The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-05-27
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! EEYSHAD. !
-~A-SA7s:


ney across the desert, fell apart one day
from the caravan with which he travelled,
and, causing his camel to kneel, he dis
mounted for the purpose of counting the
Bmeralds and rubies In the sack which he
wore at his belt.
In this sack there were balas rubies of
the color of white mouses eye and en-
sralds colored like the grass after rain,
and also there were green sapphires OF
cornfower blue, and sapphires colored like
the Bosporus on MINDLESS day and
pearls, sire, some black and bean shaped,
like the thumb Of an Ethiopian woman,
and some like a 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 houT, sire, when, awaking, he
glanced around. and found himself alone
His camel had forsaken him, and over all
the yellow desert burning beneath the
MONDAY sun there was no trace of life
save inc plcoCIliIiB pOueS L1at HeTb anu
there marked the road of the caravans.
He turned to the east and to the west,
to the north and to the south, and moth
Ing did he see but the sands running to a
rim against Che sky, save in the east,
where sand devil danced upon the plain,
making movements as If in derision of
Feyshad.
"Alasl" cried the unhappy merchant as
he tore his beard. 'eFool that ami That
might count my treasure in safety /
withdrew me from the caravan, where
was my real safety. l thirst but where
shall ] find water herep The sun con-
sumes me, but where shall find shade?"
Then he ceaRed for fear of his own voice,
which sounded strange in that echoless
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
shadr' 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
the soul of Feyshad, for, but a 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 charging form as it spoke,
yet speaking always in the same voice.
Now, it was ar Arab seated upon an
ass, now a woman naked and bestriding
lion, it would shrink now to an ape seated
upon dog, and now it would swell to
the form of stout man upon a camel.
And the form cried to him, saying;
"Feyshad, am the Fata Morgana, the
draa nf tho dpsart 7 brinor n the
waste places the ghosts of the cities, with
their mosques and towers, and the sap
phire shadow of the Nile bends at 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 sFeyshad, consumed by thirst,
cried out, needless of the horror before
him. "Water, pray you; water!'
Before entering my lands" said the
Fata Morgana, bear we'll in mind,
Feyshad, thatshould you see them, though
it be league away or though it be but
their reflection in mirror, at that instant
all will vanish and the world Of happy illu-
sion will be for you no mora"
"Peacel" cried Feyshad. II love no
one, nor have ever loved mortal in this
world Water, pray you; waterl"
mo man has lived in my cities" said
the Fata Inorganic, "for longer than mo-
ment of time for no man born of woman
is content even with happiness. One
plucks flower In my gardens, another
fruit from a tree, another a jewel from the
tables in my bazaars. Not content, crav-
ing forever for the unreal, which men
have misnamed the real, they must
touch and have and thateper brings them
to Ill luck, who drives them forth from
the gates Of my paradise But enter,
Feyshsd, 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
tSr played beneath the sun, casting its dia-
mond bright waters to the sky, and the
great acacia planted by his father cast
upon Feyshad its pleasant shadow. His
thirst had vanished at the sight of water,
nor did he notice that theSountain was
but the ghost or shade of fountain with
out song or sound and that the leaves Of
the acacia moved in the breeze without n
whisper.
His tortoise orawled upon the pavement
of the courtyard Through an open door
he saw within the house the figure of his
wife like asbrown shadow against the sum
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 won't. The thought of it was suffi-
cient to satisfy his desire even as the
thought of the fountain water was suffi-
Gent to satisfy his thirst.
Filled with great happiness, he sat,
0ad as he sat thus he remembered the
words of the Fata Morgana, "Should you
meet there any one you love, should you
see them, though it be league away or
though 1t be but their reflection in mir
ror at that instant all will vanish"
And as he murmured the words he smil-
cd, 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 the dancing water, and the
waving leaves, and all this while, sire, his
bod ell tho Aacart GQndg