The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-09-07

FEYSHAD. |
-1A~A1E:

6lnordluH anu TuuloS IA euo Sttcn Wul0A ho
wore at Ills belt.
In this sack there were balas rubics Of
the color of white mouse's eye and en-
eralds colored like the grass after rain,
and also there were green sapphires Of
cornfower blue, and sapphires colored like
the Bosporus on a MINDLESS day, and
pearls, sire, some black and bean shaped,
like the thumb of an Ethiopian woman,
and some like woman's little teeth, and
some that blushed rose red, as If at the
thought of their own beauty.
So lost was the merchant in contempla-
ton Of his treasures that he did not notice
Sleep, who, passing by on his gray mule,
cast handful Of poppy seeds upon the
head Of Feyshad and then rode on laugh
ing, with eyes half closed, In the track Of
the vanishing caravan. Feyshad had slept
scarcely an hour, sire, when, awaking, he
glanced around and found himself alone
His camel had forsakon him, and over all
the yellow desert burning beneath the
MONDAY sun there was no trace Of life
save the bleaching bones that hero and
there marked the road Of the caravans.
He turned to the east and to tho west,
" tio llUTbu duu W uiio eOuUii, ANA uOsu-
ing did he see but the sands running to
rim against the sky, save in the east,
where sand devil danced upon the plain,
making movements as II in derision Of
Feyshad.
"Alasl' cried the unhappy merchant as
he tore his beard "Fool that ami That
might count my treasure in safety /
withdrew me from the caravan, where
was my real safety. I thirst, but where
shall I find water hsre9 The sun con-
s,imes me, but where shall find shade9"
Then he ceased for fear Of his own voice,
which sounded strange in that echolcss
desert, and, sitting with his eyes fixed
upon the sand devil, which was now dane
ing into the west, he gave himself to de-
spair, till suddenly, sire, he was startled
by voice from behind crying, FEY
ehadp' The merchant, sire, turned, and,
to his astonishment, he saw before him, at
20 PAGES distant, an Arab yelled in white
and seated upon an ass.
At this sight great horror fell upon
tho soul of Feyshad, for, but moment
before, he had been alone seated amid the
vastness Of the desert Nor did his horror
grow less when he beheld the thing before
him ceaselessly changing form as it spoke,
yet speaking always in the same voice.
Now, 1t was an Arab seated upon an
ass, now woman naked and hestriding y
lion, 1t would shrink now to an ape seated
upon dog, and now 1t would swell to
the form of u stout man upon u camel.
And tho form cried to him, saying:
"Feyshad, am tho Fata Morgana, the
dreamer of tho desert. l bring to the
waste places the ghosts Of the cities, with
their mosques and towers, and tho sap.
phire shadow of tho Nile bends Mt my word
through the heat shaken air and past the
feet of dying men. give to man the one
thing real-.illusion. am thine"
Then Feyshad, consumed by thirst,
cried out, needless of the horror before
him. "Water, pray you; water"
Before entering my lands" said the
Fata Moraaua, "bear well in mind, O
Feyshad, that should you see them though
1t be league away or though it be but
their reflection in d mirror, at that instant
all will vanish and the world of happy illu-
sion will be for you no more"
'Pcace! cried Fcyshad. II love no
one, nor have ever loved mortal in this
world. Water, pray you; water!"
"No man has lived in my cities" said
the Fata Morgana, ''for longer than mo
ment of time, for no lnan born Of woman
Is content even with happiness. One
plucks flower in my gardens, another a
fruit from tree, another jewel from the
tables In my bazaars Not content, crav-
Ing forever for tho unreal, which mon
have misnamed the real, they must
how md that hrt ~ tyc than
to ill luck, who drives them forth from
the gates Of my paradise. But enter, o
Feyshad, and remember.
And, 10, sire, Feyshad found himself
seated in the courtyard Of his own house
in old Cairo and the fountain in its CEN
ter played beneath the sun casting its di9
mond bright waters to tho sky, and the
great acacia planted by his father cast
upon Teyshad its pleasant shadow. His
thirst had vanished at tho sight of water,
nor did he notice that the fountain was
but tho ghost or shade Of fountain with
ont song or sound and that the leaves Of
tho acacia moved in the breeze without q
whisper.
His tortoise crawled upon the pavement
of tho courtya ard. Through an open door
no saw within the house tho figure Of his
wife like brown shadow against the sun
light OF window that lay beyond. She
was grinding coffee, but of the sound Of
grinding there was none. And, though
Feyshad WAS fond of coffee, he did not call
upon his wife to bring it to him, as was
his wont. The thought Of 1t was sutfi-
Gent to satisfy his desire oven as tho
thought Of tile fountain water was suffl-
cicnt to satisfy his thirst.
Filled with great happiness, he sat,
and rs he sat thus he remembered the
words of the Fata MorgaDa, "Should you
meet there any one you love, should yoll
sec them, though 1t be league AWAY or
though it be but their reflection in a mir.
for, at that Instant all will vanish"
And Us he mlrmured the words he smil-
ed, for Feyshad did not love his wife, and
when his child entered the courtyard and
ran in pursuit of butterfly with amber
wings he smiled again, for Feyshad did
not love his child. He sat contentedly in
the shade Of the acacia and watched his
wife, and his child, and the crawling tor
toise, and tho dancing water, and tho
waving leaves, and all this while, sire, his
body was sitting upon the desert sands
uSitAtH uhS pifHiHR suhj bup VI n"i'"1
were naught to him, for around him the
Fata Morgana lad laid the ghost Of tn,
city of Cairo, fetched from hundred
leagues away, where, indeed, his child
was chasing n butterfly at 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 bchcld them in tho desert.
Forever he might have sat there, happy
beyond tho dreams Of man, but n mer
chant, sire, IL ever merchant, even
though he live in paradise, and presently
FCyshad said to himself, II will arise and
60 into the bszsurs.
At that moment, sire, might have beer
seen u 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 WIS, the
rity Of Cairo, with its palm trees, mosque,
and minarets, and they laughed, for they
knew it was the work Of Tata 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, md he placed them
there, not knowing that Ito was buryna
them in the sand, where they would never
DO found again. And then he left what
seemed to his eyes the courtyard Of his
house and began TO walk about upon the
rauAs rvhcrnry, Fnta Morxaua hud laid thk