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.'*