Now, they descended leisurely the slopes of the mountain, and when they
were again in the green of its base, Noorna called to the Ass, 'Ho!
Karaz! Sniff now the breezes, for the end of our journey by night is the
meadows of Melistan. Forward in thy might, and bray not when we are in
them, for thy comfort's sake!'
The Ass sniffed, turning to the four quarters, and chose a certain
direction, and bore them swiftly over hills and streans eddying in
silver; over huge mounds of sand, where the tents of Bedouins stood in
white clusters; over lakes smooth as the cheeks of sleeping loveliness;
by walls of cities, mosques, and palaces; under towers that rose as an
armed man with the steel on his brows and the frown of battle; by the
shores of the pale foaming sea it bore them, going at a pace that the
Arab on his steed outstrippeth not. So when the sun was red and the dews
were blushing with new light, they struggled from a wilderness of barren
broken ground, and saw beneath them, in the warm beams, green, peaceful,
deep, the meadows of Melistan. They were meadows dancing with flowers,
as it had been fresh damsels of the mountain, fair with variety of
colours that were so many gleams of changing light as the breezes of the
morn swept over them; lavish of hues, of sweetness, of pleasantness, fir
for the souls of the blest.
Then, after they had gazed awhile, Noorna bin Noorka said, 'In these
meadows the Horse Garraveen roameth at will. Heroes of bliss bestride
him on great days. He is black to look on; speed quivers in his flanks
like the lightning; his nostrils are wide with flame; there is that in
his eye which is settled fire, and that in his hoofs which is ready
thunder; when he paws the earth kingdoms quake: no animal liveth with
blood like the Horse Garraveen. He is under a curse, for that he bore on
his back one who defied the Prophet. Now, to make him come to thee thou
must blow the call of battle, and to catch him thou must contrive to
strike him on the fetlock as he runs with this musk-ball which I give
thee; and to tame him thou must trace between his eyes a figure or the
crescent with thy forenail. When that is done, bring him to me here,
where I await thee, and I will advise thee further.'
So she said, 'Go!' and Shibli Bagarag showed her the breadth of his
shoulders, and stepped briskly toward the meadows, and was soon brushing
among the flowers and soft mosses of the meadows, lifting his nostrils to
the joyful smells, looking about him with the broad eye of one that
hungereth for a coming thing. The birds went up above him, and the trees
shook and sparkled, and the waters of brooks and broad rivers flashed
like waving mirrors waved by the slave-girls in sport when the beauties
of the harem riot and dip their gleaming shoulders in the bath. He
wandered on, lost in the gladness that lived, till the loud neigh of a
steed startled him, and by the banks of a river before him he beheld the
Horse Garraveen stooping to drink of the river; glorious was the look of
the creature,--silver-hoofed, fashioned in the curves of beauty and
swiftness. So Shibli Bagarag put up his two hands and blew the call of
battle, and the Horse Garraveen arched his neck at the call, and swung
upon his haunches, and sought the call, answering it, and tossing his
mane as he advanced swiftly. Then, as he neared, Shibli Bagarag held the
musk-ball in his fingers, and aimed at the fetlock of the
Horse Garraveen, and flung it, and struck him so that he stumbled and
fell. He snorted fiercely as he bent to the grass, but Shibli Bagarag
ran to him, and grasped strongly the tuft of hair hanging forward between
his ears, and traced between his fine eyes a figure of the crescent with
his forenail, and the Horse ceased plunging, and was gentle as a colt by
its mother's side, and suffered Shibli Bagarag to bestride him, and spurn
him with his heel to speed, and bore him fleetly across the fair length
of the golden meadows to where Noorna bin Noorka sat awaiting him. She
uttered a cry of welcome, saying, 'This is achieved with diligence and
skill, O my betrothed! and on thy right wrist I mark strength like a
sleeping leopard, and the children of Aklis will not resist thee.'
So she bade him alight from the Horse, but he said, 'Nay.' And she called
to him again to alight, but he cried, 'I will not alight from him! By
Allah! such a bounding wave of bliss have I never yet had beneath me, and
I will give him rein once again; as the poet says:
"Divinely rings the rushing air
When I am on my mettled mare:
When fast along the plains we fly,
A creature of the heavens am I"'
Then she levelled her brows at him, and said gravely, 'This is the
temptation thou art falling into, as have thousands before thy time.
Give him the rein a second time, and he will bear thee to the red pit,
and halt upon the brink, and pitch thee into it among bleeding masses and
skeletons of thy kind, where they lie who were men like to thee, and were
borne away by the Horse Garraveen.'
He gave no heed to her words, taunting her, and making the animal prance
up and prove its spirit.
And she cried reproachfully, 'O fool! is it thus our great aim will be
defeated by thy silly conceit? Lo, now, the greatness and the happiness
thou art losing for this idle vanity is to be as a dunghill cock matched
with an ostrich; and think not to escape the calamities thou bringest on
thyself, for as is said,
No runner can outstrip his fate;
and it will overtake thee, though thou part like an arrow from the bow.'
He still made a jest of her remonstrance, trying the temper of the
animal, and rejoicing in its dark flushes of ireful vigour.
And she cried out furiously, 'How! art thou past counsel? then will we
match strength with strength ere 'tis too late, though it weaken both.'
Upon that, she turned quickly to the Ass and stroked it from one
extremity to the other, crying, 'Karaz! Karaz!' shouting, 'Come forth in
thy power!' And the Ass vanished, and the Genie stood in his place,
tall, dark, terrible as a pillar of storm to travellers ranging the
desert. He exclaimed, 'What is it, O woman? Charge me with thy
command!'
And she said, 'Wrestle with him thou seest on the Horse Garraveen, and
fling him from his seat.'
Then he yelled a glad yell, and stooped to Shibli Bagarag on the horse
and enveloped him, and seized him, and plucked him from the Horse, and
whirled him round, and flung him off. The youth went circling in the
air, high in it, and descended, circling, at a distance in the deep
meadow-waters. When he crept up the banks he saw the Genie astride the
Horse Garraveen, with a black flame round his head; and the Genie urged
him to speed and put him to the gallop, and was soon lost to sight, as he
had been a thunderbeam passing over a still lake at midnight. And Shibli
Bagarag was smitten with the wrong and the folly of his act, and sought
to hide his sight from Noorna; but she called to him, 'Look up, O youth!
and face the calamity. Lo, we have now lost the service of Karaz! for
though I utter ten spells and one spell in a breath, the Horse Garraveen
will ere that have stretched beyond the circle of my magic, and the Genie
will be free to do his ill deeds and plot against us. Sad is it! but
profit thou by a knowledge of thy weakness.'
Then said she, 'See, I have not failed to possess myself of the three
hairs of Garraveen, and there is that to rejoice in.'
She displayed them, and they were sapphire hairs, and had a flickering
light; and they seemed to live, wriggling their lengths, and were as
snakes with sapphire skins. Then she said, 'Thy right wrist, O my
betrothed!'
He gave her his right wrist, and she tied round it the three hairs of
Garraveen, exclaiming, 'Thus do skilful carpenters make stronger what has
broken and indicated disaster. Surely, I confide in thy star? I have
faith in my foresight?'
And she cried, 'Eyes of mine, what sayest thou to me? Lo, we must part
awhile: it is written.'
Said he, 'Leave me not, my betrothed: what am I without thy counsel? And
go not from me, or this adventure will come to miserable issue.'