Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/277

 Ba lo ch i Fo Iklo re. 261

riding with a party of Baloches along one of the long narrow valleys or tokhs, which run parallel to the main range of the mountains between the upheaved strata of sandstone, we passed an abundant spring, a rare thing in those parts; but it was salt and undrinkable. A little way off we came to a flat sheet of sandstone, from a small hole in the centre of which fresh water was trickling ; and I was told that this place was known as Nezagh-Khushta, or " struck by the spear," for Sakhi Sarwar, on coming to this spot and finding that the spring was salt, drove his spear in wrath into the rock, and the fresh water immediately flowed forth. Not many miles from this spot is Zinda Pir, or the " Living Saint," so called because there Sakhi Sarwar, like Elijah, finally disappeared from the earth, without having died. The place is marked by a hot sulphur-spring, and the saint's influence makes this beneficial to rheumatic subjects. The story of the hawk and the pigeon is of a decidedly Buddhist complexion 'Ali had just been saying his prayers when a hawk struck down a pigeon in front of him. The pigeon appealed to him for protection, but the hawk said : " Oh, my Lord 'Ali, King of men, I left my young ones starving beyond the seven seas at the top of the deep rooted tree, and I have long been seeking some booty to satisfy their hunger. Do not take my only capture from me." Then the pigeon said : " Oh, my Lord 'Ali, my sad state is this. I left my starving children on the cliffs of Mount Bambor, and was pecking a few grains to take to them, when I was seized by this monster, who will slay me. Do not give me to this voracious hawk, for thou art lord of all." Then 'Ali called to Kambarfor his knife, and plunged it into his thigh, saying to the hawk, " Come, I will give you flesh to eat," and with that he cut a piece from his thigh, equal in size to the pigeon, or even larger ! Then the pigeon burst into tears, saying: " He is not a hawk, nor am I a pigeon, we are Angels of God sent to try you, and well have you borne the test."