II

"THE HOLE IN THE WATER-SKIN"

For the fourth time that day Abdulla, the water-seller of Damascus, had

come to the river's bank to fill his water-skin. The day was hot beyond

endurance; the drinkers had been clamorous and trade had been brisk; and

a bag of small money, the fruits of his merchandise, hung within the

folds of his gaberdine.

Weary with going to and fro in the burning streets, Abdulla seated

himself under a palm tree, the last of a long line that ran down to the

pool where the skins were filled. Resting his back against the cool side

of the tree, the setting sun being behind him, he drew forth his bag and

counted his coins. "One more journey," he said to himself, "and the bag

will be full. Zobeida shall have sweetmeats to-morrow."

The pleasing thought lingered in his mind; fled for a moment and then

returned; Abdulla saw the shop of the infidel Greek, with boxes of

chocolate in the window; he saw himself inside making his choice among

innumerable boxes, and holding the bag of money in his hand. Then his

head fell forward on his chest and he was asleep.

The plunge into sleep had been so sudden, and its duration was so brief,

that no memory of it was left, and Abdulla knew not that he had slept

nor the moment when he awaked. Fluctuating images rose and wavered and

vanished; and then, as though in answer to a signal, the incoherence

ceased, the forms became defined, and a steady stream of consciousness

began to flow.

He was conscious of the figure of a man in the foreground whose presence

he had not previously noticed. The man was sitting motionless on a low

rock less than a stone-cast distant, and close to the river's brim; and

he seemed to be watching the still flow of the stream. A moment later he

stood upright, turned round, and crossed the fifty paces of sand that

lay between him and Abdulla.

As the man drew nearer, Abdulla observed that he bore a bewildering

resemblance to himself. Not many minutes before he had been looking at

his own reflection in a small pocket mirror which he had purchased that

morning from a Jew as a present for Zobeida; and as he had looked at the

image, still thinking of Zobeida, he wished that God had bestowed upon

him a countenance of nobler cast. The face he now saw before him was the

face he had just seen in the mirror, with the nobler cast introduced;

and Abdulla, noticing the difference as well as the resemblance, was

afraid.

"Depart from me, O my master," said he, "for I am a man of no account."

And he bowed himself to the ground.

"Rise," said the other, "and make haste; for the sun is low, and scarce

an hour remains for thy merchandise. Dip thy water-skin into the stream;

and, as thou dippest, think on the hour of thy death, when the

All-merciful will dip into the river of thy life, and thou shalt sleep

for the twinkling of an eye, and know not when thou awakest, and there

shall be no mark left on thee, even as no mark is left on the river when

thou hast filled thy water-skin from its abundance."

"I know not what thou sayest," said Abdulla, "for I am a poor man and

ignorant."

"Thou art young," said the other, "and there is time for thee to learn.

Hear, then, and I will enlighten thee. Everything hath its double, and

the double is redoubled again. To this world there is a next before and

a next after, and to each next a nearest, through a counting that none

can complete. Worlds without end lie enfolded one within another like

the petals of a rose; and as the fragrance of one petal penetrates and

intermingles with the fragrance of all the rest, so is the vision of the

world thou seest now blended with the vision of that which was and of

that which is to come. And I tell thee, O thou seller of water, that

between this world and its next fellow the difference is so faint that

none save the enlightened can discern it. A man may live a thousand

lives, as thou hast already done, and dream but of one. Again thou shalt

sleep and again thou shalt awake, and the world of thy sleeping shall

differ from the world of thy waking no more than thy full water-skin

differs from itself when two drops of water have fallen from its mouth."

"Thou speakest like a devotee," answered Abdulla. "The matter of thy

discourse is utterly beyond me, save for that thou sayest concerning the

dipping of the water-skin. There thy thought is as the echo of mine own.

But know that I am ashamed in thy presence; and again I entreat thee to

depart." And Abdulla bowed himself as before.

"Do, then, as I bid thee," said the man; "dip thy skin in the water of

the flowing river, think on the hour of thy death, and forget not as

thou dippest to pronounce the name of God."

Then Abdulla rose up and did what he was commanded to do. While he was

dipping the skin he tried to think of the hour of his death; but he

could think only of the words, and dying seemed to him a thing of

naught; for he was young and Zobeida was fair. Nevertheless, when he had

lifted the full skin from the river, and saw that his taking left no

mark, an old thought came back to him, and for the thousandth time he

began to wonder at the ways of flowing water. "Only God can understand

them," he murmured. "May the Compassionate have mercy upon the

ignorant!"

Then he adjusted the burden on his back and turned to the palm-belt. But

the stranger was gone.

As one who walks in sleep, Abdulla retraced the path on which for more

than half the year he came and went three or four times a day. Now he

pondered the words of his visitant; now the image of flowing water rose

and glided before the inner eye.

He passed under the gate of the city without noting where he was. But

here a sudden jostle interrupted his reverie. A man driving a string of

donkeys thrust him against the wall, cursing him as he passed. Abdulla

looked up and, when he heard the curses, repeated the name of God as a

protection against evil.

Re-settling the water-skin in the position from which it had been

displaced by the collision with the donkey, he took up the thread of his

musing and went on. He thought of Zobeida, of the Cadi, of the contract

of marriage, of the sweetmeats he would purchase on the morrow, of the

shop of the Greek. But again his reverie was broken; this time by the

sound of his own voice. The cry of his trade had burst automatically

from his lips: "Water; sweet water! Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come

and buy!"

A vision lay before him, and he seemed to be gazing at it from a point

in mid-air. He saw a street in Damascus; the crowd is coming and going,

the merchants are in their shops, and some are crying their wares. Close

by the door of a house a boy is holding forth a wooden bowl, and in

front of him a water-seller is in the act of opening his water-skin.

Abdulla watches the filling of the bowl, and sees the man put forth his

hand to take the coin the boy is offering. The man touches the coin and

instantly becomes Abdulla himself! Abdulla closes his water-skin and

replaces it on his back, not without a momentary sense of bewilderment.

He observes also that some of the water is spilt on the ground. But he

has no memory of the spilling.

