Читать книгу COMMODUS & THE WOOING OF MALKATOON (Illustrated) - Lew Wallace - Страница 5

Table of Contents

"My lord must know

That in the ancient time, near Eskischeer,

A many-gated town, there dwelt a Sheik,

Edebali by name. A chambered cave

He had for house, and wild vines made his door,

Which was a nesting-place for singing birds.

Two paths, divided by an olive-tree,

Led from the door: one to a spring of cool,

Sweet water bubbling out from moss-grown rocks,

And it was narrow; while the other, broad

And beaten, told of travel to and fro,

And of the world a suitor to the man,

For it is never proud when it has need.

He had been Sheik in fact, but now was more—

A Dervish old and saintly, and so close

To Allah that the Golden Gate of Gifts

Up Heaven's steep did open when he prayed.

Wherefore the sick were brought him for a touch;

And in their crowns his amulets were worn

By kings and queens, and scarce a morning came

Without a message— In my tent last night

A foal was born to me, and that in truth

It grace its blood, I pray thee send a name

To know it by.' Or, from a knight whose brand

Had failed him, 'Hearken, O Edebali!

Thou knowest by chosen texts to temper swords.

The craftsman hath a new one now in hand,

And in the rough it waits.' And men of high

Degree came often asking this and that

Of Heaven, and the Prophet, and the laws

Of holy life. Nor was there ever one

To go away unanswered, for he knew

The Kur-an, verse and chapter, and to speak

With finger on the line