Part 11 (2/2)

While thus lamenting, it suddenly seemed to him that one from a far distance was calling him by name. Checking his cries, he listened. The voice came nearer and nearer, and presently broke out in familiar tones at his very side.

”What aileth thee, O Abdulla?” said the voice. ”Hast thou partaken of the intoxicating drug? Has the Evil Eye encountered thee? Or sufferest thou from a visitation of G.o.d?”

”O my mother,” answered Abdulla, ”there is none else besides thee under heaven who can ease my pain and give me counsel in my perplexity. The sound of thy voice is to me like running waters to him that perisheth of thirst. Know that a great bewilderment has overtaken me, so that I discern no more the things that are not from the things that are.”

”That which was foreordained has come to pa.s.s,” said the woman. ”Thou wast marked on thy forehead in the hour of thy birth; and I saw it, and knew that things hidden from the foundation of the earth would be revealed unto thee. Lo, the mark is on thy forehead still. O Abdulla, my son, thou art no longer a seller of water, but a seer of the Inner Substance, and divulger of secrets.”

”O my mother,” said Abdulla, ”I know not what thou sayest. The Inner Substance is a thing whereof I have never heard, and there is no secret that I can divulge. Only a dream of the night season has troubled me, and even now it seemeth to mingle with the things that G.o.d makes visible, so that the desert floats like a yellow cloud, and thine own form undulates before me like the morning mist.”

”Thy confusion,” said the woman, ”is caused by the intermingling of the worlds, which few among the sons of men are permitted to note; and the undulations that bewilder thee are made by the river of Time. What thou seest is the pa.s.sing of that which was into that which is, and of that which is into that which is to be. But rouse thy mind quickly, O my son, and betake thyself on the instant to a skilful Interpreter of Dreams, that the matter be resolved.”

”I hear and obey,” said Abdulla; and he ran down the steps of his house into the street.

As he pa.s.sed through the door, Selim the courier called to him from the other side.

”O thou that dwellest alone,” cried Selim, ”hast thou taken to thyself a wife? Has Zobeida proved gracious?”

”Nay, verily,” answered Abdulla. ”I have broken a vow and Zobeida rejecteth me utterly. And know, O Selim, that I am a man sore troubled with dreams in the night season, so that a spirit of amazement hath possessed me, and I discern not the light from the darkness, nor the shadow from the substance.”

”Thou tellest a strange thing,” said Selim. ”Nevertheless, I heard thee speaking scarce a moment gone with one on the roof.”

”My mother was come from the lower parts of the house to comfort me,”

said Abdulla, ”and it was with her that I spake.”

”Verily, thou art bewitched,” answered the other. ”More than twenty years have pa.s.sed since thy mother entered into the Mercy of G.o.d, and her body is dust within the tomb.”

Abdulla's answer was a piteous cry. He leaned for support against the wall of his house, spreading out his hands like one who would save himself from falling.

”O Selim,” he cried, ”I am encompa.s.sed with forgetfulness, and my heart is eradicated within me. Said I not unto thee that I discern no more between the darkness and the light, between the shadow and the substance? But I swear to thee, by the beard of the Prophet, that she with whom I spake was the mother who bore me. She stretched out her arms towards me and touched the mark on my forehead, and bade me hasten to the Interpreter of Dreams that the matter might be resolved.”

”It is a sign from Allah,” said Selim; ”and I doubt not that thou wilt die the death at the hand of the infidel and be received into Paradise.

For know that thou hast been called two days ago, and the sergeant is even now seeking for thee.”

”That also I had forgotten,” said Abdulla. ”I will hasten forthwith to the Interpreter of Dreams, and thereafter I will report me to the sergeant. And the rest shall be as Allah willeth.”

And Abdulla pa.s.sed on his way to the Interpreter of Dreams.

Suddenly he realised that his path was blocked by a crowd, and looking up he saw above him, on the other side of the street, the lattice of Zobeida. ”Verily,” he thought, ”I have made a long circuit; for this house lieth not in the way.”

Loud cries were coming from the house, mingled with curses and the sound of hands beaten against the wall. As soon as Abdulla appeared, one of the crowd called out towards the lattice:

”O woman that cursest in the darkness, come now to the light, that we may hear thy maledictions more plainly, and be refreshed by the beauty of thy countenance. Lo, he who is thy enemy pa.s.seth even now beneath the window. Come forth, then, and the sight of him shall be as a fire in thy bones, inspiring thy tongue to the invention of disastrous epithets and calamitous imprecations. And we, on our part, will hold him fast, even the accursed Abdulla, that he run not away till his destiny is p.r.o.nounced and his doom completed.”

At this the lattice was burst open, and Zobeida, tearing aside her veil, displayed a countenance of wrath. Her hair was dishevelled, her cheeks were soiled with ashes and tears, her eyes were like coals of fire, and her voice hissed and rang like the sword of a slayer in the day of battle.

”O Abdulla,” she cried, ”of a truth thou art the Emperor of liars and the Sultan of rogues. May the Abaser of Pride rub thy nose in the dust!”

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