Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/28

And thus to the Divan, wherein the chiefs assembled.
Crowded all the floor as it were the market of Amer.
And when the Sultan Hassan beheld him at the tent ropes,
Loudly he cried to him, ^' Thou goest forth ? And whither ?
Tell us, O Abu Zeyd, what meaneth this thy venture ? "
And I, Salame, said, ^' It is a thing of honour.
A lady came to me, O Hassan, one a stranger,
To ask a deed of me, and my own tongue hath bound me.
For when I cried to her, ' What is thy need, O lady ? '
She answered, ' This 1 need, the mare of Agheyli Jaber/ "
And the Sultan Hassan hearing, struck his two palms together.
And he cried, " O Abu Helal, thine is a case of evil.
How hast thou staked thy life ? Nay, rather leave this daring.
Thine shall the camels be — ay, even the two thousand."
And I, " Alas, for shame ! Such failure were unseemly.
Or will I bring the mare or stand no more among ye.
Nay, though my way be death." Then answered Abu Musa,
"Madman thou art and fool. This is beyond thy winning,
Not though thy back grew wings." And I — '^ Forbear vain pleadings.