Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/105

 Barefooted, with respect, and shoeless kissed my fingers.

And he bade me welcome, nobly, even to eighty welcomes.

And he said, " I guess thy worth, and I will do thee honour ;

My heart is with the fakirs, I seek them night and morning,

And I would pardon Alia were it to do thee pleasure.

Yet see, one grief is mine, one all consuming sorrow,

O Sheykh, 'tis she, my mare, the fair mare which I rode on ;

Glorious she was to see, the envy of beholders.

Light-footed she is gone you might say a bird's in its flying.

Yet are her footsteps known to thee, thou master of wisdom."

And Abu Zeyd made answer, " In the day of hasty judgment

The eyes of men are blind ; wait rather till the morrow,

So shall the truth be seen, and thou rejoice, O Jaber."

And he said to him, "O Sheykh, if thou wilt do me pleasure,

Lodge with me here to-night, and wouldst thou tarry longer

A dweller in our land, behold each night and morning

To thee shall be of the best the meat that thou desirest,

Garments of amber silk (and all good things in order),

And if that Death should thee o'ertake within our dwelling,