Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/188

 In the temple pious pilgrims ring the bell for Thee! To the mosque and to the temple often I repair, Thee from door to door I seek, thy holy grace to share. Heresy from Orthodoxy none can ever tell, Orthodox or Heretic see not Light behind the veil! Each may cling unto his own, and men may pray apart, Pollen of the Rose will scent the perfume-seller's heart!"

"May some pollen of the Rose," said Akbar, "fall on the heart of one whom He has appointed to sell His perfume to mankind. He has raised me to be a Kaliph—to be His Vice-regent on earth—to do His work. But I see the wise Badaoni shakes his head. Speak, friend, and speak your mind freely, and the learned Abul Fazel will reply to you. I would fain listen and gather wisdom from your controversy, for Alla has gifted you both with high gifts, and it is the joy of my soul to learn from those to whom it is given to speak."

"I have studied the histories of all Moslem lands like Persia and Arabia and Egypt," proudly replied the grave historian, "and I find the religion of Islam accepted everywhere. I have not heard of any new faith preached in any Moslem land."

"You speak of lands," replied Abul Fazel, "where the people have one faith, and where the King and the subjects are all Moslems."

"That was not so a thousand years ago, Abul Fazel. Persia followed the teachings of Zoroaster, and Egypt had an older faith recorded in their hieroglyphic inscriptions; but the teachings of our Prophet Mahomet came and swept away all impure faiths from those lands. And much we hoped that, under great and wise Moslem emperors, the land of Hind, too, would be purged of its false faiths and graven images, and would accept the pure faith