Abdulla would fain have questioned himself. But he found no question to

ask and could not begin the interrogation. Something seemed to have

disturbed him, but so completely had it vanished that he could give the

disturbance neither form nor name. Otherwise the chain of his memory was

unbroken. He had finished his last round for the day; scarce a cup of

water remained in the skin, and as he flung the flaccid thing over his

shoulder he began to recall, one by one, the names and faces of his

customers, forty in all, reflecting with satisfaction that the last

skinful had brought him the best gains of the day. Then he remembered

the driver of donkeys who had thrust him against the wall, and,

examining the skin, found that it was frayed almost to bursting. And

Abdulla uttered a curse on the driver and turned homewards.

His road lay through narrow streets, crowded with people, and as he

passed down one of them a veiled woman cried to him from the door of a

hovel.

"O compassionate water-seller, I have two children within who are sore

athirst, for the fever is burning them. Give them, I pray thee, a

mouthful of water, and Allah shall recompense thee in Paradise."

"Woman," said Abdulla, "there is less water in the skin than would

suffice to cool the tongue of a soul in hell. Nevertheless, what I have

I will give thee." And he lowered the mouth of his water-skin into the

woman's bowl.

Not a drop came forth. In vain Abdulla shook the skin and pressed the

corners between the palms of his hands. Then, discovering what had

happened, he began to curse and to swear.

"By the beard of the Prophet," he cried, "the skin has burst! A driver

of donkeys, begotten of Satan, thrust me against the wall at the

entering in of the city, and frayed the water-skin. And now, by the

permission of God, the heat has dried up the remnant of the water and

cracked the skin, thus completing the work of the Deviser of Mischief.

Alas, alas! for the skin was borrowed. And to-morrow restitution will be

demanded, for the lender is likewise a son of the Devil, and the bowels

of mercy are not within him."

"Verily thou raisest a great cry for a small evil," said the woman.

"Bethink thee of them who are perishing with thirst, and hold thy

peace."

"Nay, but I am mindful of them," said Abdulla; "for had not the

water-skin been burst, I would have had the wherewithal to give them to

drink. But know, O mother of sorrows, that the motives of mankind are of

a mixed nature, especially when grief oppresseth them. And my griefs are

greater than thou deemest. Woe is me! Behold this bag of money, and

raise thy voice with mine in lamentation over the miseries of the

unfortunate. A damsel, more beautiful than the full moon seen beyond the

summits of waving palms, is at this hour hungering for the sweetmeats of

the infidel, even as the children of thy body are thirsting for water;

and within this bag is the money which, by the favour of Allah, would

have purchased abundance of all that she desireth. But ere to-morrow's

sun has risen from the edge of the desert, four coins out of every five

will be claimed as damages by the lender of the skin (whom may the

Prophet utterly reject!), the rest being reserved for the daily food

which the All-merciful provides for his creatures. And the damsel will

sit in the corner of the house, rocking her goodly body, which was

created for the angels to gaze upon; and she will bite her hands and

beat them on the wall, and wail for the sweetmeats that come not, and

curse the name of Abdulla, the breaker of vows!"

"Most excellent of water-sellers," said the woman, "many are the damsels

in this city addicted to the sweetmeats of the infidel, and of those

that are beautiful as the full moon beyond the waving palms there are

not a few. Thy description, therefore, availeth not for the

identification of thy beloved. Describe her more narrowly, I beseech

thee, that hereafter, when my children are dead, I may bring her the

balm of consolation. For I am afflicted in her woes; and between women

in sorrow there is ever a bond."

"Yea, verily," answered Abdulla. "I will so describe my beloved that

thou shall recognise her among ten thousand. Know, then, that her form

is like unto a minaret of ivory built by the Waters of Silence in a

king's garden; her eyes are as lighted lamps in the house of the

Enchanter; the flowing of her hair is a troop of wild horses pursued by

Bedouin in the wilderness of Arabia; and the fragrance of her coming is

like an odour of precious nards wafted on the evening breeze from the

Islands of Wak-Wak."

"O Abdulla," replied the other, "of a truth I know this damsel. And now

I perceive that the Devourer of Bliss hath taken thee in his net and

multiplied thy sorrows upon thy head. But forget not the grief of this

thy handmaid, and the suffering of those she has nursed at the breast.

Hear even now the wailing that is within! Lo, a worker of spells has

sent destruction among us, and the sickness is sore in the habitations

of the poor. Press, then, thy skin once more, if peradventure Allah may

have left there one drop of water, that the mouth of the little ones may

be moistened before they die. And add a curse, I pray thee, on the

Worker of Spells; for the Giver of Gifts hath made thy tongue of great

alacrity, and taught thee the putting-together of wise judgments and the

rounding-off of memorable sayings."

By this time a crowd, attracted by the cries and the cursing, had

gathered round the speakers, and so thick was the press that Abdulla had

much ado to move his hands that he might press the water-skin as he was

bidden.

"O wise and much-enduring woman," he cried, "I greatly fear me that thy

prayer is vain. But I will even do as thou biddest, if only these

foolish ones will make room that I may pass my hands craftily over the

skin. Thereafter I will add a goodly curse on the worker of spells, and

at the last thou and I and all this multitude will wail and lament

together, that the heart of the All-merciful may be moved to pity and

his will turned to work us good."

So spake Abdulla, and the crowd began to give way. But, behold, a

marching squad of soldiery, going to the war, with drums beating and

bayonets all aflash, suddenly swings down the street, filling its whole

breadth from side to side. Instantly the crowd backs, and Abdulla and

the woman, separated from one another, are swept along as driftwood by

the torrent. Arrived in the open space into which the street discharged,

Abdulla rushes hither and thither in search of the woman, examining

every face in the crowd, and raising himself on tiptoe that he may look

over their heads. But the woman is nowhere to be seen.

Perturbed by the sudden disappearance of the woman, Abdulla turned once

more into the homeward way. Before he had taken many steps it occurred

to him to examine the rent in his water-skin. Standing quite still and

holding the skin at arm's length before him, he gazed intently at the

small hole, about the size of an olive-stone, which had resulted from

the donkey-driver's assault. As he thus gazed, the incident which had so

abruptly terminated a few minutes before seemed to retreat into the

distant past. Then it became a story, heard he knew not where, about a

water-seller who lived long ago. Next, it seemed a dream of the night

before, the details of which he could not recall. Finally, it vanished

from his memory altogether.

Abdulla, realising that it was gone, turned quickly and found, with some

surprise, that he was standing in front of a large shop with plate-glass

windows, behind which were boxes of chocolate arranged in rows. A

mirror--at least it seemed so to Abdulla,--of equal length with the shop

front, was set at the back and doubled the objects in the window.

