Told to the Sultan.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8032, 19 January 1906, Page 4

Told to the Sultan.

In Btamboul, in theKassim-Pacha quarter, there once lived two boys, one of whom was namod Abdul and the other Hafiz. They attended the same school, sire, and being related by blood they sat together and learned the wisdom of the Koran from the same book. Not only was there a bond of blood relationship between them, but also their tastes ran together, for each, sire, was a skilful versifier, albeit the way of Hafiz in verse was Bot the way of Abdul. For Abdul's verses were all of things that happened in the Bchool or in the street, bo that a boy could not be beaten or an ass fall beneath its load but Abdul would make a rhyme upon it, whereas for Ha6z it was sufficient for a swallow to pass in the sky, or a sunbeam to fall npon the floor, or a breath of perfumed wind to enter through the doorway, and he, too, had made a verse. And even as a boy being beaten or an ass tumbling beneath its load makes more noise than the passage of a swallow through the sky, the passing of a breath through a doorway, or the falling of a sunbeam upon the floor, so was it with the verse of Abdul, which made more noise in the KassimPaoha, quarter than the verse of Hafiz. Even the schoolmaster praised the talent of Abdul, though, perhapß, of all persons, the schoolmaster was roost marked as a butt for Abdul's quatrains', but as he knew not his own defects he saw not his own portrait, though often he might have beheld it in a Terse of his scholar, even as a man may see oil face reflected in a spoonful of vinegar. As for Hafiz, he felt no jealousy at all the praise that fell to the share of Abdul, and his verse passed men by like the swallow, the beam of light, and the breeze : things which neither bray like an ass, nor cry out like a beaten boy, nor scpld like an angry woman, and so draw to themselves little attention from they who only hear with their ears and see with their eyes. One afternoon it happened that Abdul and Hafiz walked home together from the Bchool. It was the last day upon which they would attend school, for, having learnt all that the schoolmaster could teach them, they were now about to enter the world and see what fortune held for them in her hand.

As they neared the Kassim-Pacha quarter their way led through a narrow and dirty street wherein there was nothing to be seen but a few dogs lying asleep, a stray goose seeking food in tho gutter, or a blind man tapping with his staff, as if asking of the earth bis way. They had never entered this street before, and it puzzled them not a little to think in what manner it had existed without their knowledge ; for schoolboys, sire, have a better knowledge of the town and all that lies therein than those guides who hire themselves to strangers, or those beggars whoso blindness leads them to back doors that have been left open, and there leaves them. Halfway down this street they came to a great gateway set upon the right-hand side of the way. It was very old, and the pillars on either side were of marble, sculptured with curious figures representing all the forms of fruits and flowers known to man, and here and there a marble face peeped from a space in the marble foliage, or tho hoof of a faun broke through as if by mischance, or the marble thigh of a woman, or a band appeared grasping one of the bunches of marble grapes, so that one might imagine behind the foliage, fruits and flowers a host of things and peoplo hiding yet half revealed. At the gate sat an old man with a beard of the color of withered leaves, who stared at Abdul and Hafiz as they paused and glanced over his head at the glimpse of garden through the gateway. Or rather, I should say, gardens, for the gateway disclosed an avenue which wandered a little way and then divided, becoming two paths, and each of these paths led to a garden of which little could be seen but a dim golden space of sunlight filled with the silvery threads of fountain waters playing beneath the sky, and the color of flowers that grew in parterres about the fountains. The old man smiled upon the boys and bade them enter, but first he took from them their pens, their ink horns and school books, which he placed by his side. Then Abdul and Haliz entered by the gateway and walked together till they reached that part of the way where it divided, and from the way upon the left, there came a sound like the music of a whole grove of nightingales mingled with the songs of lesser birds, and from the right-hand way a sound like the laughter of women inlaid like music of gold upon the silvery music of the fountains. Hafiz, sire, chose the left-hand way, allured by the voices of the birds, and he pursued it, crying, " Wait for me, A,bdul, till I return." But Abdul did not hear him, for he had chosen the right-hand way, and was now Standing in a garden path gazing at the wonders around him. The flowers were unlike earthly flowers ; they would never fade, for the petals were of enamelled gold and the blossoms grew upon stalks of jasper; their leaves would never wither, for their leaves were cunningly carved from sismodine and the marble which is named Verde Antique, and the dew upon th«m would never dry, shine the sun as he might, for the dew-drops were of diamond and pearl. On the trees hung wonderful fruit, pomegranates with silken skins, and oranges of hammered gold, and lemons of frosted silver. There were pears, sire, each a pearl, and clusters of grapes and each grape a garnet or carbuncle. »

Abdul, as tonishednt these wonders.plucked a pomegranate from a tree, and, tearing the rubies, all pressed together after the fashion of the pip in a pomegranate ; and, pluoking another, he found the pips to he all sapphires; in another were emeralds, whilst yet another of these pomegranates he found to be a purse filled with sequins bright from the mint; and, filling his robe with these treasures, he went on his way rejoicing and gathering more. Meanwhile, sire, Hafiz found himself in a garden where all the flowers were flowers, beautiful, but condemned to fade, yet in his eyes they were the more beautiful for that. And on the trees grew fruit, beautiful, but condemned to die, and the birds in the garden of Hafiz sang of the sweetness of life and love and the sadness of death, and as Hafiz listened he wept, and plucking flowers and fruit he filled his robe and then went on his way gathering more. Suddenly, sire, Abdul and Hafix met, and they were standing in a court whose walls were cypreSß trees planted in rows. Their wanderings had brought them to the selfsame spot, yet they knew not each other, for each in "his wanderings had turned to an old man, and their beards were white as snow. A great statue stood in the centre of the court, upon whose pedestal was written : "TIME," It was of granite; with a veiled face it stood, and in its right hand it held an hourglass whose upper globe was filled, not with grains of sand, but pictures, pictures of flowers and fair women and brave men, horses and slaves, and chariots most beautiful. And from all these a thin stream of mist poured into the lower glpbe of the glass, which became filled with a cloud, and this tloud was created from all the forms above, «hrcii were dissolving away. Then, when the upper globe became empty, the glass turned, andlo! the globe filled with cloud became again a globe of pictures—new forms, new facet, new f&sbioni, and all living, yet

condemned to die and dissolve away internist Abdul approached the statue, and opening his rich robe, disclosed all the jewels he had gathered, and lo I sire, the jewels in the pomegranates, the golden apples, and the silver lemons had become converted into withered leaves. He cast them before the statue with a cry and vanished for evermore. Then came Hafiz to the statue and opened bis tattered robe, which was worn as that o! a beggar: and behold ! sire, the poor flowers he had plucked and the ephemeral fruits hod turned for Hafiz to everlasting gems.