little distance.

"Poor friend," said he; "what will you do among the Turks? You will
be shut up under the roof of a khan, with the horses of a pacha or
an aga; no longer will the women and children of the tent bring you
barley, camel's milk, or dourra, in the hollow of their hands. No
longer will you gallop, free as the wind of Egypt, in the desert. No
longer will you cleave with your bosom the water of the Jordan which
cools your sides, as pure as the foam of your lips. If I am to be a
slave, at least may you go free. Go, return to our tent which you
know so well; tell my wife that Abou el Marek will return no more;
but put your head still into the folds of the tent, lick the hands
of my beloved children."

With these words, he untied with his teeth the fetters, and set the
courser at liberty. But the noble animal, on recovering its freedom,
instead of bounding away alone, bent its head over its master, and,
seeing him in fetters, took his clothes gently in its teeth, lifted
him up, set off at full speed, and, without ever resting, made
straight for the distant but well-known tent in the mountains.

The horse arrived in safety, laid his master down at the feet of his
wife and children, and immediately dropped down dead with fatigue.
The whole tribe mourned him, the poets celebrated his fidelity, and
his name is still constantly in the mouths of the Arabs of Jericho.

And now, boys, let us talk about the elephant a little. I have been
reading something of his history, and I am disposed to think that,
of all animals, he is, on the whole, the most intelligent."