16 On certain Medioeval Jpologues. [No. 1, 



His face palé with terror and bo-th his lips blue, 



And Solomon said to him, " O friend, what meanetb fcbis ?" 



He answered, " The ángel 'Izráíl 



Hath just thrown on me a glance full of vvratb and batred." 



" Ask," said the king, " what boon tbou desirest." 



" Oh tbou refuge of the heart, command the wind 



Tbat it bear me from henee to Hindustán, 



It may be that tliere I may save my life." 



Then Solomon gave to the wind its mission 



And it bore the man avvay to Somnáth. — 



Thus too tbou may'st see men tiying from poverty, 



They are swallowed as victims by desire and hope, 



That fear of tbeirs is but like bis in the story, 



And desire and its greed is tlieir Hindustán ! — 



He commanded the wind tbat fortbwith in baste 



It sbould bear bim to Hindustán across the sea. 



The next day at the time of audience 



King Solomon spake unto 'Izráíl, 



" Tbou looked'st with wrath on a true believer, — 



Tell me wherefore, oh messenger of the Lord. 



'Twas a strange action, methinks, this of thine, 



To frighten him an exile from house and borne." 



He answered, " Oh tbou King of an unsetting empire, 



His faney interpreted my aetion wrong. 



How sbould I bave looked with anger on sucb as him ? 



1 but cast a glance of wonder as I passed bim in the road, 



For God had commanded me that very day 



To seize his soul in Hindustán. 



I saw bim here and greatly did I marvel, 



And I lost myself in a maze of wonder. 



I said in my heart, Though he had an hundred wings 



He could never fly from henee to Hindustán in a day. 



But when I arrived, as God commanded, 



1 found bim there before me and took his soul." 



Fevv Oriental Apologues have a more striking outline tban the 

 above, rising almost to the moral sublime ; but it is only one of the 

 many fine legencls and Cables wbich are scattered thioughout the 



