hearing of his sorrows, asked, "What will you give me to bring back your wife?" The man, remorseful, let us hope, though possibly only because his helpmeet had been an expensive purchase,—a peasant is often crippled for life by the cost of a wife,—replied, "I will give you this pair of oxen." "A couple of hens will content me," said the holy man, and gave him certain written charms, one of which he was to lay on his forehead, when he would find himself instantly in a cave at Nablus (Shechem); the other to be again applied when new circumstances should arise. In an instant he was transported into Samaria, and, after making use of the other written slip, he found himself in a cave surrounded by jinn, to whom he related his loss. Upon this the chief, who sat in the midst of them, called to his courtiers, "Which of you will bring her the quickest? Light, how long will you take?" "An hour," answered the spirit so called. This seemed long, and the chief called again, "Horse, you noble one, how long will you take?" " Aquarter of an hour," replied Horse. Whereupon one called Sheep stepped forward and said, "I will bring her in a minute," which was done, the happy pair returned home, and the Dervish received his reward.
The narrator of this incident, when asked what account the woman gave of her experiences, made a reply entirely in keeping with occidental tradition upon the same point, namely, that such things could not be known, for either the heroes of the adventure became insane and entered at once into the odour of sanctity,[1] or, if they preserved the memory of their sojourn among the jinn, they were well aware that they remained still under the ban of the spirits, and that by the slightest indiscretion of speech they would bring themselves once more under demoniacal influences. Moreover, he pointed out, it was evident that everything
- ↑ The Arabs believe that the insane and feeble-minded are literally God's fools, that their intellectual part is already in heaven. Most of the holy men of the East are, or pretend to be, mad.
