200 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



was Prophet, between the time of Christ and Mohammed. It 

 was then that these birds were complained of. Khaled in- 

 voked God, and God did not permit them to multiply, and their 

 race became extinct. 



This characteristic Bedouin camp-fire novelette re- 

 minds us at once of the famous roc, or "rukh," to adopt 

 the more correct spelling, with which we are familiar 

 from the story in the Arabian Nights of Sinbad the 

 Sailor. Let me quote it succinctly from Payne's edition. 87 

 Sinbad had sailed on a commercial venture from his 

 home in Basra, a port on the Persian Gulf, and the ship 

 had stopped at a very pleasant island, situation un- 

 recorded. Sinbad went ashore with others, wandered in 

 the lovely woods, fell asleep, and awoke to find the ship 

 gone and himself the only person on the island. As he 

 was exploring the place rather timidly he came to a great 

 shining dome, but could see no doorway. "As I stood," 

 he relates, "casting about how to gain an entrance, the 

 sun was suddenly hidden from me and the air became 

 dark. . . » 



So I marvelled at this, and lifting my head looked steadfastly 

 at the sun, when I saw that what I had taken for a cloud was 

 none other than an enormous bird whose outspread wings, as it 

 flew through the air, obscured the sun and veiled it from the 

 island. At this sight my wonder redoubled, and I bethought 

 me of a story I had heard aforetime of pilgrims and travellers, 

 how in certain islands dwells a huge bird, called the roc, which 

 feeds its young on elephants, and was assured that the dome 

 aforesaid was none other than one of its eggs. As I looked 

 . . . the bird alighted on the egg and brooded over it, with its 

 wings covering it and its legs spread out behind it on the ground, 

 and in this posture it fell asleep, glory be to Him who sleepeth 

 not! 



When I saw this I arose, and unwinding the linen of my tur- 

 ban twisted it into a rope with which I girt my middle, and 

 bound myself fast to his feet. 



