Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/68

 I herefore do thou give ear—nay, be not thou despising.

For as the mare is mine, so am I thine to deal with.

Let us arise and go, thou, I, and the mare together,

Even to thine own tribe." But I, '* My thought is elsewise,

No more I seek the mare, nor is my mind to take her.

For have we not the Shohba, the grey mare of Ibn Ghanem?

Her will I give in ransom for the mare of Agheyli Jaber.

Nay, for I fear for thee, lest evil should befall thee.

Through the tracking of the mare, thou daughter of the great ones.

Evil and sore disgrace which all men should remember."

But she said, " No, of a truth. And, if thou spare to take her

Then will I slay her straight. For how many more beside her,

Stand not tied at our door, mares like to her in value?

And for myself, alas, the poison cup stands ready.

And I will go with her to death's unjoyful dwellings."

And when I heard this word, need was that I consented.

Said the Narrator:

And when the Princess Alia and the Emir Abu Zeyd had finished talking in the manner told, and she