The Portland daily press., 1895-07-13
HIS MANY WIVES.

W4dtW vi IilC 1saOS5 SultS1Aif Cu y ebllu
prasty, had given him the management Of
her household, her son Mohammed being
still child.
Baraks administration was good. The
army owed to him, among other reforms,
the raising of the pay of the soldiers from
three to four aspers. The number three,
the hageb claimed, was holy, because theie
were three prophets.
One day the grand vizier, Darfur ALI
visited the upright hageb, and while the
two drank coffee the guest began:
Truly. Barak Hagob, it is folly un-
worthy of you to keep SO many wives If
it was with us as the FRANKS, the custom
to give wives, you might then be as rich
as King Sapor, but here you must not only
buy your wife but must pay cash for her
Now you have squandered gresst deal of
gold for this purpose, and when you-
money is spent, what have you? For the
cost of one wife you could keep 100 sol
diers"
Barak stroked his beard "No doubt,
but a hundred soldiers would not give me
as much pleasure as one pretty wife.
To this Ali inwardly agreed. "But the
number"
lone should pick as many flowers as he
can from the worlds garden, returned
Barak.
s"True enough, you have blond and
brunette, white and black, blue eyed and
gray eyed women, yellow Chinese and
brown Malay-yes, and even those women
that color their hair red and their teeth
black. Now, think that one of each sort
should be enough. By Allah You have SO
many that you cannot remember either
their names OF their special good qualities.
tDon't you believe it, said the hageb.
"I will show you. First then, there is
Jedibah, who can prophesy-we need her
to tell the fate of the nation; then Half
tenn, the medium, who calls up the spirits
of the dead; Nourmahal, who understands
the language of the birds better than do
yours; Alpaide tells stories that would put
a sultan to sleep; Mahadevi and Assainte
are famous for pas de deux; the great
thing about Mangora is that she makes a
sultan's bread that is exquisite; Sandabad
concocts wonderful sherbet after which
you wash your beard with regret; of Bia-
Hia, my Chinese better half, will only
say that she translates the expressions of
cockscombs, which makes cock fighting
AlOSh AaOIO hlA4uS1AAS, oi1O AA4oAol3 AAehSiAesJ
subdues wild animals and even bitches
lions to her carriage; Roxana is star
reader and can foretell to you the day of
your death; Ayesha understands the cul-
knre of flowers; Kaika is ugly, but she
rubs the rheumatism out of my joints; my
Tartar. Yarko, is an admirable equestrienne
and teaches my other wives to ride, while
the learned Abuzaide writes my letters
from dictation; Josa reads to me from the
Koran; Rachel sings psalms and is accom-
panied by Kadagival and Samuza, for one
must have trio; Yakima is rope dancer,
while Zibella throws a knife SO skillfully
that she can split a hair at 10 PAGES; Bo-
rassa knows all about the healing art; Ali
ben embroiders in gold; Aliciel arsanges
my turban most becomingly; Bagdad
Chatum in+crprets dreams; Mavola plays
the harp Zebia the tam tam and Kia the
tambeIrine, and altogether thJy make
heavenly music; ZLl:-
= "Good, good" interrupted the grand
vizier. Ho haG keE. couat, first on his
fingers, aad when these gave out on his
toes Wien tEe number exceeded 80, he
grew alarmed. he feared his friend would
keep on all night.
r have heard enough; you need every
one of them-each has evidently her fa-
nous side. Take care lest some day you
discover an infamous one."
Whether the grand vizier was right or
not the following story will show.
The siiltan of Kermau, sidi Achmed,
hearing Mohanmed's people were discon-
tented, decided to liberate them from their
oppression To alleviate the suiferings Of
their neighbors has always been a labor Of
love to oriental rulers.
Sidi Achmed commanded an immense
army. Some Persian historians say he had
10, 900 soldiers; others insist that he had
100, GEO. The truth probably lay some
where between the two. Certain it is that
he hsJd 800 cavalrynen.
Before declaring war he raised the pay
of the troops from to aspers. This nat
urally caused universal enthusiasm.
Sidi Ach1ned was at the head of the
army, himself and his horse loaded with
precious stones. The sight of them caused
a glow of righteous pride in every bare
footed warrior who turned out. The sui
tan took with him the most costly deli
cacies, and the thought that the sultan
Jared sulnptuously went far to cheer the
hungry soldiers.
Mohammed also had an enormous stand
ing army. AS to its exact number history
is SILENT but it is always given as twice as
many as the enemy's force. The Grand
Vizier Darfur Ali was appointed com
mander.
The night before the first battle one of
Raraks wives, the Jedibah of whom we
have already heard, prophesied that the
neighboring kingdom would be destroyed,
and Roxana, who also dabbled in fortune
telling, predicted that on the next day Sid
Achmed would die.
These predictions were made public in
she principal city, and there was in conse-
quence universal enthusiasm.
Barak himself was firmly convinced that
both would be fulfilled, and he and his
entire following Of women occupied the
next day hill in the neighborhood of the
battlefield in order to enjoy from that
coign of vantage the amusing spectacle OF
the downfall of the enemy.
The battle began early in the morning,