The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-05-27

| leagues away, where indeed, his child
was chasing butterfly ut that moment,
and his wife was grinding coffee, and his
| fountain was playing in the sunlight, and
| his acacia waving in the breeze, Just as
he bcneld them in the desert
Forever he might have sat there, happy
beyond the dreams of man, but mer-
| chant, sire, is ever a merchant, even
though he live in paradise, and presently
Feyshad said to himself, Il will arise and
go into the bazaars."
At that moment, sire, might have been
seen a great way off the caravan RETURN
ing to seek for Feyshad, and the people OF
the caravan beheld before them, over
against the place where Feyshad was, the
city of Cairo, with its palm trees, mosques
and minarets, and they laughed for they
knew it was the work of Fata Morgana.
Feyshad sire, fearful of being robbed,
placed his sack of jewels in hole beneath
the fountain, for merchant, sire, is al
ways fearful OF robbers, even in the land
Of happy illusion, and he placed them
there, not knowing that he was burying
them in the sand, where they would never
be found again. And then he left what
seemed to his eyes tho courtyard of his
house and began to walk about upon the
sands whereon Fata Morgana had laid the
streets and bazaars of Cairo.
In the bazaars sat the merchants smok-
ing their pipes, while around them lay
piled their wealth. silks and brocades and
Jewels, and as Feyshad wandered and
looked the happiness fell from him. For
though the sight of the fountain water
had quenched his thirst and the sight of
his wife and Of the coffee had satisfied his
desires the sight of the gems and rich
silks, far from giving him satisfaction,
made him unhappy, inasmuch as they
were not his For Feyshad, sire, was a
merchant.
Ho paused at the shop of Ell Kobir, the
goldsmith and, selling upon a vase of
gold incrusted with turquoise, cried out,
"El Kobir, what price?" But Ell kobir
neither drew the amber mouthpiece of his
pipe from his lips nor turned his head, so
Feyshad put the vase beneath his robe and
walked on.
As Ell Kobir did not cry after him he
knew that the bazaars and all they con-
tanned were his. A great hunger for
riches came upon him, and he cast the
vase of gold in the street, and 1t fell upon
sleeping dog, who neither moved nor
raised an eyelid. Then Feyshad ran to
the shop of silk merchant and taking
b0ertlrOIu Rr6dV Dag vi siin clhpioiupiou
with golden melon flowers returned with
it on his shoulders to the shop of Ell
Kobir There he took all the diamonds
he could find and cast them in his sack,
and rubies and emeralds as well, and
when there was nothing left for him to
take he cried out in derision, "El Kobir,
what price?"
But Ell Kobir did not see him nor the
loss of the jewels, but sat smoking his
pipe and conversing with a Greek, heed
less of Feyshad and his evil doings.
Then, sire, Feyshad went to the shop of
Jew and took little vial of altar of
roses, and dagger with ruby hilt, and
an elephant of gold with jeweled eyes, and
bag of sequins, and the Jew, who at
that moment was, in fact asleep in his
shop in Cairo, dreamed that he was being
robbed, but he could not prevent Feyshad
from taking his things, and Feyshad has
tened home rejoicing, with the sack upon
his shoulders.
Though it seemed TO him that he had
spent several hours in the baZaars, 1t Is
impossible that he could have been there
longer than a moment, for, to his aston
ishment when he entered the courtyard
of his house his child was still in pursuit
of the butterfly with amber wings, and
the tortoise he had left crawling upon the
pavement had not gained an inch toward
its goal, and his wife was still grinding
the coffee.
Feyshad felt great thirst from his ex-
ertions, and the sight of the fountain did
not allay it as before.
He emptied his sack of the stolen jewels
and covered the glittering heap with
leaves plucked from the acacia, and then
he cried; How happy am 1 that 1 have
never loved, else the sight of my wife or
my child or friend would have banished
me forever from this land, where l may
rob all day and be happy Now will
quench my thirst at the fountain and,
leaving my jewels here, return to the ba-
zaars for more"
But sire, the hand of Allah reaches
even to the land of happy illusion. AS
Feyshad bent to drink he beheld person
whom he loved, for, in the clear waters of
the fountain, he beheld the reflection of
his own face.
At that moment, sire, the people of the
approaching caravan saw the phantom
city that lay before them trembling, from
the green palm trees at it's walls to the
domes that cut the sky, and then it van
ished like dream, leaving naught but a
black speck upon the land, which was
Feyshad.
The jewels he had hidden for safety be-
meath the shadow fountain were never
found again or the jewels he had covered
with the leaves of the acacia
And today, sire, he sits at the gates of
Cairo begging aims or wanders through
the bazaars gazing upon the jewels that
once were his-in the land of happy flu
sion.-H. de We're Stacpoole.
why Eyeglasses Are Worn So Much.
The question is often asked, particular
lr bxyf bNca l,o ha CIR nd