But Abarak cried, 'Rouse not the talkative tongue of the past, O youth!
Wullahy! relinquish the bar that is my bar, won by me, for the Sword is
within thy grip, and they await thee up yonder steps. Go! go! and look
for me here on thy return.'






THE PALACE OF AKLIS

Now, Shibli Bagarag assured himself of his three spells, and made his
heart resolute, and hastened up the reddened marble steps of the Palace;
and when he was on the topmost step, lo! one with a man's body and the
head of a buffalo, that prostrated himself, and prayed the youth
obsequiously to enter the palace with the title of King. So Shibli
Bagarag held his head erect, and followed him with the footing of a
Sultan, and passed into a great hall, with fountains in it that were
fountains of gems, pearls, chrysolites, thousand-hued jewels, and by the
margin of the fountains were shapes of men with the heads of beasts-
wolves, foxes, lions, bears, oxen, sheep, serpents, asses, that stretched
their hands to the falls, and loaded their vestments with brilliants,
loading them without cessation, so that from the vestments of each there
was another pouring of the liquid lights. Then he with the buffalo's
head bade Shibli Bagarag help himself from the falls; but Shibli Bagarag
refused, for his soul was with Noorna, his betrothed; and he saw her pale
on that solitary pillar in the tumult of the sea, and knew her safety
depended on his faithfulness.