Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/110

And Fadel too saluted, even the Emir Agheyli.
And he said, " I have come, O Sultan, in doubt of the grey mare's fortune.
Therefore I came from afar, from the lands of the sun's rising.
Seeking to serve thy need though I journeyed west to the ocean,
Or, if she eastwards be, to the furthest tribes of the Orient."
And Fadel answered fairly, Thou cheerest me with thy coming.
And this one too saith sooth, being a searcher of secrets,
For he told me yesternight of thy coming and thy fortune,
And the news that thou would'st bring." And to Abu Zeyd Salame
He said, " Thou speakest sooth, for lo, this sand diviner
The hke to him is not for the sand's signs and fortunes."
And Fadel called to Bedr, " Behold me and my trouble.
I will reward thee w^ell." And he said, " I hear in obedience."
Then drew he of the grey mare a horoscope and figure.
And he saw within the lines a semblance in reversal.
" An archer leadeth the mare, in the black night doth he hide her,
Guised as a holy man, a man of contemplation.
And he is here with you and the name of him Salame,
Hidden among you all, to Agheyl a threat and a danger.'*