AL BORAK 105 



Al Borak at once became as gentle as a lamb, 

 and her eyes were filled with beseeching tears as 

 she turned to the prophet and said: 



" O thou, the most honored of mortals, I pray 

 thee that thou wilt intercede for me ! " 



" Be assured that I will," answered Mo- 

 hammed; " for never was steed more worthy of 

 paradise than thou art ! " 



Then Al Borak allowed the prophet to mount 

 upon her back, and, rising gently from the- 

 ground^ she soared aloft above the desert sands 

 and mountains of Arabia. The night was dark — 

 the darkest that any man ever knew; and it was 

 so still that all nature seemed sleeping and dead. 

 There was no sound anywhere of stirring wind 

 or of rippling water. No chirp of wakeful insect, 

 no rustle of creeping reptile, no baying of dogs, 

 no howling of wild beasts among the mountains, 

 disturbed the solemn hour. All Arabia was silent 

 as the grave. And Al Borak, with face directed 

 northward, and at a speed which outdistanced 

 thought, sailed noiselessly through the gloom. 



Only thrice did the steed alight upon the earth 

 — first upon Mount Sinai, then in the village 

 of Bethlehem, and finally at the gate of the 

 temple in Jerusalem. There Mohammed dis- 

 mounted, and, fastening the steed to a ring which 



