106 THE WONDER-BOOK OF HORSES 



was attached to one of the stones of the temple, 

 he left her and went in. But I need not speak of 

 what happened to him there, nor of his further 

 journey, nor of whom or what he saw ; for those 

 things have naught to do with Al Borak. When, 

 at length, he returned to the gate of the temple, 

 he found the steed in the place where he had 

 tethered her, and, having remounted her, he was 

 carried in an instant back to Mecca and set down 

 at his own door. Then Al Borak, having bowed 

 low in honor of the prophet, unfolded her wings 

 again and soared aloft into the upper air, never 

 again to be seen by mortal man. 



The distance from Mecca to Jerusalem is about 

 eight hundred miles as the crow flies, or as Al 

 Borak flew. And yet, although Mohammed had 

 not stopped at Jerusalem, but had gone some 

 millions of miles beyond, the whole affair was ac- 

 complished in less time than you can think of it. 

 It is easy to prove that this was so. In the first 

 hurry of setting out, a vase of water had been 

 overturned by the angel's wing; but Mohammed 

 returned in time to catch the falling vessel before 

 its contents could be spilled. Could anything 

 have been quicker ? Not even thought or a flash 

 of light could have outsped Al Borak. 



