Page:The book of wonder voyages (1919).djvu/202

 Then they struck the ground with their feet, whereupon it opened, and they disappeared within, and were absent awhile, after which they reappeared with three horses, saddled and bridled, and on each saddlebow a pair of saddlebags, with a leathern bottle of water in one pocket and the other full of food. So Hasan mounted one steed and took a child before him, whilst his wife mounted a second and took the other child before her, and the old woman bestrode the third. And they rode on all through the night. And as they rode, Hasan caught sight of a black object, which as he drew nearer turned out to be an Ifrit, with a head like a huge dome, tusks like grapnels, jaws like a lane, nostrils like ewers, ears like leathern targes, a mouth like a cave, teeth like pillars of stone, hands like winnowing forks, and legs like masts; his head was in the clouds and his feet in the earth he had plowed. And he said to Hasan, "Fear not, I wish to accompany you and be your guide till you leave the Wak Islands. Be of good cheer, for I am a Moslem even as ye." So they followed the Ifrit and made merry, and Hasan told his wife all that had befallen him while she related all she had seen and suffered.

Thus they rode till the thirty-first day, when there arose before them a dust-cloud that walled the world and darkened the day. And the old woman said to Hasan: "This is the army of the Wak Islands that hath overtaken us; they will lay violent hands upon us. Strike the earth with the rod." And the seven Kings