Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/59

 Were he here, Abu Zeyd, even now in this hour of speaking,

Him would I smite to death and leave in his blood to perish."

And Abu Zeyd from the tree heard all the words between them,

And my mind rose to her help as a full pot boiling over.

And I heard my name in their mouths, and my heart grew hot within me,

Like a pitcher from the well which brims and spills with fulness.

For why should Sahel slay her, and I not stand between them?

Sahel his sword hath drawn and leapt on her with cursings

The while she cryeth aloud. But I too cried, '^Take courage. Lo, I am here to thy hand, one able for thy burden.'' And of a sudden I dropped and ran to the three that struggled. And Sahel I seized by the throat and dragged towards destruction. And he cried, ^' Who art thou and whence and what the way of thy sending ? " And 1. "From Death the King am I come to take possession. Life is weary of thee, and Death's edge presseth nearly." And he, *^ O Sheykh^of Afrits, wilt thou not spare the sword stroke,