Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/79

59 shall be sent in the latter days, and my heart is taken with his love; wherefore I am resolved to wander over the earth, till I foregather with him; else I shall die of longing for the love of him.” Then he doffed his clothes and donned a pilgrim’s gown of striped goat’s hair cloth and sandals, saying to his mother, “Forget me not in thy prayers.” She wept and said, “O my son, what will become of us after thee?” But he answered, saying, “I can endure no longer, and I commit my affair and thine to God the Most High.”

Then he set out in the direction of Syria, without the knowledge of any of his people, and coming to the seashore, took passage in a ship, which he found there. They sailed till they came to an island, where they cast anchor and Beloukiya landed with the crew, but, becoming separated from the rest, sat down under a tree and fell asleep. When he awoke, he found that the ship had set sail without him, and in that island he saw serpents as big as camels and palm-trees, who sang the praises of Allah and blessed Mohammed, proclaiming the unity of God and glorifying the Most High; whereat he wondered greatly. When they saw him, they flocked to him and one of them said to him, “Who and whence art thou and whither goest thou?” Quoth he, “My name is Beloukiya; I am of the children of Israel, and am come out in quest of Mohammed (whom God bless and preserve), being distracted for love of him. But who are ye, O noble creatures?” “We are of the dwellers in Hell,” answered they; “and God the Most High created us for the punishment of unbelievers.” “And how came ye hither?” asked he, and they answered, “Know that Hell, of the greatness of its boiling, breathes twice a year, exhaling in the summer and inhaling in the winter, and hence the summer heat and the winter cold. When it exhales, it casts us forth of its maw, and we are drawn in again