Now, the feathers of Koorookh in his flight were ruffled by a chill
breeze, and they were speeding through a light glow of cold rose-colour.
Then said Noorna, ''Tis the messenger of morning, the blush. Oh, what
changes will date from this day!'
The glow of rose became golden, and they beheld underneath them, on one
side, the rim of the rising red sun, and rays streaming over the earth
and its waters. And Noorna said, 'I must warn Feshnavat, my father, and
prepare him for our coming.'
So she plucked a feather from Koorookh and laid the quill downward,
letting it drop. Then said she, 'Now for the awakening of my betrothed!'
Thereupon she hugged his head a moment, and kissed him on the eyelids,
the cheeks, and the lips, crying, 'By this means only!' Crying that, she
pushed him, sliding, from the back of the bird, and he parted from them,
falling headforemost in the air like a stricken eagle. Then she called to
Koorookh, 'Seize him!' and the bird slanted his beak and closed his
wings, the two, Abarak and Noorna, clinging to him tightly; and he was
down like an arrow between Shibli Bagarag and the ground, spreading
beneath him like a tent, and Noorna caught the youth gently to her lap;
then she pushed him off again, intercepting his descent once more, till
they were on a level with one of the mountains of the earth, from which
the City of Shagpat is visible among the yellow sands like a white spot
in the yolk of an egg. So by this time the eyes of the youth gave
symptoms of a desire to look upon the things that be, peeping faintly
beneath the lashes, and she exclaimed joyfully, raising her white hands
above her head, 'One plunge in the lake, and life will be his again!'
Below them was a green lake, tinted by the dawn with crimson and yellow,
deep, and with high banks. As they crossed it to the middle, she slipped
off the youth from Koorookh, and he with a great plunge was received into
the stillness of the lake. Meanwhile Koorookh quivered his wings and
seized him when he arose, bearing him to an end of the lake, where stood
one dressed like a Dervish, and it was the Vizier Feshnavat, the father
of Noorna. So when he saw them, he shouted the shout of congratulation,
catching Noorna to his breast, and Shibli Bagarag stretched as doth a
heavy sleeper in his last doze, saying, in a yawning voice, 'What
trouble? I wot there is nought more for us now that Shagpat is shaved!
Oh, I have had a dream, a dream! He that is among Houris in Paradise
dreameth not a dream like that. And I dreamed--'tis gone!'