Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-05-07
HOW TIE EsIIa OF BgDAD WAS OUT.
WITThD.
New YORK World |


Allamseoozler, Emir of Bedad tmay hi
tribe increasel, was man OF such prodi
gious memory that he could recite the long
est poem after having heard it once re
peated In his household also there was
eunuch who could repeat any poem which
he bad heard twice, and a female slave witt
could do as much if she had heard it thrice
The Emir, who was very fond OF poetry
and his seQuins, then issued a prQclama
ton, announcing that contributions wer,
respectfully invited, and that such as wer,
accepted would be paid for at the rate O
their weight in gold, but it was added tina
if any poet shoald attempt to palm of
upon the Enlir plagiarisms or old compost
tions, not only should he receive no reward
but he should be instantly bastinadoed anC
paraded through the streets of Bedad on ;
white mule with his face toward the ami
malls tail
Hundreds of poets, anxious to win The
Emir's applause, visited the court of Be
dad, where the Emir received them, tn,
eunuch standing amid his attendants and
the female slave sitting behind a screen O.
lattice work. When the poet had reciteG
! his ode the Emir's face would darken with
indignation.
DOG of a poet p he would thunder
that dost dare to enter my presence with
| a lie upon thy lips The verses thou hast
! just recited l read many years ago-are as
familiar to me as my prayers" Then he
would repeat the ode to the astonished
poet, and when he had concluded he would
say: "Not only is it known to me, but
that eunuch yonder read it to me long ago,
as his own tongue shall witness, and vixen
the eunuch had repeated it the female
! slave also would be appealed to and would
! favor the company with recitation.
| Thereupon the Emir would sign to his
black slave Mesrour, and the poet would
! be hustled forth and bastinadoed and pa.
! raded through the streets of Bedad on a
white mule, with his face toward the ami.
mails tail, and as soon as he had recovered
| the use of his feet would depart to his own
city in an utterly dazed condition and pre-
| pared to admit that after all there might
be something in the theory of an Uncon-
scious Memory.
Meanwhile the poets ode would be writ
ten in letters of gold upon illuminated
vellum and placed in the royal library, the
| Emir thus obtaining priceless collection
of the cream of contemporary literature at
! the minimum of expense.
Now, there was poet who dwelt in a
remote oasis and had followed with inter
| est the literary movement OF the time. He,
too, declared his intention of presenting
| himself before the Emir. For seven years,
therefore, he wrought and produced an ode
beside which the widest writings of Carlyle
and Walt Whitman and Stephen Pearl
Andrews were even as alb alb. The short
est word In it made two lines, and the
nominatives, fainting beneath burden of
adjectives, grew gray before they found
| their long lost twin verbs. Having CON-
peted this work he set forth for the court
of Bedad amid the lamentations OF his kin.
dred.
When the Emir was informed of the ar.
rival OF another poet he babe the attend
ants summon the eunuch and female slave,
select two new whips of hippopotamus
hide, saddle white mule, and admit the
bard.
The poet made his obeisance to the
Emir, and thus addressed him Com
mander of the Faithful, your slave has here
little thing which he threw off in five
minutes last night. Your slave belongs to
new literary school, and the production
which he has the honor of submitting is a
sincere, though perhaps inadequate, speci-
men of the Poetry OF the Future"
"BUk bak! 1t is good, my son pro-
coed, in the name of the thirty. nine
Imaums p replied the Emir, and the poet
thus encouraged recited his ode.
As he proceeded the complacency of the
Emir gave place to, in rapid succession,
eager interest, astonishment, and despair,
III,
that he had never studied photography,
and the female slave declared that 1t was
hard to die so young.
At the conclusion OF the recitation the
Emir sighed, frowned, passed his hand
across his forehead as if to collect his
thoughts, and said My son, your
verses are not without a certain merit.
though it seems to me that I have read, or
heard something very like them before.
Let me see if can recall them. Hem
Msmrnastodocephalic monarch
Curious cannot remember the next line,
! and yet ] seem to have it at my fingers
ends. Did you ever hear that poem p he
continued, addressing the eunuch.
! Commander of the Faithful, cried the
slave, prostrating himself before the Emir,
81 have faint recollection that my
| grandmother once sang me to sleep with a
song very like that; but OF course could
not positively say"
And you, F4tima, cried the Emir to
the slave.
! "Light OF the Sum-" stammered the
beautiful slave, feeling as she subs equent-
! ly averred, that she did not know whether
she was sitting on her head or her heels,
:" l have vague idea that l once read
! something very like it in the Poets Corner
of the Bedad Zimzem, bat my mind was SO
occupied with admiration of my gracious
sovereign"
Enough /" said the Emir; Eve will
give the poet the benefit of the doubt.
Hang up the whips, unsaddle the white
mule, and let the treasurer give the poet
the weight of his manuscript in gold.
Commander of the Faithful u said the
poet, " command that sixteen stout slaves
be sent to fetch it, where it is on my insig-
niflcant camels that wait at your illustrious
gate"
Sixteen stout slaves :" gasped the Emir.
! May it please your highness," said the
poet, owing to the exactions of the
wood pulp ring, it was beyond the power
OF your slave to purchase paper, and
Judging that an ode to so mighty a
monarch should endure nearly as long
as his fame, your slave carved his poem
upon the fragments of an obelisk in the
oasis, and thus the manuscript made load
! for four stout camels !"
Him !" said the Ernir, refective'y, then
waving his hnnd to the royal treasurer he
cried Appoint Commission on Inter
national Copyright! y
! ONE Cup AFTER ANOTHER will, with
many constitutions, securely establish the
seeds of consumption in the system. If you
are in need of q remedy for any lung trouble
: Ak-.,nt diSaaro mill End Ir lar, q.