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THE MOTH WITH THE GOLDEN WINGS. 
» Honest Beber was a, poor, merry-hearted denizen of the ancient city 
of; Bassora; and.if goodness of heart were querulous as to its habitation 
of flesh, it would have had just grounds to complain of being lodged in 
so dilapidated.a.tenement as the body of Beber. To. hear him speak— 
to see him laugh—was to hear the voice of the nightingale fromthe 
throat .of an,alligator ;and his smiles, as. they lit up the lines of his 
shrivelled, bark-like countenance, were as the flashings of inestimable 
jewels through the ruins of a leathern casket. It had moreover pleased 
Allah te place the seal of darkness upon one of Beber’s eyes ; and pro- 
bably fearing his temper under such a calamity, he had most. wisely 
ideprived his servant of his teeth : he had, furthermore, looped up a few 
anconsiderable-lines,in-one of Beber’s legs; and-that pride on this should 
notseek,refuge in his servant’s hands, Allah had graciously paralyzed 
neiof his: believer's arms. Was pride expelled the body of Beber ?. in 
such a-tuined hovel of human clay did pride still find a peg whereon to 
shang her dooking-glass?. Alas, yes; Beber was proud. He would say, 
«© There’ is, happiness sufficient unto all men, praised be Allah! If all 
have not @ bale of cloth, there is also none but hath a thread. It is true, 
if I am stricken upon the right cheek, I must turn me round to look for 
the hand; and if he that buffets me can run with the gazelle, my legs 
keep me from the crime of slaying ;.if two hands be needful for a thief, 
‘glory to Allah, who hath ordained his servant honest ; if honey-cakes 
make war upon the teeth, I may indulge with safety. Iam half blind, 
lame, toothless, and have but five serviceable fingers: but there is but one 
God, and he is great—I have not an ugly nose.” Hereupon would Beber 
send forthia langh—and such a laugh! His joy would issue from his 
‘throat, as though it had to troll over so many pebbles, placed by some 
evil genius in his larynx. . His laugh was composed of several sounds of 
‘a distinct, chinking sharpness—every note proceeding, as it were, from 
the movement of the before-named impediments. Pride in most cases 
arises from ‘the possession, or the fancied possession, of some valuable 
‘quality: Beber was ingenious—he could only pamper his spirit upon the 
absence of ill. «« We are never wholly destitute,” he would say ; ‘« where 
Allaly denies the waters of the fountain, he gives the sands of the de- 
sert.”* 
Beber was in the employ of an old Persian in the city, who had for 
forty years been prying into the profound secrets of nature. Sefy,. it 
was said, would for nights search for the heart of a fire-fly, and would 
for’a' week thumb overa mineral or a stone. He was old, ugly, and 
‘choleric. His face was the colour of sun-burnt marble ; his greedy, 
deep-sunk eyes, overshadowed by their long wiry brows, were likened, 
‘in thelanguage of his slaves, to two ravenous and crouching jackals 
watching from sepulchres. His beard was stained a dead black, which 
‘shaken bythe palsy in his head, gave him the appearance of a merciless 
and deyouring goule. «“ The neighbours say,” thus Beber would some- 
times soliloquize, “ that my master Sefy looks into matters deeper than 
those of insects and of stones; that he has visits from the genii—upon 
* Le douziéme azoare du Koran prescrit de se laver Je visage, la téte, les bras, et 
Jes jambes avant de prier. A défuut d’eau, de Ja poussidre peut souffire.—Bxrav- 
VOBSINS. 
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