Page:Marion Crawford - Khaled.djvu/251

So he pulled the halter and was taken half-fainting into the boat.
The crabs held his hand but he struck them off,
And his heart beat merrily as he breathed the wind
Blowing over the sea as blue as the sky in winter.
"There are no pearls in this ocean," he said to his companions,
"But there are crabs if any one cares to dive."
One of them saw the shell caught between the legs of the crabs.
He opened it and found a pearl of the value of a kingdom.
"The pearl is mine, but you may eat the crabs," he said to the fisherman.
"Since you say there are no pearls in this ocean,
"Which is as blue as the sky in winter."
Then the fisherman smote him and tried to take the pearl,
But as they strove it fell into the deep water and sank.
Where the sea was as blue as the sky in winter.
"I will drown you with a heavy weight," said the fisherman, "for you have robbed me of my fortune."
"I have not robbed you, brother, for the pearl is again where you found it,
In the sea which is as blue as the sky in winter."
Then the fisherman dived again many times in vain
Till the drums of his ears were broken and his heart was dissolved for lack of breath.
But the pearl is still there, at the bottom of the sea,
And the sea is as blue as the sky in winter.
This is the kasid of the fisherman of Oman
Which Zehowah Bint ul Mahomed el Hamid
Has made and sung for her lord, Khaled the Sultan.
May Allah send him long life and many such hearts
As the one which fell into the ocean
When the sky was as blue as the sea in winter.'