EXTRACTS. 429 



Our books of hadits, or Mohammedan traditions, are full 

 of remarks upon this glorious animal. I give the three fol- 

 lowing : 



When the lion roars, he says, " Ya rabbi, ma tegallot ni a la 

 elledi ifaal el Kliair Qallot ni a la ed-dabeome," which signifies, 

 "Seignior, deliver to my power the wicked only, and let the 

 good go free." , 



Ali-ben-ali-Thaleb, the cousin of the prophet, spake unto the 

 faithful these words : 



" "When you cross a desert infested with lions, you will free 

 yourself from all danger by calling upon Daniel in the lions' 

 den." 



When Noah first planted the grape vine, Eblis came up to him 

 and blowing upon the stalk, dried it up with his breath. The 

 poor patriarch, disheartened, sat down in despair, when Eblis 

 reappeared to him and said : " If you want your plant to recover, 

 take seven animals and spill their blood at its root, and your 

 vine will return to life." 



So Noah arose and girded up his loins, and slew a lion, a 

 bear, a tiger, a dog, a fox, a magpie and a cock, and then he 

 poured out their blood upon the root of the vine he had planted. 



Before this time the shrub had borne only a single grape, but 

 on the next year it bore seven kind of grapes, or rather, grapes 

 endowed with seven distinct virtues. And all this explains why 

 the wine that is made from the grapes, when a man has well 

 drunken thereof, makes him at once bold, strong, fretful, noisy, 

 cunning, talkative and crowing. 



The qualities of the lion are numerous, and many w T ise Arabs 

 have thought and written much upon the subject. 



When Noah was about going into the ark, he took with him 

 two animals of every kind there was on the earth. But his 

 children and friends became alarmed at the measure, and came 

 to him and said : " What a dangerous predicament we shall be in 

 when we all get cooped up in those narrow quarters with the 

 lion." 



The patriarch prostrated himself before the Father, and 

 implored his protection. And forthwith a fever fell upon the 

 lion, and he was rendered quiet and subdued all the time he was 



