Part 2

"Then stood the Prophet up and cried aloud, "Woe, woe, to Irem! woe to Ad! "DEATH is gone up into her palaces! "Woe! woe! a day of guilt and punishment, "A day of desolation!" "As he spake "His large eye rolled in horror, and so deep "His tone, it seemed some Spirit from within "Breathed thro' his moveless lips[18] the unearthly voice. "All looks were turned to him. "O Ad!" he cried, "Dear native land, by all rememberances "Of childhood, by all joys of manhood dear; "O Vale of many Waters! morn and night "My age must groan for you, and to the grave "Go down in sorrow. Thou wilt give thy fruits, "But who shall gather them? thy grapes will ripen, "But who shall tread the wine-press? Fly the wrath, "Ye who would live and save your souls alive! "For strong is his right hand that bends the Bow, "The Arrows that he shoots are sharp, "And err not from their aim!"[19]

"With that, a faithful few "Prest thro' the throng to join him. Then arose "Mockery and mirth; "go bald head!" and they mixed "Curses with laughter. He set forth, yet once "Looked back,--his eye fell on me, and he called "Aswad!"... it startled me,... it terrified,... "Aswad!" again he called,... and I almost "Had followed him. O moment fled too soon! "O moment irrecoverably lost! "The shouts of mockery made a coward of me; "He went, and I remained, in fear of MAN!"

"He went, and darker grew "The deepening cloud above. "At length it opened, and.... O God! O God! "There were no waters there! "There fell no kindly rain! "The Sarsar from its womb went forth, "The Icy Wind of Death."

"They fell around me, thousands fell around, "The King and all his People fell. "All! all! they perished all! "I ... only I ... was left. "There came a Voice to me and said, "In the Day of Visitation, "In the fearful Hour of Judgement, "God hath remembered thee."

"When from an agony of prayer I rose "And from the scene of death "Attempted to go forth, "The way was open, I beheld "No barrier to my steps. "But round these bowers the Arm of God "Had drawn a mighty chain, "A barrier that no human force might break. "Twice I essayed to pass. "With that the voice was heard, "O Aswad be content, and bless the Lord!

"One righteous deed hath saved "Thy soul from utter death. "O Aswad, sinful man! "When by long penitence "Thou feelest thy soul prepared, "Breathe up the wish to die, "And Azrael comes, obedient to the prayer."

"A miserable man "From Earth and Heaven shut out, "I heard the dreadful voice. "I looked around my prison place, "The bodies of the dead were there, "Where'er I looked they lay. "They mouldered, mouldered here,... "Their very bones have crumbled into dust, "So many years have past! "So many weary ages have gone by! "And still I linger here! "Still groaning with the burthen of my sins "Have never dared to breathe "The prayer to be released."

"Oh! who can tell the unspeakable misery "Of solitude like this! "No sound hath ever reached my ear "Save of the passing wind.... "The fountain's everlasting flow; "The forest in the gale, "The pattering of the shower, "Sounds dead and mournful all. "No bird hath ever closed her wing "Upon these solitary bowers, "No insect sweetly buzzed amid these groves, "From all things that have life, "Save only me, concealed. "This Tree alone that o'er my head "Hangs, down its hospitable boughs, "And bends its whispering leaves "As tho' to welcome me, "Seems to partake[20] of life; "I love it as my friend, my only friend!

"I know not for what ages I have dragged "This miserable life, "How often I have seen "These antient trees renewed, "What countless generations of mankind "Have risen and fallen asleep, "And I remain the same! "My garment hath not waxed old, "Nor the sole of my shoe hath worn.

"I dare not breathe the prayer to die, "O merciful Lord God!... "But when it is thy will, "But when I have atoned "For mine iniquities, "And sufferings have made pure "My soul with sin defiled, "Release me in thine own good time,... "I will not cease to praise thee, O my God!"

Silence ensued awhile, Then Zeinab answered him. "Blessed art thou, O Aswad! for the Lord "Who saved thy soul from Hell, "Will call thee to him in his own good time. "And would that when my heart "Breathed up the wish to die, "Azrael might visit me! "Then would I follow where my babes are gone, "And join Hodeirah now!"

She ceased, and the rushing of wings Was heard in the stillness of night, And Azrael, the Death-Angel stood before them. His countenance was dark, Solemn, but not severe, It awed but struck no terror to the heart. "Zeinab, thy wish is heard! "Aswad, thy hour is come!" They fell upon the ground and blest the voice, And Azrael from his sword Let drop[21] the drops of bitterness and death.

"Me too! me too!" young Thalaba exclaimed: As wild with grief he kissed His Mother's livid hand, His Mother's quivering lips, "O Angel! take me too!

"Son of Hodeirah!" the Death-Angel cried, "It is not yet the hour. "Son of Hodeirah, thou art chosen forth "To do the will of Heaven; "To avenge thy Father's death, "The murder of thy race, "To work the mightiest enterprise "That mortal man hath wrought. "Live! and remember Destiny "Hath marked thee from mankind!"

