ARABS TAUNTING THE LION. 
79 
to the beast, calling out loudly, “ Nay, stop a little. 
To-day we must indeed talk with each other.” 
Whether the lion thought he could not escape, or 
that he considered his dignity concerned, I shall 
not presume to say, but, at all events, he stopped 
to look at his pursuer. No sooner, however, had he 
turned his head than a well directed ball entered 
one of his eyes and laid him low in an instant. 
The Algerian Arabs, also, General Dumas tells 
us, when about to assail the lion, and to cause him 
to come forth from his lair, taunt him, and apply 
to him the most opprobious epithets to be found in 
the Mussulman vocabulary, as for instance, 
“ There is he who deems himself the bravest of 
the brave; he dares not appear before men; it is 
not he, it is not the lion ; it is nothing but a 
cowardly thief; may God confound him.” 
The Arabs in question would seem to attribute 
more efficacy to the human voice than even the 
wild tribes of Southern Africa, for they say that, if 
a man encounters a lion in the night time, he has 
only to flourish his sabre, or other weapon that 
he may have about him (taking care, however, 
not to strike) in its face, and repeat the following 
polite and amusing words, when the beast will 
immediately go his way. 
“ Oh, the thief, the highway robber ; the son of her 
that never refused (said no); do you want to frighten 
me; do you not know that I am such a one, son 
of such a one ? Rise, and let me go on my way.” 
By thus applying the epithet thief to the lion, 
these men affirm the dignity of the royal beast be- 