The sight of the sweetmeats instantly brought back the memory of his

misfortunes, and, in so doing, gave an occasion to the Tempter.

"I will conceal what has happened from the lender of the skin," thought

Abdulla. "I will insert a cunning patch, which will assuredly burst so

soon as the skin is filled with water, and I will then swear by God and

the Prophet that the skin was patched when I borrowed it. And now I will

go in and bargain with the infidel for yonder box, the circumference

whereof is wide as the belly of a well-fattened sheep."

Raising his eyes from the great box of chocolates, Abdulla's attention

was strangely arrested by the reflection of his own face and figure in

the mirror at the back of the shop front. He noted, with a start, the

unwonted dignity of the figure as thus presented, and immediately

recalled the man who had accosted him but lately by the Water-sellers'

Pool.

Abdulla gazed on what was before him, and thought thus within himself,

"Of a truth I knew not that Allah had bestowed so dignified a

countenance on the least worthy of his servants. The eyes are the eyes

of eagles; the nose is a promontory looking seawards; the brow is a

tower of brass built for defence at the gateway of a kingdom. Verily,

the mirror of Zobeida must have been at fault. Surely God hath now

provided me, in my own countenance, with the means of endearment, and

the sweetmeats of the infidel are needed not. Moreover, it becometh not

one thus favoured to deal crookedly with the followers of the Prophet.

Is Abdulla a man of violence, as the driver of the donkey; or a man of

no bowels, as the lender of the skin? Is he an accursed Greek or a more

accursed Armenian that he should play the cheat with his neighbour,

inserting a cunning patch, which will assuredly produce leakage and make

the rent worse than before? God forbid! Abdulla is a man of pure

occupation, even as yonder image reveals him. Nevertheless, it may be

that the Author of Deception has fashioned a lying picture in the

mirror, that he may cause me to forgo the purchase of the box, and undo

me with the beloved, who will soil her cheeks with rivers of tears, and

rock her body in the corner of the house. Go to, now; I will see whether

the Evil One be not hidden behind the mirror; or if, perchance, there be

not here some witchcraft contrivance of the Franks."

So thinking, Abdulla stepped into the entry of the shop, that he might

examine the back of the mirror. What was his astonishment on discovering

that there was no mirror at all, the boxes of chocolate he had taken for

reflections being just as real as all the rest!

The Greek proprietor, suspecting him to be a thief, rushed out to

apprehend him. He was too late, for Abdulla had fled into the darkness.

* * * * *

The sudden night had fallen; aloft, in a firmament of violet-black, the

great stars were shining, and the city was still.

Pursuing his way, Abdulla found himself in front of a lofty house with a

solitary latticed window immediately beneath the roof. It was the

appointed hour. Presently a handkerchief was waved from between the

lattice, and the soft voice of a woman began to speak.

"O Abdulla, my beloved," said the voice, "though it be dark in the

street, yet there is a light round about thee so that I can see thy

countenance as if it were noonday. Wherefore hast thou anointed thyself

with radiance, and made thyself to shine like the sons of the morning?

Where hast thou been? For thy fashion is passing strange, and my heart

turns to water at the sight of thee."

"I have been," said Abdulla, "in the company of the wise, who have

taught me the way of understanding, and shown me all knowledge, and

opened the dark things that are hidden in the secret parts of the earth.

All day have I conversed with enlightened and honourable men, and they

have made me the chief of their company and the father of their sect."

"Begone, then," answered the woman, "for I know thee not, and thy

comeliness makes me afraid. I had deemed that thou wert Abdulla, the

seller of water; and I am even now prepared to let down a basket that he

may place therein the thing for which my soul is an hungered, even the

sweetmeats of the infidel, which I would then draw up again with a cord

of silk, and be refreshed after my manner. But as for the ways of

understanding, thou mayest tread them alone, and the opening up of that

which is hidden is a thing that my soul hateth."

"O thou that speakest behind the lattice," said Abdulla, "thy discourse

is of matters that lack importance in the eyes of the sagacious. I

perceive thou art possessed by a demon, and surmise that the Whetter of

Appetite is leading thee in the path of destruction. Retire, therefore,

to thy inner chamber, and recite quickly the Seven Exorcisms and the Two

Professions of Faith."

"O Abdulla, if indeed thou art he," replied the voice, "I discern thou

art contending for a purpose. Peradventure, the eyes of the wanton have

entangled thee in the way, and thou hast bestowed on another that which,

when thy heart was upright, thou designedst for me. Come now and prove

thine integrity, for I will presently let down the basket that thou

mayest fill it with the delicacies of the Franks."

"Thou fallest deeper into the snares of the demon," said Abdulla, "and

thy voice soundeth afar off, even as the voice of one crying for water

from the flames of the nethermost pit. Know that he to whom thou

speakest is of them that walk in the light; and what have these to do

with the delicacies of the Franks? Verily, I understand not thy topic,

having heard but a rumour thereof among the conversations of the

ignorant."

"O despiser of the knowledge that sweetens life," said the woman,

"verily, I deem thee a man of limited information and degenerate wit.

But hearken unto my words, and I will enlighten thee concerning the

topic of our discourse, that ignorance may excuse thee no further. Know,

then, that the delicacies of the Franks are of many kinds, arranged in

boxes that are tied with silver cords. And the chief of them all is a

thing of two natures, cunningly blended, whereof one nature appertaineth

to the outer shell, and the other to the inner substance. The outer

shell tasteth bitter, and the colour is of the second degree of

blackness, like unto the skin of the Ethiopian eunuch. The inner

substance is sweeter than the honeycomb, and white as the wool of

Helbon, interspersed with all manner of nuts. This is the chief among

the delicacies of the Franks; and such is the marvel of the blending of

the natures that the palate knoweth neither the bitterness of the shell,

nor the sweetness of the kernel, but a third flavour of more eminent

rank, to which Allah hath appointed no name. Hie thee, therefore, O man

of no excuse, and buy from them that sell."

"That for which thou askest," said Abdulla, "is utterly beneath the

dignity of the enlightened to give thee. Ask for the wisdom of the

ancients and thou shalt have it. Ask for the revelation of things

hidden, and it shall be accorded thee. But the delicacies of the

Franks, cunningly blended as to their two natures, and arranged in boxes

that are tied with silver cords, shalt thou in no wise receive."

