Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/19

 Even a service of fear, a thing from the land of danger.

And thus they sat in discourse till the hour of noon was upon them,

And the caller called to prayer, and the great ones prayed assembled ;

And these too in their place, and they stood in prayer together.

And when they had made an end of praises and prostrations,

Back to the tent came they, and still behold the lady

Wandering in doubt uncertain there with steps of a stranger.

Then to the desert went I forth, and I called and I shouted,

"Marhaba, welcome to thee," I cried, "thou illustrious lady.

Welcomes as many be to thee as the leagues thou hast wandered."

And she, "I seek the hero, the Knight of Helal ibn Amer,

Bring me to him, the renowned of might, the hero of Amer."

And I, "I hear and obey, though I am not of the great ones.

Raise thy eyes and behold him here, the Sultan Hassan,

And with him Abu Musa Diab, the light of Zoghbat,

Best of the swordsmen he, and our learned Kadi Faid,

The reader of the word, the learnedest of the learned.

And with them Aziz ed Din and El Hajin and Amer,

Fifty and five of the best, Fulano and Fulano.