Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/278

246 another may be steadier than they.’ So a third mounted the wall and a fourth and a fifth and all cried out and cast themselves down, even as did the first; nor did they leave to do thus, till a dozen had perished.

Then said the Sheikh Abdussemed, ‘This adventure is reserved for none other than myself, for the man of experience is not like the inexperienced.’ Quoth the Amir, ‘Indeed, I will not have thee go up, for thou art our guide and if thou perish, we shall all be cut off to the last man.’ But he answered, saying, ‘Peradventure, that which we seek may be accomplished at my hands, by the grace of God the Most High.’ So they all agreed to let him go up, and he arose and heartening himself, said, ‘In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!’ and mounted the ladder, calling on the name of God and reciting the Verses of Safety. When he reached the top of the wall, he clapped his hands and gazed fixedly down into the city; whereupon the folk below cried out to him with one accord, saying, ‘O Sheikh Abdussemed, for God’s sake cast not thyself down!’ And they said, ‘Verily, we are God’s and to Him we return! If the Sheikh fall, we are all dead men.’

Then he laughed long and loud and sat a great while, reciting the names of God and repeating the Verses of Safety; then he rose and cried out at the top of his voice saying, ‘O Amir, have no fear: no hurt shall betide you, for God (to whom belong might and majesty) hath averted from me the wiles and malice of Satan, by the blessing of the words, “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!”’ ‘O Sheikh,’ quoth Mousa, ‘what didst thou see?’ ‘When I came to the top of the wall,’ answered Abdussemed, ‘I saw ten maidens, as they were moons,