"O raiser of false expectations," cried the lady, "and betrayer of her

that has trusted thee, among all the sons of Adam there is none more

utterly contemptible than thou. In the dignity of thy carriage thou

appearest unto me as a thing abhorred; I like not thy wisdom; I have no

fellowship with thy knowledge, and I despise the insolent shining of thy

inner light."

"O woman of a light mind and a debased appetite," said Abdulla, "thy

wits have gone astray, and thou babblest like one asleep, confounding

the things that are not with the things that are. Abdulla, the

water-seller, of whom thou speakest, is long numbered with the dead, and

the waters of forgetfulness have flowed over his record. Only this day I

heard afar off the last rumour which the world hath concerning him. And

this was the rumour: that, on a day, perceiving one athirst in the

byways, Abdulla gave him freely three drops of water from the dregs of

his water-skin, thereby earning the favour of Allah (whose name he

exalted!) and the promise of Paradise. But going forth in the way he met

a man having the Evil Eye; and lo, it straightway entered into the heart

of Abdulla to fill his water-skin with the sweetmeats of the infidel,

that he might find favour in the eyes of a frivolous woman--even one

such as thou art. And God (than whom there is no other!), being angered

at the folly of Abdulla, made a hole in the skin, and sent forth the

Terminator of Delights to end his days. So the water-seller died, and

the weight of his water-skin, laden with sweetmeats, went forth with his

soul. And this, being heavy, dragged him down to the place of darkness,

where the sweetmeats fell out through the hole in the skin and were

eaten of devils."

At this the woman banged-to the lattice and disappeared.

Abdulla started at the sound of the closing lattice. He was in a

standing posture on the roof of his house. The mat on which he slept was

tossed into a heap, and the empty water-skin, which served him for a

pillow, had been thrown some yards from its place. Abdulla looked over

the parapet eastwards; and he saw the desert rose-red in the dawn.

For a long time Abdulla walked to and fro on the roof of his house

pondering the things that had happened to him both in the day and the

night. To piece the story together was no easy matter, for there were

gaps in his memory, and, though some of the incidents were clear, others

were perplexingly dim. Moreover, the incidents that were clear seemed to

change places with those that were dim, so that the line between his

dreams and his waking experiences was now in one place and now in

another. He could not be sure, for example, that the fraying of his

water-skin belonged to the one class rather than the other, and so rapid

was the transition from conviction to doubt that he examined the skin

no less than five times to satisfy himself the hole was there.

The longer he meditated on these things the greater became his confusion

of mind, and by the time the sun was fully risen from the desert he was

well-nigh distracted and beginning to doubt of his own identity. In vain

did he repeat the Seven Exorcisms, the Four Prayers, the Tecbir, the

Adan, and the Two Professions of Faith, calling on the name of Allah

between the exercises, and extolling His majesty every time. At last

Abdulla began to wring his hands and to cry aloud like one bereft of

intelligence.

While thus lamenting, it suddenly seemed to him that one from a far

distance was calling him by name. Checking his cries, he listened. The

voice came nearer and nearer, and presently broke out in familiar tones

at his very side.

"What aileth thee, O Abdulla?" said the voice. "Hast thou partaken of

the intoxicating drug? Has the Evil Eye encountered thee? Or sufferest

thou from a visitation of God?"

"O my mother," answered Abdulla, "there is none else besides thee under

heaven who can ease my pain and give me counsel in my perplexity. The

sound of thy voice is to me like running waters to him that perisheth of

thirst. Know that a great bewilderment has overtaken me, so that I

discern no more the things that are not from the things that are."

"That which was foreordained has come to pass," said the woman. "Thou

wast marked on thy forehead in the hour of thy birth; and I saw it, and

knew that things hidden from the foundation of the earth would be

revealed unto thee. Lo, the mark is on thy forehead still. O Abdulla, my

son, thou art no longer a seller of water, but a seer of the Inner

Substance, and divulger of secrets."

"O my mother," said Abdulla, "I know not what thou sayest. The Inner

Substance is a thing whereof I have never heard, and there is no secret

that I can divulge. Only a dream of the night season has troubled me,

and even now it seemeth to mingle with the things that God makes

visible, so that the desert floats like a yellow cloud, and thine own

form undulates before me like the morning mist."

"Thy confusion," said the woman, "is caused by the intermingling of the

worlds, which few among the sons of men are permitted to note; and the

undulations that bewilder thee are made by the river of Time. What thou

seest is the passing of that which was into that which is, and of that

which is into that which is to be. But rouse thy mind quickly, O my son,

and betake thyself on the instant to a skilful Interpreter of Dreams,

that the matter be resolved."

"I hear and obey," said Abdulla; and he ran down the steps of his house

into the street.

As he passed through the door, Selim the courier called to him from the

other side.

"O thou that dwellest alone," cried Selim, "hast thou taken to thyself a

wife? Has Zobeida proved gracious?"

"Nay, verily," answered Abdulla. "I have broken a vow and Zobeida

rejecteth me utterly. And know, O Selim, that I am a man sore troubled

with dreams in the night season, so that a spirit of amazement hath

possessed me, and I discern not the light from the darkness, nor the

shadow from the substance."

"Thou tellest a strange thing," said Selim. "Nevertheless, I heard thee

speaking scarce a moment gone with one on the roof."

"My mother was come from the lower parts of the house to comfort me,"

said Abdulla, "and it was with her that I spake."

"Verily, thou art bewitched," answered the other. "More than twenty

years have passed since thy mother entered into the Mercy of God, and

her body is dust within the tomb."

Abdulla's answer was a piteous cry. He leaned for support against the

wall of his house, spreading out his hands like one who would save

himself from falling.

"O Selim," he cried, "I am encompassed with forgetfulness, and my heart

is eradicated within me. Said I not unto thee that I discern no more

between the darkness and the light, between the shadow and the

substance? But I swear to thee, by the beard of the Prophet, that she

with whom I spake was the mother who bore me. She stretched out her arms

towards me and touched the mark on my forehead, and bade me hasten to

the Interpreter of Dreams that the matter might be resolved."

"It is a sign from Allah," said Selim; "and I doubt not that thou wilt

die the death at the hand of the infidel and be received into Paradise.

For know that thou hast been called two days ago, and the sergeant is

even now seeking for thee."

"That also I had forgotten," said Abdulla. "I will hasten forthwith to

the Interpreter of Dreams, and thereafter I will report me to the

sergeant. And the rest shall be as Allah willeth."

