Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/261

 THE SACRIFICE OF ER-HEB

Er-Heb beyond the Hills of Ao-Safai

Bears witness to the truth, and Ao-Safai

Hath told the men of Gorukh. Thence the tale

Comes westward o'er the peaks to India.

The story of Bisesa, Armod's child,—

A maiden plighted to the Chief in War

The Man of Sixty Spears who held the Pass

That leads to Thibet, but to-day is gone

To seek his comfort of the God called Budh

The Silent—showing how the Sickness ceased

Because of her who died to save the tribe.

Taman is One and greater than us all,

Taman is One and greater than all Gods:

Taman is Two in One and rides the sky,

Curved like a stallion's croup, from dusk to dawn,

And drums upon it with his heels, whereby

Is bred the neighing thunder in the hills.

(Copyright, 1892, by Macmillan & Co.)

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