Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-12

of Paradise. And the country is very
bright, gay and beautiful"
A cloudless sky overhead-blue ridges
of mountains in the distance, rising to
the snow peak that was called the
Majesty of Solomon. The rolling foot
hills were covered with meadows, and
the streams raced down still cold from
the chill of the higher ranges. In these
uplands sheep grazed, watched by the
out-shepherds on shaggy ponies. Cat
tie clustered lower down in the lush
grass of the glens near the villages.
The river twisted among masses of
limestone. More sedately it flowed out
into a long valley dark with mulberry
trees and the tangle of vineyards.
Channels led from it into fields of rice
and melons and rolling barley-irriga-
ton bitches where cracking wheels
raised the water slowly.
They called the river the ANU And
it had been from time immemorable the
border between Iran and Turan-be-
tween south and north. To the south
lay Khorassan, the Land of the Sun,
where the IranianS spoke Persian and
cultivated the soil. They were wearers
of turbans, gentlefolk and beggars of
elder Asia.
REYOND, to the north, lay Turan, out
~ of the depths of which the nomads
had come, the attle-breeding, horse
raising raceS-the helmeted men. EX-
cept for the river, there was no frontier
The land to the north of the river was
called Ma-vara 'n-nahr, Beyond the
River" Shut in by the hills was the
Green City where Tamerlane was born.
His home was house of wood and I'M
burned clay. with walled courtyard
and a garden within the wall. 1t
had fiat roof with a parapet, where
boy could lie unseen and listen at
dusk to the mueZZin's long call to
prayer, while the sheep and the cattle
were driven in from the fields.
Here, too, came bearded men in fam
ing silk robes who spread their sleeping
rugs and talked of caravans and hap
penings, and always of war. For the
shadow of war lay over the valley of
the Green City.
"Erein NOR nigen bui''-Tamerlan
heard this phrase often. "A mans
path is only one"
He did not bother his head about it
much-or the gravely intoned verses
from the Koran. The words of the
elder men were law, but the boys liked
to watch their weapons, and speculate
upon the cutting edge of a sheathed
tulwar, or the meaning of a broken
Spear-shaft.
These boys grew up among horses,
and matched their Steeds in the clover
meadows across the Samarkand road.
With their bows they hunted quail and
foxes, and their trophies they kept in
castle of their own among rocks be-
meath the overhang of a cliff. Here
they played at siege, while their dogs
slept and the horses graZed. Tamerlane
was the leader-he had no more than
three or four companionS-in this game
of mimic war.
He was gravely purposeful in play,
and he never laughed. Although his
horses were not as good as some of
the others, he was the best rider of his
troupe. And when they were old
enough to be given hunting swords, he
soon established his mastery with the
weapons.
Perhaps this seriousness was bred of
his near-solitude. His mother died
while he was young and his father,
chieftain of the BarlaS Tatars, spent
most of his hours in talk with the
| green-turbaned holy men who had
visited the Shrines of Islam and gain
| ed Sanctity there. The son had his
falcons, his dogs and his companions
the house, and the horses did not fill
half the stable. The father was not a
retgning chieftain; he came of line of
men distinguished in war, but he was
poor.
The boy rode af1eld and sat much in
his eyre, looking at the Samarkand
road. Down this highway road caval-
cadeS of wealthy PerSianS, with armed
| guards about their yelled women-the
ratar women did not veil. Lean Arab
| traders escorted horse trains, with
loads of brocades from Cathay and raw
silk and rugs from the northern looms.
Moving through the yellow dust came
also slave caravans, and beggars with
staff and bowl, and holy men looking
| tor disciples.
| At times there appeared Jew with
! his mules or a slender Hindu Voicing
tales of Afghan robbers. At the hour
of dusk they raised their tents among
the animals and the cook fires. And,
kneeling and sitting back on his heels
outside their circle, Tamerlane listened
| TO their talk of prices and the world of
Samarkand. When his father Scolded
him for sitting with the caravan men,
he made answer:
"a mans path is only one"
| X X n II
THE valley and all in it was the
l. heritage of the Barlas clan. 1t
could not be said that they owned it.
The right of grazing and cultivating
land, with its fat cattle and vineyards
and pastures, was theirs so long as they
could keep it. The Khan beyond the
mountains had given it to their an
cestors long since, and they held it as
the clans of Scotland held their lands,
by virtue of their swords and the craft
and dignity Of their chieftains. They