Monsieur De Lamartine's beautiful story of the Arab chief and his
favourite steed has often been told. It shall form one of our anecdotes
of horses.
A chief, Abou el Marek, and his marauding tribe, had one night attacked
a caravan. When returning with their plunder, they were surrounded by
the troops of the Pacha of Acre, who killed several, and bound the rest
with cords. Abou el Marek, wounded and faint from loss of blood, was
among the latter. Thus bound, while lying on the ground at night, he
heard the neigh of his favourite steed, picketed at a short distance
off. Anxious to caress the horse for the last time, he dragged himself
up to him. "Poor friend," he said, "what will you do among these savage
Turks? Shut up under the stifling roof of a khan, you will sicken and
die. No longer will the women and children of the tent bring you
barley, camel's milk, or _dhourra_ in the hollow of their hands. No
longer will you gallop free as the wind across the desert; no longer
cleave the waters with your breast, and lave your sides in the pure
stream. If I am to be a slave, at least you shall go free. Hasten back
to our tent. Tell my wife that Abou el Marek will return no more!"
With these words, his hands being tied, the old chief undid, by means of
his teeth, the rope which held the courser fast; but the noble animal,
instead of galloping away to the desert, bent his head over his master,
and seeing him helpless on the ground, took his clothes gently between
his teeth, and, lifting him up, set off at full speed towards his
distant home. Arriving there, he laid his master at the feet of his
wife and children, and dropped down dead with fatigue.
What a brave example of affection, duty, and self-sacrifice! You may
never be called on to perform the one hundredth part of the task
undertaken willingly by that gallant Arab steed, but how are you
carrying the tiny, light burdens which your every-day duties place on
you? True heroism consists not so much in the performance of one noble
deed, which may become the poet's theme, but in doing all that we have
to do, and in seeking to do as much as we can of what there is to be
done, to the very best of our power, and in bearing with patience what
we are called on to bear.