362 Xciices respeciing Netv Books. 



up to JOOjOOO. la vvhal manner, said the khalif with emo- 

 tion, must I interrofjate you in ortler to obtain a rational 

 answer? Ask me, said Bcschir, how much time of my 

 life has gone past. The khahf puts this question to him, 

 and receives for answer. Fourteen years. lie then leaves ihe 

 two young j^hilosophers to tlieinselves. 



Schadan earnestly entreats Beschir to enter into conversa- 

 tion with him, and to place him among the number of his 

 friends ; butiJeschir, who does not seen) inclined to receive 

 as friends any w'ho could not by their talents or u isdom 

 contribute to the improvement of his mind and heart, sub- 

 jects Schadan to a ri'^^orous examination, from which the 

 latter does not shrink : "'for you know," says he to Beschir, 

 " what the Arab proverb savs : Amid the flying sand of the 

 Desert, wc can easily distinguish a man on horseback from 

 him who is mounted on an ass." 



The questions put by Beschir to Schadan turn upon sub- 

 jects of dogmatic theology, the .interpretation of the Alco- 

 ran, grammar, etymology, poetics, cestlietics, gnomics, 

 lexicology, scriptures, juri^i^rudence, traditional theology, 

 medicine and morals ; and the answers ol Schadan leave him 

 nothing to desire. The two young people then embrace, and 

 swear a sincere friendship. The khalif, who had overheard 

 their whole conversation, can scarcely believe his ears. All 

 the readers of ibis work will not partake in this enthusiasm, 

 perhaps, upon hearing that Beschir proposes questions of the 

 following nature : What is the Arab word, which, with- 

 out any change of letters, can be a veib, noun, and parti- 

 ciple ? Why do walnuts eaten before dinner lock up the bow- 

 els, and when taken after dinner produce a contrary efiect ? 

 Why is a certain word in the Alcoran a nominative ? 



We must admire the answers of Schadan, however, when 

 Beschir asks where God was before he created tiie world ? 

 and wherefore did he create it ? Schadan thus answers these 

 questions : " IVIicre indicates a place ; and God not being 

 contained in any space, to ask where Gnd ivus, is an absurd 

 question. The manner of acting peculiar to God is too 

 elevated to urfori room for asking hoiv and uliercfore he 



acts : 