And Abdulla passed on his way to the Interpreter of Dreams.

* * * * *

Suddenly he realised that his path was blocked by a crowd, and looking

up he saw above him, on the other side of the street, the lattice of

Zobeida. "Verily," he thought, "I have made a long circuit; for this

house lieth not in the way."

Loud cries were coming from the house, mingled with curses and the sound

of hands beaten against the wall. As soon as Abdulla appeared, one of

the crowd called out towards the lattice:

"O woman that cursest in the darkness, come now to the light, that we

may hear thy maledictions more plainly, and be refreshed by the beauty

of thy countenance. Lo, he who is thy enemy passeth even now beneath the

window. Come forth, then, and the sight of him shall be as a fire in thy

bones, inspiring thy tongue to the invention of disastrous epithets and

calamitous imprecations. And we, on our part, will hold him fast, even

the accursed Abdulla, that he run not away till his destiny is

pronounced and his doom completed."

At this the lattice was burst open, and Zobeida, tearing aside her veil,

displayed a countenance of wrath. Her hair was dishevelled, her cheeks

were soiled with ashes and tears, her eyes were like coals of fire, and

her voice hissed and rang like the sword of a slayer in the day of

battle.

"O Abdulla," she cried, "of a truth thou art the Emperor of liars and

the Sultan of rogues. May the Abaser of Pride rub thy nose in the dust!"

"O my mistress," answered Abdulla, "impose upon thyself, I beseech thee,

the obligation of good manners."

"Dog and son of a dog----" cried Zobeida. But Abdulla heard no more. A

distant confusion of sounds had arisen. It drew nearer with amazing

rapidity, and finally broke forth into the tramp of marching feet, the

rumbling of wheels, and the booming of a drum. The houses melted away,

the sound of Zobeida's voice grew fainter and fainter, and the knot of

bystanders was gone.

Abdulla sprang to attention and looked about him. He was in the main

street of the city, and opposite was the house of the Interpreter of

Dreams. Coming down the street was a regiment of Turkish infantry, with

a battery of guns following behind. And a dim memory passed, like a

swift shadow, over the mind of Abdulla.

For an instant he was bemused, and one who passed by heard him muttering

broken words. "The long way round," he murmured; "the lattice of

Zobeida--a caravan of camels laden with sweetmeats--dog and the son of a

dog." Then a wind passed over his face, and it seemed to him that he had

been thinking foolishly. "Well for me," he replied, "that I went not

round by the house of Zobeida. For the time is short and I too am

called." And with that he crossed over, making haste that he might reach

the other side before the marching column blocked the street.

The house of the Interpreter was built after the European fashion, and

on the door was a large brass knocker after the manner of the Franks.

Abdulla stretched forth his hand, and was about to raise the knocker

when one plucked him by the sleeve. Turning round he saw a man in the

uniform of an officer of artillery.

"Wherefore hast thou not reported thyself?" said the officer. "Thy name

was called two days ago, and verily thou runnest a risk of being shot."

"O my master, a bewilderment hath overtaken me," said Abdulla, "so that

I forget all things and know not the day from the night. Lo, even now, I

seek the Interpreter of Dreams that the matter may be resolved."

"Thou art in a way to have thy dreams interpreted by a bullet through

the brain," said the officer. "Leave then thy dreaming and hold thy

peace; or, by Allah, I will proclaim thy cowardice forthwith and order

thy arrest. Fall in!"

Abdulla had no choice. A moment later he was marching in step with a

squad of reservists who followed in the rear of the guns.

As the column passed down the street a veiled woman stepped out from the

edge of the crowd, and, taking three paces by the side of Abdulla,

whispered in his ear:

"Play the man."

* * * * *

They were now at the station, entraining for the seat of war. The

carriages were crowded with shouting soldiery, and many, unable to find

room within, had clambered on the roofs. Among these was Abdulla,

crouching silent.

Suddenly a man in European costume forced his way along the platform and

called him by name.

"Art thou Abdulla, the water-seller of Damascus?" said the man.

"I am he."

"Come down, then, that I may speak with thee. And hasten, for the time

is short."

"Stay thou behind and let these go," said the European, when Abdulla had

descended from the roof. "I will purchase thy release from the Pasha.

Nay, the matter is already arranged, and none of these will hinder thee

if thou stayest."

"And wherefore should I do this?" asked Abdulla.

"For a weighty and good reason," said the European. "Know that the fame

of thee has reached to London, to Paris, to New York. Thou art spoken

of as one who hath a power upon thee which may aid in opening up the

things that have been hidden from the foundation of the earth. And the

probers of secrets have sent me that I may search thee out, and engage

thee at a great salary, and take thee with me to the seats of the

learned and the cities of the West."

"Thou art in error," said Abdulla, "for power such as thou speakest of

belongeth not to me. Of a truth, I am one who walketh in a great

bewilderment, and the spirit of forgetfulness hath overpowered me. But

withal I am a common man, of whom Allah hath created millions, and it

was but yesterday I was seeking the Interpreter of Dreams, that I might

pay him the fee and have the matter resolved."

"I am the Interpreter of Dreams whom thou soughtest," said the other,

"and I dwell in the house built in the European fashion, with the great

knocker of brass, after the manner of the Franks."

"Thy name?" said Abdulla.

"My name is Professor----"--but an escape of steam from the panting

locomotive drowned the next word,--"and I am come from London to fetch

thee."

"I go not with thee," said Abdulla, "for thou seemest to be one whom the

Deluder of Intelligence is leading astray. I have but dreams to tell

thee; and if thou wantest dreams, hast thou none of thine own? Verily, a

dream is but a little thing."

"Thou errest," shouted the other--for Abdulla had now climbed back on to

the roof,--"a dream is a thing more wonderful than aught else the

Creator hath appointed, and there is none among the sons of Adam who

understandeth the coming and the going thereof. But if thou wilt come

with me----"

The Interpreter broke off in the middle of his sentence, for the train

was moving out of the station, and he saw that Abdulla could no longer

hear the words.

* * * * *

The battery to which Abdulla was attached lay in a hollow to the rear of

the main battle, awaiting orders to take up a position in the front. It

was the first time he had been under fire. Dead bodies, horridly

mangled, lay around, and a straggling throng of wounded men, some

silent, some unmanned by agony, and all terrible to look upon, was

passing by. As Abdulla saw these things, the fear of death grew strong

within him. His body trembled and his face was blanched.

