Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/260

244, stating only that Menar already existed in the seventeenth century and that the pavilion was built by order of Sultan Abd er-Rahman. But this was no answer to my thoughts and queries, which found satisfaction only in the tale brought me through my accidental friendship with one Ali ben Hassan. How much of it had its foundation in fact and how much was the creation of the fancy of my genial friend I have no way of knowing; yet I found it so satisfying that I give it in the same spirit in which it came from him.

"No one knows the exact truth about Menar and this forsaken pavilion, but a legend exists among sad and lonely women, which runs thus: The Grand Vizier of the terrible Mulay Ismail brought him from France gifts from the powerful king, Louis XIV, and something which proved to be more dear and more cherished than all the rest. This was the picture of the King's daughter, a beautiful woman who had lost her husband. When Mulay Ismail saw the beauty of the princess, he sprang into the saddle and coursed the plains, where only bushes and trees knew him that day. Returning to the palace at evening, he summoned the vizier and commanded him:

"'To you and to you only will my words be spoken, and no other living man is to know them. You are to go to the capital of France and to ask for the hand of the princess, who is like unto the morning star, the messenger of Allah. Do you understand?'

"'You have spoken, oh my Lord!'

"When the Grand Vizier returned from France, he was immediately closeted with the sultan in the most secret room of the palace and reported: