Part 37 (2/2)

23.3 superior to thee to shoot an arrow! Take care of the gulf in the ravine 2,000 cubits deep, full of rocks and rolling stones.

23.4 Thou makest a _detour_: seizest thy bow; preparest the iron in thy left hand; showest thyself to the good chiefs.

23.5 Their eye looks down at thy hand: ”Slave, give camel for the Mohar to eat.” Thou makest thy name of Mohar known,

23.6 master of the captains of Egypt; thy name becomes like that of Kadjarti, the Chief of a.s.sur, after his encounter with

23.7 the hyenas in the wood, on the defile infected by the wood-hidden Shasous.

23.8 Some of these were four cubits from the nose to the heel: fierce without mildness, not listening to caresses.

23.9 Thou art alone, no guide with thee, nor troop behind thee. Didst thou not meet the Marmar? He makes thee

24.1 pa.s.s: thou must decide on departing, and knowest not the road.

Anxiety seizes thee, thy hair bristles up:

24.2 thy soul places itself in thy hand: thy way is full of rocks and rolling stones, no practicable pa.s.sage; the road is obstructed by

24.3 hollies, nopals,(460) aloes and bushes called ”dog-wolf's shoes.” On one side is the precipice, on the other rises the vertical wall of the mountain.

24.4 Thou must advance going down. Thy car strikes the wall and thy horses are startled by the rebound:

24.5 they stop at the bottom of the harness; thy reins are precipitated and left behind; all fall down, thou pa.s.sest on.

24.6 The horses break the pole and move it out of the path; you cannot think of refastening them, cannot repair

24.7 them. The seats are precipitated from their places; the horses refuse to be loaded with them. Thy heart fails thee. Thou beginnest to

24.8 reel; the sky is clear: thirst torments thee: the enemy is behind thee, thou beginnest to quake;

25.1 a th.o.r.n.y bush hinders thee; thou placest it aside; the horses wound themselves.

25.2 At this moment thou art stretched flat and beholdest the sad satisfaction (of thy state?). Entering Joppa

25.3 thou seest a verdant enclosure in a ripe state. Thou makest an opening for eating the fruit. Thou findest a pretty

25.4 young girl who takes care of the gardens: she yields herself to thee as a companion, and yields to thee her secret charms.

25.5 Thou art perceived: thou art subjected to an interrogatory; thou art recognized as a Mohar. Thy tie of

25.6 sweet servitude, is settled by a compromise. Each night thou liest down; a rug of hair

25.7 is on thee: thou imprudently fallest asleep, a robber takes away thy bow, thy dagger,

25.8 and thy quiver: thy reins are cut in the night, and thy horses run away. Thy valet takes a sliding path: the road mounts before him, he breaks

26.1 thy car in pieces ... thy armor-pieces fall on the ground.

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