Seeing his state his companions began to deride him. Presently a gaily

dressed officer, passing where he was, paused in front of him, and

drawing a small mirror from his pocket held it in front of the trembling

man, and said:

"Look in this, O Abdulla, and thou wilt see the face of a coward."

Abdulla looked in the mirror and saw there the very face which had

confronted him not long ago in the shop window of the Greek.

The soldiers around him burst into a roar of laughter as Abdulla looked

in the mirror; but he heard them not.

He was busy in inward colloquy. "O thou that tremblest in thy body," he

was saying to himself, "O Abdulla the coward, hearken unto me. Behold

yon rider coming swiftly, and know, O thou craven carcase, that he

bringeth the order to advance. Thinkest thou to stay behind, and then

run away stealthily, and get thee back to thy water-selling in Damascus

and to thy dallyings with a woman? Yea, verily, thou thinkest it; and

even now contrivest within thyself how thou mayest steal away and not be

seen. But know thou that I who speak to thee will suffer not thy

cowardice. I will force thee presently to carry thy trembling limbs to

yonder line, whence come these whom thou seest in their pain. Thither

will I take thee, and I will hold thee fast in a place where death

cometh to four of every five. Not a step backward shalt thou go. Nay,

rather, I will blow a flame through thy nostrils into the marrow of thy

bones, driving thee forward, until I have thee firm in the very hottest

of the fire. See, the signal rises! Hark, the trumpet sounds! Up then,

thou quaking carrion, for thy hour is come.--Well done! Those behind

thee are taking note that thou tremblest no more! By Allah, I have

conquered thee and have thee utterly in my power!"

Every man was in his place. Abdulla, firm and ready, the rebuking voice

now silent within him, sat on the leading gun-horse; the traces that

bound it to the gun were already taut, and the whip-hand of the driver

was aloft in air. The word is given, the whips descend, and the whole

thundering train of men and beasts, with Abdulla at its head, sweeps

forward to the place of sacrifice.

* * * * *

The battle was lost, and the long ridge on which Abdulla's battery had

been posted was carpeted with dead and dying men. A pall of yellow

smoke, broken from moment to moment by the flashes of exploding

shrapnel, hung over the ridge, and a blazing house immediately behind

the position shed a copper-coloured glare over the appalling scene. A

cold and cursed rain was falling, and stricken men, in extremities of

thirst, were lapping pools of water defiled with their own blood.

Of the twelve guns that formed the battery, all were dismantled save

one, and by this there stood a solitary man, the only upright figure

from end to end of the ridge. It was Abdulla. For five hours he had done

his duty untouched by shot, shell, or bayonet. He had continued the

service of his gun till the last round of ammunition was expended; and

when a cry arose among the survivors that they should save themselves,

he had watched the last stragglers depart and refused to stir from his

post. And now he stood inactive and motionless, alone in a

copper-coloured wilderness of agony and death.

Twice the enemy had attempted by desperate charges to storm the hill,

and, save for the lull in the artillery fire which preceded these

attacks, the work of death had hardly ceased for a moment. Even now it

still went on, slaying those who were half slain. Unable to see clearly

the state of things on the ridge, or behind it, and unaware that the

defence was totally annihilated, the enemy had hardly slackened his

fire. Scores of shrapnel were bursting overhead, and the singing of the

rifle bullets was like the hum of bees in swarming time. As the shells

exploded and the pitiless missiles came thrashing down, Abdulla noticed

how, after each explosion, some portion of the human carpet would toss

and undulate for a moment, as though the wind had got under it, and then

subside again into its place. The numbness and exhaustion of other

faculties had liberated his powers of observation, and at that moment

they were abnormally acute.

Fear, even the memory of fear, had long departed, and of mental distress

there was none, save a sense of immobility and powerlessness, such as a

man may have in an ugly dream. Abdulla leaned on the wheel of the

gun-carriage, gazing on the scene around him as a spectacle to be

studied; and he watched the shells bursting overhead with no more

concern than he would have felt for a passing flight of birds. He was

aware of his utter loneliness, and now and then a slight stir of

self-compassion would ripple the lucid depths of his consciousness. With

a certain repugnance, also, he noticed the copper-coloured light, which

shed its glare in every direction as far as he could see.

The tensest hours of his life, during which he had exerted his body with

furious energy, and his senses had been incessantly assailed with every

kind of shock, had ended in a feeling, amounting almost to conviction,

that the events in which he had participated, the deeds he had done, and

the spectacle now before him were the tissue of a dream.

Blustering facts that bludgeon and bombard the senses, often provoke us,

by the very violence of their self-announcement, to suspect them as

illusory. Reality is a low-voiced, soft-footed thing; a mean between two

extremes, clothed at all times in the garments of modesty and reserve,

which neither strives nor cries nor lifts up its voice in the streets.

But when the gods are drunk and the heavens in uproar, and the thing

called "fact" is unrestrained, ranting and storming about the stage like

an ill-mannered actor--then it is that the cup begins to pass away from

us, and a still small voice whispers within that the whole performance

is a masquerade.

Thus had it happened to Abdulla. Dreamer as he was, he had never yet

been able to detect himself in the act of dreaming. But now the waking

state was over-wakeful, and at the very moment when each nerve in his

body was strung to utmost tension, and the sense organs in full

commission, and fact in its most brutal form thundering on the gates of

his mind, there came to him a calm that was more than vacancy, a

conviction that he was in the land of dreams, and a peaceful

foreshadowing that he would soon awake.

"And yet," he thought, "it is weary work, this waiting for the spell to

break. Ha, that one would have done it, had I stood a span further to

the left! Why cannot they wake me? Are not a hundred pieces of artillery

sufficient to rouse one solitary man from his dreams? Stay! What if I am

wakened already? And what if this be hell? If so, is it so much worse

than earth? But please Allah that I stand not thus for all eternity,

waiting for the dream to pass. Ah! I was hit that time"--and he put his

hand to the region of his heart. "A mere graze. Perhaps the next will do

better. Allah send me a thing to do! Ho, thou Selim! Hast thou life in

thee to stand upright and do a thing? I saw thee raise thyself a moment

ago. If thou hast strength, bestir thyself a little, and thou and I will

find another round, and fire a last shot before we pass."

