266 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



him and said, 'You think you are wise because you know 

 the wisdom of all these people, but I will take you all 

 over the world and show you the wisdom of countries 

 you have never heard of.' With that he took the 

 prophet's girdle in his beak and flew north, south, east 

 and west with him, showing him many marvels. When 

 they had travelled far and wide the bird flew back to the 

 prophet's own country and dropped his pupil in a field 

 where a ploughman was setting snares. Before Suleiman 

 could express his thanks he saw that the great bird was 

 caught in one of the traps and was battering helplessly 

 against the bars. 'Oh, thou who would'st teach me 

 wisdom, where is thine own that thou who knowest all 

 the world could not avoid one small trap?' 'What is 

 written is written,' said the eagle resignedly. 'One 

 cannot run away from one's fate.' " Yusuf looked at 

 me expectantly. "The eagle might have looked where 

 he was going," I said firmly, "and you will most cer- 

 tainly look at what you are drinking, my son." 



Our start that morning was delayed because Sulei- 

 man's ear had to be doctored. A half -deaf, as well as 

 a half -blind, guide was certainly a thing to be avoided, 

 so we gave him all our spare under-garments, his ailment 

 being entirely due to the fact that, with a temperature 

 of zero, he slept on the cold sand in a ragged cotton shirt 

 and a jerd transparently thin and tattered. He had 

 started to walk more than a thousand miles (including his 

 return journey after he had taken the camels back to 

 Jedabia) with no other possessions than these and not one 

 nickel of money! "Allah is great. He will provide," 

 he said simply as he wound my knitted spencer on his 

 head and tied a pair of Hassanein's breeches round his 

 chest under his grimy shirt. The Arabs' one desire is 

 to muffle every possible garment — no matter for what 

 portion of the anatomy it is designed — round their heads 



