Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-02-13
ARABIAN SUFERSTiTiCNS.
A Glimpse a; thc T., :<-i"re of the Mo-
han,iic i,u-.

AhASiSN SJ & cttS } tSItS.
Glimpse a; tI:c p :-iore of the Mo-
h,iniiir t,p-.
Among Ia" nLu., cr;I'l an'l -upcISti-
tiou> customs rra,-,.rr" 10y the ancient
Arabs. and o.Ir - which MahOmrt
effectively pat top. was that of bury
ing their female children alive, which
was apparently most often done to
avoid the rXpcn>" of their malntc-
nance. though sometimes from IL mis-
taken idea of sparin@ them lie of
trouble or disgrace. The following
proverbs: An eNr"ilcnt >oIi-in-law is
the grave" ani "To bar, daughters is
an act OF mercy" sufficiently Indicate
the Arab cling on this point: and
even to the present day Il Bc'lawi, if
aS,lrd how many oh llrrn he has, re-
plies hv ONLY rnumrr.t no hi- SONS, for.
aS Sinai Arab once. said To the writer.
in their eyes Fl Bcnat bAttcleh
..l,au. hlrr, are root for nothing" A
terrible story is told ni kAiS i'm A>im.
chief of the trib,. nf Tailn who. lind
ing tha one of HI daughters had been
SsiNfu tl Ulllu anu up III
other family unknown tp him. GOT pos
session of her and buried her alive
They relate that the only tears that this
man was ever known to shed was when
he kissed his little daughter before con-
signing her to her living tomb and She
brushed the grave dust off his beard.
TIE KING AND TIE MApIAN.
A certain King went to visit II mad
house and found there IN Intelligent
looking youth. " ho. after replying sea-
sihly to Il number of questions put to
him hy the S,N reign: at length
addressed tine latter. saying: You
have asked me man, things: VIII now
ask YOU one. At what period does Il
sleeper enjoy his Sleep mo>t?" The
King reflected awhile am. said: ''Whilc
he is actually >irepin|." That can
not be-" said the r,adm IN, for he has
no perception while asleep" "lirn:
before he ~or- In sheep, said the
King. 'llow can one cn Iny anything"
said the madman ''bcforc it Gomez"
Then" said the kin~. ''af;,r he has
been asleep" "N"y.' said the mad
man. "a man can no, hr said to enjoy Il
thing that has passed away" So
pleased WIS the King with the other :
wit that he determined to make II com
ranion Of him. had table -ci ont in
front of the window of the madhou>,'
and babe his attendants hand Il cup Of
wine to himself and one to his mad
friend. You drink Your cup" said
the latter. that You may become like
me; hut if drink mine. whom shall
| be- like" The King. on hearing this
speech. threw away the cup. and re-
maincd total ahstaincr for cvcrmorc
GINNING FOX.
Two travellers had -hatcd in the
desert. and had Just killed Il couple Of
| fowl; for their dinner. Before they
could dress the birds the hour of PRAYER
arrived. and they turned Ike good
Moslems. 10 their dcyoiions. \ foA
who had been >kulking in the neigh
borhood. seeing them thus engaged,
came boldly up aud carried of one of
the fowl. before their eyes. Prayers
over. they began lamcnting their loss,
when. To their amazement, they brhrld
the thief at Il little distance. dragging
his tail subm;s>ivelv behind him, and
holding the fowl in his mouth. He
then deposited it on the Ground and
| sluuk away. with every sign of repent
ancc and contrition. They at once
! hailed the occurrence Is Il miraculous
testimony to their own picty, and ran
to pick up the fowl which had been
strangely restored to them. On reach
ing the spot. however. they found that
| REWARD had only restored the skin
with the feathers ON, and in the mean
time had Slyly stolen around to their
camp fire and made off with the re-
naming moirty of their dinner
Ralmcr's "DrScH 0t'ttc Eroi"S." p. 1872
A QUICK-WIrrED SHEPHERD.
| "A certain shepherd had dog Of
which he was very fond. and which
having, to his great grief, died. was
buried by him with every mark of
affection and regret. The cadi of the
village, whose il!-will the shepherd had
in some way incurred. hearing of this
ordered him to be brought before him
on the serious charge of profanity in
having mockel the ceremonies of the
Mohammcdan religion and buried an
unclean animal with sacred rites. On
bcin~-aSkcd what he had to say in his
defense. the prisoner thus addressed
the magistrate: If Your reverence
will he pleased To hear my story. you
will. am sure. excuse me. Ny dog :
mother died when hc was quite Il puppy,
and he was brought up by Il she-goat
of my flock. who adopted him. When
she died in her turn she left him all her
property. consisting of several fine
young kids. Now. when my poor dog
was taken i'll and found himself at the
point If death. ! asked him what
should do with the kids which belonged
to him. and he replied: 'aiive them to
his reverence the cldi." | thought the
animal 50 sensible for this that | gave
him Mosiem burial Quite right.
said his reverence What else was
the lamrnted deceased pleased to OBJ
serve?'"
l. A CLEVER EpIGRAM.
Animals play an important part in
the folklore of the Arabs rs of other
nations. and the Mantik ut tair. Qi
"knowlodgc of. the language of birds
and beasts" is regarded as the great
est divine gift. and was expressly
vouchsafcd. according To the Koranie
legend, to Solomon, the son of David
Apropos of tbs the Egyptian poet
Beha-eddin ZOhcr. has written Il clever
epigram:
:, iu"'>n atheist whom lately found
Alleged philosophy in his defense:
| Said he: THE arguments use are sound.
Just so.' said l, "ail sound and little
| sense.
"You speak of matters far beyond YOU
| reach.
You're knocking al II closed up door,
| said |.
Said he: "You do not understand M,
speech"
"Im not King solomon" was my reply.
Mi'aiciphiu CAL.