i8o THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



(legendary of course) of the birth and youth of the 

 patriarch Abraham, whom Nimrod had ordered 

 to be destroyed, and of a dialogue between Terah, 

 Abraham's father, and the King, in which the father 

 begged for his son's life : 



' Terah said : " Ayou, the son of Mored, offers me 

 gold and silver if I will give him the horse of great 

 price your majesty gave your servant." 



'And Nimrod answered: "Art thou a fool, to 

 give thy horse for silver or for gold ? Of what 

 worth will it be unto thee when thou hast no 

 horse ?" 



' " Live for ever, O King !" said Terah. " Of what 

 use will silver and gold be unto me when I have no 

 son .'* 



Here we find in hoary antiquity an Arab chieftain 

 having a horse, and comparing it in value with the 

 life of a son. 



The Hebrews had horses. They had been 

 sufficiently harassed by Pharaoh's chariots in the 

 exodus to learn their value. The Egyptians pursued 

 them with both chariots and horsemen : ' the waters 

 returned and covered the chariots and horsemen ' 

 (Exod. xiv. 28). Josephus says there were 600 

 chariots and 50,000 horsemen. I read Josephus 

 when I was twelve years old, but of course I know 

 that much has been discovered since he wrote. 



The Jews had learned to value horses so much 

 that they were forbidden (Deut. xvii. 17, 18) to go 

 down to Egypt to get horses. The early prophets 



