The Somerset reporter., 1902-01-09
THE SON Of
ABUEFFDA
How He Provided His Palace With
Statues.

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In the last years of the eighth cen
fury there reigned in Bagdad the Caliph
Abulfeda. Into the Golfers of his pred
ecessors the wealth of the east had
| been poured with a most unsparing
hand. The magnificent city of the
Enchantress" was not only the abode
of Peace" but a splendid jewel in the
empire of the faithful.
OF all the caliphs of this wonderful
city since Almansor, its founder. no
two had blessed or cursed the worl6
with the same idea of what 1t was
necessary that man should do to enjoy
life. in this world and at death TO be
i worthy of place among the dark eyed
damsels and beautiful youths of the
! gardens of paradise
/ The magnificent Almamoun scattered
i his nestimable wealth in the gsatest
contrast with the abstemiousness and
/ frugality of the mighty Omar, and the
I Haroun-al- Raschid Of Bagdad is vastly
different from the Akbah, whose ia
matte advance only the heaying waves
of the Atlantic were able to hinder.
I The Caliph Abulfeda had succeeded
/ his father, whose desire to gather the
/ gold Of the then known world into
Bagdad without expanding it for any
purpose had put the youthful prince
20 many disadvantages and fostered
in him the desire to do otherwise when
he would succeed to the mantle of the
prophet. Therefore when his own sons
were choosing their ends or pleasures
the Caliph Abulfeda was always ready
to forward or indulge them.
Among the youngest of his many
children was Ali. For years he had
brooded over and planned on the idea
of a wonderful edifice that he hoped in
| time to construct. OF all the magnif-
cent structures it had been his privl
| lege as a son of the commander of the
| faithful to see none. was in all things
! the perfection of which the young
| prince dreamed; therefore on the death
of his father the prince began the
building Of the long deferred happi-
| ness.
In time there arose on the banks of
| the river the most wonderful archi-
tectural dream that even that magic
age and that wonderful city had pro
duced Yet to the prince it was I'M
! finished; something was yet lacking to
make it the abode of perfect pleasure.
One evening the prince was saunter-
ing along one of the most magnificent
Of the curiously carved arcades of the
palace when a voice called his name:
prince Ali, son of Abulfeda! Prince
! Ali, son of AbulfedaW
The young prince glanced quickly
around on all sides, but beheld no one
| except the silent sentinels on guard
! around the palace and the picturesque
horsemen that at little distance rode
slowly back and forth as safeguards
against approaching danger.
Again came the voice:
prince Ali. son of Abulfeda Prince
ALI son of Abulfeda"
Quick as a flash the prince drew the
splendidly ornamented and equally
splendidly tempered blade at his side
and stood ready to face any opponent
bul IL WAS uUlleCcSSdl9 LSlOlN hlh
stood an old man, bowed and whitened
by the sorrows and trials of many
years. His dress and manner also dis
tinguished him as belonging to some
other period.
"Prince Ali, son of Abulfeda!" he be-
gan.
81 am" assented Prince Ali, scarcely
not n his
full height and answer with the pride
he felt in his noble name or acknowl-
edge his inferiority before a higher
power
II know you. know you" answered
the aged man. 81 knew your honored
father and your fathers father, and
a supernatural expression spreading
over his visage-"and stood side by
side with the prophet himself in many
dearly won fight with the enemies
of the only true belief. But ! wronged
/ him. | did him an injustice. and there
fore Is my slumber in the tomb dis
turbed. When the commander OF the
faithful or one of his children has an
earnest longing or desire. | or some
other who has wronged the prophet is
called from his tomb in answer to
their prayers.
prince Ali, son Of Abulfeda. what
is thy desre?
The prince thereupon began at the
birth of his hope for the possession Of
an architectural wonder and related
all until its completion.
81 understand! | understand" cried
the old man. slowly reckoning the
prince to silence. You have exhausted
your worldly knowledge In attempting
to succeed to happiness. in gratifying
your desire and have failed Is 1t
not as | sayp
at is," answered the prince, and
now yearn for something beyond the
power of man to accomplish or under
stand"
BE 1t then as you DESIRE" answered
the aged father. Behold this staff
Ask not from whence it came nor dis
rover the mystery to any living man
until ! return for Its possession"
The prince took the staff and looked
It curiously over, but nothing eXtraor-
binary occurred. Seeing his eXpec-