Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-28
THE FIVE STARS OF xoRE1sH.


An Arab sheik, owner of 100 camels, 300
horses and 1000 sheep, always kept his
encampment at some distance from his
kinsmen. He had five sons and four
daughters, who, as they grew, were re-
garded in all that region as the flower of
that country, SO careful was their training,
so thorough their accomplishments, and so
pure their lives. One evening, when the
father and his oldest son were returning to the
encampment, having ridden nearly seventy
miles in search of some camels which had
strayed, the boy asked permission to speak,
and then asked his father why he and his
brothers and sisters were fed from day to
day on dates and bread, with strip of dry
meat at noon, when the boys and girls in
neighboring encampments shared this luxu-
ry and that-fresh meat, killed daily, fruits
of names unknown from Yemen, and spices
from the ships of India.
And his father said: care not your
bodies strong? And can you not ride as
well as they ?"
The son replied There is not youth
in either camp who can throw me in wrest-
ling; and you know if have asked to draw
DltulC vi W AAlouIOuIlb
His father said "This is what your
food is given for. If our fare is simple, it
is that you may not be tempted to prize
the food more than the strength for which
the food is given.
Another day, the father of the sheik had
| sent a courier to all the camps to ask the
attendance of his sons, and of their friends,
that they might hear an ambassador who
had come from Yemen. He took with him
his second son, to care for the horses and
to learn the methods of embassies One
day they went, one day they remained at
the encampment, one day they returned
On the third day, when they had ridden
ten hours, they saw in the horizon the
black tents of their tribe. Then the son
asked leave to speak, and said to his
father:
80 my father, why do you sleep upon
| the ground, when your kindred had
cushions and woven mats brought by their
slaves, and had furs from the North ready,
should the night be cold. Why, in our
camp do we have neither furs, cushions
nor slaves ?"
And his father said "We sleep at
night, that we may be strong tomorrow.
Are not your bodies as strong, and can you
not ride as well as they %
And his son answered: "There is not
youth in their tents who can throw me
in wrestling. You know if | asked to draw
bride or to dismount to-day"
His father said 'This is what sleep is
given to us for. If our beds are simple, it
is that we may not be tempted to prize the
sleep more than the strength for which the
sleeps given"
At another time there came a message
that the elder brother of the sheik was i'll,
and had sent for him. The sheik rode
across the desert on the swiftest drome-
Diary, and took with him his third son.
Two days they rode, two days they
watched with the dying man, two days
they Joined in the lamentations over him,
and for two days they rode ON their return.
On the eighth day, as the sun went down,
the boy asked leave of his father to speak,
and said
"Why do my cousins dress in shawls of
cashmere, in silks of Ispahan, and wear
clasps of gold and pearl from Serendib,
while we are dressed In camels hair, and
wool of our own docks and herds, which
my sisters spun and my mother wove ?"
And his father said ''Are not you as
warm as they? Are you not as strong as
they? Are not your clothes as easy for
running and for riding?"
And the boy said: "On the evening
when we came to the camp there was a
wrestling match. l threw all my cousins
in their turn, and, when the time came
round, threw them all again. We have
ridden in two days so far that the ravens
are weary of following You know if l
have asked to dismount or draw rein"
And his father said "Our clothes are
given US to screen US from sun and rain,
and the pestience which walketh in dark
ness. If your clothing is simpler than
your kinsmen's, it is that you may not be
tempted to value the thing more than
the strength and swiftness for which the
thing is given"
Again the word came that the chiefs and
their children should carry each his offer
ing to the temple at Mecca. And this
father, with his wife and his children and
forty attendants, went to the city with
fifty camels and fifty horses. This offer
ing that he made was bezoar and onyx and
myrrh. Seventy days were they in going,
in sojourning and returning. On the sew
entieth day, as they approached the date
palms which they knew, the fourth son
asked leave to speak to his father, and
said
"Why do the people of the city go to
the mosque to worship God, and we kneel
beneath the open sky ~
And his father was troubled, and his
countenance fell, and he said "Since we
left the city have either your brothers or
sisters spoken untruly p
Never, my father"
cor impurely !"
"Never,
cor meanly?"
"Never"
"Have they turned from beggar Have
they failed to share their salt p
"Never."
-" Have they refused to their mother all
that was her due ?"
| "Never.
"And has God seemed far away from
you because the skyis higher than the tenn
Pile dome p
"Never so near, my father, as when ]
sleep on the sand beneath the stars"
And his father said F: ''The temple is
built, lest in cities the men forget the God
of love. If you worship beneath the
stars, it is that you may not be tempted to
honor the stones more than Him who made
the stones, to value His house more than
Him who dwells everywhere.
At last the old man was sick unto death.
His four oldest sons had gone with their
households, one north, one south, one east,
one west. He called his youngest son to
close his eyes, and said to him:
! 80 Nv son hast thou over Soon Satan ~