Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/88

72 magnificent ceremony for the opening of the mosque to the Faithful soon was held. There, after the ceremony, the sultan summoned both the architects and said:

"Your work is beautiful. I do not know how to recompense you." While the rivals remained silent, the sultan ordered some bags of gold brought to him and said to the Moorish architect:

"Take this gold and be the richest man among my subjects." Then, turning to the Jew, he added:

"And as for you, infidel dog, I ought to pull out your heart, because you have defiled the holy place with your footsteps; but I am pleased with your work and shall, therefore, grant you your life, if it be proven that this is Allah's wish. My men will take you to the top of the minaret; from there you must disappear before the morning light. If you have not done so, you shall die. Now go!"

The Jew was led away, distraught by the cruel ingratitude of the master. Shut up in the minaret, the architect puzzled as to how he should escape and, being a man of invention and resource, made for himself a pair of wings out of boards, fastened them to his shoulders and sprang from the minaret. But, as he had made the wings in a hurry and the work was not of the best, they broke with him, so that he fell on a near-by hill, which to this day is known among the inhabitants as "the Jew's Hill," and was killed. As he lay dying, he cursed Mansura. Instantly a terrible storm arose and a bolt of lightning struck the minaret, cleaving it into two distinct parts and tumbling that which the Moor had constructed into the temple court. From the very moment