New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-08-04
An ARAB TALE.
The Battery.


Ny Turkish frierd Hyder Ali called on me the
other day in London. Our conversation could
rot fail to turn upon the war and the present
condition of the Crimean campaign. He WAS
pretty well acquainted with the Roebuck Com
mittee, and all the incidents ofthe expedition;
though be bad never read tle papers he was
aware Of the crisis of the Turkish Empire, and
Of all the dangers Of irs present transitory state
nor did he seem to be blinded as regards the
position of the Allies. pressed him to tell m
openly his opinions about recent events, which
he did as follows:
"Alow me to tell you an old tale which | read in
our books and Of which am always reminded when
ever think of the allied army in the Crimea. You
know. be continued. that Allah gave power to the
great King ard Prophet Suleiman lSolOman) over AL
living creatures earth; that be taught him to I'M
derssnd the language Of the birds in the air and Of the
animals creeping on the earth. One day Sueiman saw
splendid rainbow floating in the skies, and the fancy
took him 10 see the wonders of Allah closely and to
dwell on the arch of the rainbow. He therefore
summoned the birds of the air and said to them,
Cary me to the rainbow, that | may dwell on it.
And the birds aghted upsn the earth and pent their
wings together, so as to form boat, AID
Suleiman sat down upon their wings, and they rose
ard few with the utmost rapidity but still it took
three weeks before they reached the rainbow. When
Suleiman had rested himself the brilliant rays he
said / desire to know which is the point on earth
over which / am now seated. Which Of al the
birds has the clesrest sight to look down and to tell
9 me whe,e we are And the vuture Ak-Bsba, that
ia TO say the rhhe fatler sid: Sultan my sight
reaches furtbest.' Then look down. said the
King and tell IL where are, and what also thou
seest' Ak.Baba looked down and spake: We are
soaring Just above Babylon, close - the principal
gate Of the town. see field in which The harvest
ers have left five grains of wheat and two sparrows
are fighting for the five grains. And Sueiman
praised Allah that be had created the vulture and en-
dowed him with such farsightedness And the Sultan
remained few weeks on the rainbow; and one day
he said: | desire to know what has happened on
cath since left itP Which il the bird with the
swAest fight that lie may go down and look about
And the White Father came again and spake; am
the swiftest of ali the birds And how much time
will il require for thee to 60 down and to return
again asked Suleiman. Twenty-four hours, Sui
tan was tie answer, ten to fly down, ten to return
and four to look about. Co. then in the name Of
Allah, said the Sultan, and Ak-Baba went.
But the twenty -four hours passed and he was not yet
back. and the third day dawned; Suleman shook
his head and on the fourth he grew angry and said:
'Ak-Baba is brasgsrt.' At last on the fifth day,
the White Father returned, but how did he look His
wings were pulled TO pieces, his body bleeding his
claws bIunted. What is the matter with thee
asked Suleiman; and why didst thou come four days
later than thou promised Oh, Sultan, Ak-Baba
complained i met with an accident When, after
my fight of ten hours anived on earth, felt hun
cry and looked about for food in order to strengthen
myself for the remainder of my enterprise and
saw garden with plentiful fruit in it, and when
game into it a large iron trap caught me and broke
m, feathers and clipped my claws. 1t was in VAN
to struggle az ainst the from could not free myself
AT last the gardener came and exulted when he saw
me caught, and took me cut Of the trap, and when
Il beat him with my wings his aborers assisted him.
and they carried me into the house and shut me up
in a close room. There / sat prisoners the door
. was fastened, the wall thick, the window barred
AT last | discovered the fues of the chimney, and
forced my way through it, and come to tell you
my misfortune. could but slowly reach your lofty
seat soaring with wounded wings.
L" Thus spoke Ak aba the vulture, and Suleiman
grayely and thOugbtfully shook his head, and said,
Mash Allah God is great Miracles everywhere
Miracles at every moment White Father from here,
at three weeks distance from the earth, thou hast
seen the town of Babylon and its gate, and close to
it the field. and on the field the two little spanows,
and by them the five grains of wheat about which
they quareed and thou hast not seen the large iron
trap in the garden when thou vert close by Indeed,
the farsigbtedness of him who is doomed to mshap
is turned into blindness"
Here Hyder Ali stopped, and shook his head
slowly and thoughtfully in the same way az su-
LEHMAN may have done. "Well, said |, "friend
Hyder Ali, how am I to connect your excel
lent tale with the present war;"
"You are Frank" said he, "and you do not
see it. Twill explain it to you. The French
and English are used to discover the most re-
mote stars and to determine their orbits they
have counted the drops of blood in the body Of
the frog; they have weighed the destiDies Of
Turkey and Russia as in balance; but the
large trap called sevastopol they seem not to
have remarked" A. p. c.
CRYSTAL PALACE LAWSUITS IN FRANCE