Selim the courier was lying behind the gun with a dozen others, dead or

wounded to death. Abdulla had hardly finished speaking when a shrapnel

burst over the heap, and Selim, who had been lying face downward on the

top, flung himself round in the last agony. As the bullets struck, the

whole heap seemed to disperse, the bodies spreading outward into a ring

with a hollow space in the midst.

Then Abdulla saw a thing that caused his heart to leap for joy. Lying in

the hollow made by the dispersion of the bodies was a round of

ammunition which some man had been carrying at the moment he was

stricken down, and which had hitherto been covered up by the dead. At

the sight of it, a sudden inspiration fell like a thunderbolt upon

Abdulla's dream. The sense of immobility was gone. "By Allah, thou art

alive and awake!" he cried, addressing himself. "Quick, thou slave of a

body! Thou hast yet strength in thee to open the breech-piece of the

gun, and the cartridge is not so heavy but that these arms can lift it.

Up, then, and act!"

He sprang forward. Quick as thought he seized the cartridge and carried

his burden back to the gun.

Then he stretched forth his hand to grasp the lever which controlled the

mechanism of the breech. But before his fingers closed on the metal he

paused for the briefest instant to look around him. In one glance he

took in the whole scene in all its extent and detail--the long ridge

under the copper-coloured light, the carpet of moaning or silent forms,

the dead body of Selim, the dismantled guns, the valley below, the

enemy's position on the further side, and the red spurts of flame from

his artillery. He noted also that the rain had ceased and the setting

sun had broken through the cloud.

Then, on a sudden, the vast view seemed to fall away into an

immeasurable distance, and, as a landscape contracts when seen from the

wrong end of the telescope, drew inwards from its edges with incredible

rapidity until it occupied no more space than is enclosed by the

circumference of the smallest coin. And in the same flash of time it was

gone altogether.

As it went, Abdulla felt his fingers close on the cold metal.

They closed on the metal, and Abdulla saw without the least surprise

that the thing he held in his hand was the knocker of brass on the door

of the Interpreter of Dreams.

* * * * *

He knew no shock, asked himself no questions, perceived no breach of

continuity. He lifted the knocker, and its fall sounded in the street of

Damascus at the very instant that the boom of the bursting shell, which

had blown the water-seller to fragments, was reverberating over

Tchatalja.

Abdulla knocked. As he waited for the door to open he looked up and down

the street. He had arrived in Damascus overnight, and his surroundings

were yet strange to him. Nevertheless, as he continued to look at the

houses and the passers-by, a suspicion crossed his mind that he had been

in this place before. "Perhaps I have dreamed of such a place," he

thought. "But surely the face of yonder man is familiar. Where did I see

one like him? In Paris? In London? Ho thou, with the courier's badge on

thine arm! A word with thee."

The man paused at the doorstep, and Abdulla looked him full in the face.

Instantly his mind became confused, his tongue began to stammer, and he

heard himself speaking of he knew not what. "Hast thou life in thee?" he

said. "If so, bestir thyself and thou and I----" But the words broke

off, and Abdulla stood mouthing.

"Thou babblest like one intoxicated," said the man. "May Allah preserve

thy wits!" And he passed on.

The door opened, and Abdulla's mind became clear. A moment later he

stood in the presence of the Interpreter of Dreams.

"Who art thou?" said the Interpreter, "and what is the occasion of thy

coming?"

"I am a Cairene," said Abdulla, "born of Syrian parentage in this city,

but taken hence when I was an infant of five years. I am come to

Damascus for a purpose which thou and I have in common. I, too, am a

student of dreams."

"Of which kind?" asked the Interpreter. "For know that dreams are of two

kinds: dreams of the worlds that were, and dreams of the worlds that are

to be. Of which hast thou knowledge?"

"Of a world that was," said Abdulla.

"Thou hast chosen a thankless study," answered the other. "Few will

trust thy discoveries. For a thousand who will believe thee if thou

teachest of a world that is to be, there is scarce one who will listen

if thou speakest of a world that was. But tell me thy history, and name

thy qualifications."

"I have been educated in the Universities of the West," said Abdulla,

"and there I sat at the feet of one who taught me a doctrine which he

had learnt from a master of the ancient time. And the doctrine was this:

that worlds without end lie enfolded one within the other like the

petals of a rose; and the next world after differs from the next world

before no more than a full water-skin differs from itself when two drops

of water have fallen from its mouth. 'The world,' taught the master, 'is

a memory and a dream, and at every stage of its existence it beholds the

image of its past and the fainter image of its future reflected as in a

glass.'"

"And why makest thou the world that was before of more account than the

world that comes after?"

"I said not that I made it of more account," answered Abdulla, "but that

my knowledge was of this rather than of that. But know that I am a

dreamer of dreams, and it is the world before that my dreams have

revealed to me."

"Tell me thy dreams."

"It is of them that I came to speak with thee. There is one dream that

ever recurreth both in the day and the night. Seventy times seven have I

seen a frayed water-skin, having a hole in a certain part, no larger

than an olive-stone."

"That is a small matter," said the Interpreter, "and such things concern

us not. But I suspect that thou art not at the end of thy story. For,

verily, thou hast not travelled from the cities of the West to speak of

a thing so slight. Say, therefore, what has brought thee to Damascus."

"That also I would tell thee; for it is a matter to be pondered. Thou

art of the wise, and knowest, therefore, that there is a virtue in

places and a power in localities. In one, the light of the soul is

extinguished; in another, it is kindled; in one, the reason dies; in

another, the half-thought becomes a whole, and the doctrine that is

dimly apprehended becomes clear. Now, being in the city of Paris, I

conversed with one of the French who had visited the holy places of his

religion, where he had meditated in solitude and seen visions and

dreamed dreams; and I told him that I had a doctrine newly born, half

grown. 'O Abdulla,' he said, 'there is a virtue in places and a power in

localities. Go thou, therefore, to the city of Damascus, for that is a

place where, in days that are gone, the half-thought became a whole, and

the doctrine dimly apprehended became clear. Put thyself on the way to

Damascus and await the issue.'"

At these words the Interpreter rose from his seat and paced the room in

thought.

"The man of whom thou speakest," he said at length, "is known to me; and

many are they whom he has guided to this place. Rightly sayest thou that

there is a virtue in places and a power in localities. And here the

power still lingers which the world lost when mankind took to babbling.

Thy reason for coming hither is mine also. Seest thou not that I have

made my dwelling in the Street that is called Straight?"

"I see and understand," said Abdulla.

