Page:Achmed Abdullah--Wings.djvu/210

194 him until it seemed that he had reached the limits of earthly knowledge.

Nature herself was his teacher, and nature taught him the language of the flowers and of the birds, the songs of the desert winds at dawn and the sayings of the gurgling water in the wells—but still the voice of Khizr said: "Khassoum, seek on."

He sought—and one day a caravan passed through the oasis of Bir Tefguia, and Khassoum saw amongst it a girl; she was of those Bedawin who do not veil their faces, and he thought her fairer than the young day. He said to himself: "Now have I found what the voice of my mind has commanded me to seek. I have found love."

He went to the girl of the Bedawin and said:

"I love thee and thee I must have. I have wandered far and wide; my roaming feet have brought me to Mecca and Medina, across the four deserts and even to the towns of Greece and of Hindustan, the home of the unbelievers. I have seen the women of many lands.

"I have seen the women of Baloutchistan, and their eyes were brown and moist like those of the timid gazelle. I have looked at the dark women of the Nubian plains, and I thought them as