew for wazeer.  When it pleased Allah to take the Sultan and set him in the pavilion of Mother of Pearl appointed for him in Paradise, in the shadow of the Tuba tree, this Jew hid his death from the people until he could seize the throne of Taza for himself and ride out under the M’dhal.[25] Then Mulai Ismail protested to the people, and the Tolba (scribes) arranged to remove the reproach from the land.  So they collected forty of their bravest men and packed them in boxes—­one man in a box.  They put two boxes on a mule and drove the twenty mules to the courtyard of the palace that the Jew had taken for himself.  The man in charge of the mules declared he had a present for the Sultan, and the Unbeliever, whose grave was to be the meeting-place of all the dogs of Taza, gave orders that the boxes should be brought in and set before him.  This was done, and the cursed Jew prepared to gloat over rich treasure.  But as each box was opened a talib rose suddenly, a naked sword in his hand, and falling bravely upon the unbelieving one, cut his body to pieces, while Shaitan hurried his soul to the furnace that is seven times heated and shall never cool.

[Illustration:  WELL IN MARRAKESH]

“Then the Father of the Faithful, the Ever Victorious,” continued the True Believer, “decreed that the tolba should have a festival.  And every year they meet in Marrakesh and Fez, and choose a talib who is to rule over them.  The post is put up to auction; he who bids highest is Sultan for a week.  He rides abroad on a fine horse or mule, under a M’dhal, as though he were indeed My Lord Abd-el-Aziz himself.  Black slaves on either side brush away the flies with their white clothes, soldiers await to do his bidding, he is permitted to make a request to the true Sultan, and our Master has open ear and full hand for the tolba, who kept the Moghreb from the Unbelievers, the inheritors of the Fire, against whom Sidna Mohammed has turned his face.”