There was another pause, and again the Interpreter paced the room. Then

he resumed:

"Between thee and me there is need of little speech to attain a

comprehension, and the short sentence meaneth more than the long

explanation. Nevertheless, I would fain hear the rest of thy story.

Proceed then, and tell me of the dreams that came to thee on the way to

Damascus."

"On the way itself," said Abdulla, "there came no dreams. But this very

day I sat by the bank of the river, full of thought, and methinks sleep

overpowered me--though I know not. And there came a poor man carrying a

water-skin, and I, looking upon him, saw that his face was like unto

mine own, but marred by his toil and his poverty. And the man sat

himself down, leaning against a palm-tree on the side away from the sun,

and slept. Then I arose and stood before him, and expounded to him my

doctrine, and he seemed as one that saw and heard, though asleep. And

when his eyes were opened he saw me no more, but took up his water-skin

and filled it at the river, making mention of the name of God.

"I followed him into the city, and saw one thrust him against the wall

so that his water-skin was frayed. Thereafter the water-skin burst, and

a hole appeared in a certain part the size of an olive-stone, and the

remnant of the water flowed forth. But, passing a certain street, a

woman called to him to give her little ones to drink. And I, being hard

by, and seeming to know the woman, whispered to the man that he should

pass his hands craftily over the skin, if peradventure a drop remained

to moisten the lips of them that cried out for the thirst. But none

remained, and the man went on his way sorrowing.

"Then I lost him for a while; but as night fell I found him again,

standing in front of a glass window and meditating a thing that was

dishonest. And the man looking through the window saw me standing among

the goods that were in the shop. Whereupon he changed his design and

ran away.

"I wandered through the streets of the city, and passing by a certain

house, a frivolous woman looked out from a lattice and reviled me. I

understood not the things that she spake, and having answered the woman

I departed. Then I bethought me that she had taken me for another, and,

remembering that the face of the water-seller was like unto mine own, I

surmised that it was he.

"Suddenly, I know not how, I found myself in a place of battle, armed

like the rest, and, turning aside, I saw, standing among the harnessed

horses of a gun-team, the man whose water-selling I had watched in the

city. And the spirit of fear was upon him; his countenance was blanched

and his body all aquake; and I, ashamed that one who bore my own

semblance should stand disgraced among his fellows, rebuked him for his

cowardice; and methought I blew a fire through his nostrils into the

marrow of his bones. Then the man took courage and, mounting his horse

with alacrity, went forward with the bravest to the place of death.

"Thereafter I saw him no more. But this very hour, even as I lifted thy

knocker of brass, a great light shone round about me, a sound of thunder

shook the air, and a voice said, 'Lo! thy broken water-skin is mended

and full of water. Go forth, therefore, and give to them that are

athirst.' Whereupon it seemed to me that the half-thought became a

whole, and the doctrine that was dimly apprehended grew clear. And now I

am a man prepared to go forward, even as he was into whom I blew the

breath of courage on the field of death. A thing that was holding me

back is gone from me, and lo! I am free."

"Perchance one has ministered unto thee, even as thou didst minister to

that other in the hour when he was afraid," said the Interpreter.

"That may be," said Abdulla. "But did I not tell thee that as yet I have

no knowledge of the world that will be?"

"The knowledge awaits thee, and will begin from this hour," said the

Interpreter. "Most assuredly that which thou tellest is an image of the

world that was; and he that dreameth of the one world dreameth also in

due season of the other. But hearken now while I put thee to the

question; and if thou answerest according to thy doctrine, peradventure

the interpretation of thy vision will appear in the issue."

"Say on," said Abdulla.

"This, then, is the question. Thinkest thou, O Dreamer, that when a man

dies and enters Paradise, he knows of his condition, as who should say,

'Lo, I am now a disembodied spirit, having just passed through the

article of death, and these before me are the Gates of Heaven, and

yonder shining thing is the Throne of God?'"

"Nay, verily," said Abdulla, "in this and in every world the Throne of

God is revealed after one and the same manner, and never shall it be

seen in any world save by such as follow there the Loyal Path whereby it

is found in this. And he who beholdeth not the Gates of Paradise in the

world where he is, will look for them in vain in the world where he is

to be."

"Art thou willing to think, then, that thou and I are in Paradise even

at this hour?"

"Thou hintest at the doctrine that has been revealed to me," said the

other. "It may be even as thou sayest. For certain am I that thou and I

have died many deaths; and as there is another world in respect of this,

so is this world another in respect of them that went before. Great is

the error which deemeth that the number of the worlds is but two, and

that death, therefore, cometh once only to a man, when he passeth from

the first to the second. Of death, as of life, the kinds are

innumerable; and of these, that which destroyeth the body at the end is

only one, and perhaps not the chief. Whatsoever changeth into its

contrary must needs die in the act; so that except one die, grief cannot

pass into joy, nor darkness into light, nor evil into good; neither can

the lost be found, nor the sleeper awake. Wherefore it may be that thou

and I are in Paradise even now."

"Thou speakest to the question," said the Interpreter. "Some there are,

as thou sayest, who, being in Paradise already, will still be asking

whether Paradise awaits them. And if the enlightened go thus astray, how

much deeper is the ignorance of the darkened! For in no place, O

Abdulla, is Hell more doubted of than in Hell itself."

"I have lived in the cities of the West and have observed that very

thing," said Abdulla. "Many a damned soul have I heard making boast of

his good estate, and many a doubt of Judgment shouted forth from the

very flames of the Pit. For how shall a man know when he is now dead and

come to Judgment? Doth he live in his dying, and, taking note of his

last breath, say within himself, 'Lo, now I am dead'? And if he know not

the single occasion of his dying, how should he remember even though

death worketh upon him daily and passeth over him a thousand times?"

"Death and forgetting are one," said the Interpreter, "and the memory of

dying perisheth like a dream. But some there are to whom Allah hath

appointed a station at the place of passage and set as watchmen at the

intermingling of the worlds. These pass to and fro over the bridges,

gathering tidings from forgotten realms; and much of majesty and worth

that escapeth the common sort is apparent unto them. And of such, O

Abdulla, thy dreams declare thee to be one."

"Hast thou no further interpretation?" asked Abdulla.

"Hark!" said the other. "The full interpretation cometh even now."

And, as he spoke, the brass knocker sounded on the door.

* * * * *

_Thus endeth "The Hole in the Water-skin."_