A rich Arab named Ali Cassam had a beautiful sister named Ourida.
Ali thought her the best woman in the world, and although she was his
sister he determined to marry her.
Such a marriage is considered just as unholy by the Mohammedans as it
is with us, and so everybody was against it. But Ali was great and
powerful, and he thought that by making a magnificent show of it he
would get over the feelings of those who said it was wrong.
[Illustration: The wedding party were all there in their places, but
all were turned into stone.]
So a splendid feast was arranged, and the ceremony began on a very big
scale.
The priest Abdallah undertook to carry out the religious part of it,
and had just taken the first step in the marriage service of placing
the bridegroom's hand on the bride's head when there was a tremendous
flash of lightning, fire rushed out of the earth, the day was suddenly
turned into night, and boiling water spouted up in all directions.
When the sun came out again the wedding party were all there in their
places, but all were turned into stone, and the boiling water still
bubbles up out of the earth round about them.
Personally I could not recognise exactly the actors in this drama; it
needed a lot of imagination to believe that one mound represented Ali
and another Ourida, while Abdallah was recognisable by his turban!
This was all that I saw of them.
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