He ceased, and he was gone. Young Thalaba looked round,... The Palace and the groves were seen no more, He stood amid the Wilderness, alone.

The Second Book.

_THALABA THE DESTROYER._

_THE SECOND BOOK._

Not in the desert Son of Hodeirah Wert thou abandoned! The coexistent fire, That in the Dens of Darkness burnt for thee, Burns yet, and yet shall burn.

In the Domdaniel caverns Under the Roots of the Ocean, Met the Masters of the Spell. Before them in the vault, Blazing unfuelled from the floor of rock, Ten magic flames arose. "Burn mystic fires!" Abdaldar cried, "Burn whilst Hodeirah's dreaded race exist. "This is the appointed hour, "The hour that shall secure these dens of night."

"Dim they burn," exclaimed Lobaba, "Dim they burn, and now they waver! "Okba lifts the arm of death, "They waver,... they go out!

"Curse on his hasty hand!" Khawla exclaimed in wrath, The woman-fiend exclaimed, "Curse on his hasty hand, the fool hath failed! "Eight only are gone out."

A Teraph[22] stood against the cavern side, A new-born infant's head, That Khawla at his hour of birth had seized And from the shoulders wrung. It stood upon a plate of gold, An unclean Spirit's name inscribed beneath. The cheeks were deathy dark, Dark the dead skin upon the hairless skull; The lips were bluey pale; Only the eyes had life, They gleamed with demon light.

"Tell me!" quoth Khawla, "is the Fire gone out "That threats the Masters of the Spell?" The dead lips moved and spake, "The Fire still burns that threats "The Masters of the Spell."

"Curse on thee, Okba!" Khawla cried, As to the den the Sorcerer came, He bore the dagger in his hand Hot from the murder of Hodeirah's race. "Behold those unextinguished flames! "The fire still burns that threats "The Masters of the Spell! "Okba, wert thou weak of heart? "Okba, wert thou blind of eye? "Thy fate and ours were on the lot, "And we believed the lying stars "That said thy hand might seize the auspicious hour! "Thou hast let slip the reins of Destiny,... "Curse thee, curse thee, Okba!"

The Murderer answering said, "O versed in all enchanted lore, "Thou better knowest Okba's soul. "Eight blows I struck, eight home-driven blows, "Needed no second stroke "From this envenomed blade. "Ye frown at me as if the will had failed, "As if ye did not know "My double danger from Hodeirah's race, "The deeper hate I feel, "The stronger motive that inspired my arm! "Ye frown as if my hasty fault, "My ill-directed blow "Had spared the enemy, "And not the stars that would not give, "And not your feeble spells "That could not force, the sign "Which of the whole was he! "Did ye not bid me strike them all? "Said ye not root and branch should be destroyed? "I heard Hodeirah's dying groan, "I heard his Children's shriek of death, "And sought to consummate the work, "But o'er the two remaining lives "A cloud unpierceable had risen, "A cloud that mocked my searching eyes. "I would have probed it with the dagger-point, "The dagger was repelled, "A Voice came forth and cried "Son of Perdition, cease! thou canst not change "What in the Book of Destiny is written."

Khawla to the Teraph turned, "Tell me where the Prophet's hand "Hides our destined enemy?" The dead lips spake again, "I view the seas, I view the land, "I search the ocean and the earth! "Not on Ocean is the Boy, "Not on Earth his steps are seen."

"A mightier power than we," Lobaba cried, "Protects our destined foe! "Look! look! one fire burns dim! "It quivers! it goes out!"

It quivered, it was quenched. One flame alone was left, A pale blue flame that trembled on the earth, A hovering light upon whose shrinking edge The darkness seemed to press. Stronger it grew, and spread Its lucid swell around, Extending now where all the ten had stood, With lustre more than all. At that protentous sight, The children of Evil trembled And Terror smote their souls. Over the den the fire Its fearful splendour cast, The broad base rolling up in wavy streams, Bright as the summer lightning when it spreads Its glory o'er the midnight heaven. The Teraphs eyes were dimmed, That like two twinkling stars Shone in the darkness late. The Sorcerers on each other gazed, And every face all pale with fear, And ghastly in that light was seen Like a dead man's by the sepulchral lamp.

Even Khawla fiercest of the enchanter brood Not without effort drew Her fear suspended breath. Anon a deeper rage Inflamed her reddening eye. "Mighty is thy power, Mohammed!" Loud in blasphemy she cried, "But Eblis[23] would not stoop to man "When Man fair statured as the stately palm, "From his Creator's hand "Was undefiled and pure. "Thou art mighty, O Son of Abdallah! "But who is he of woman born "That shall vie with the might of Eblis? "That shall rival the Prince of the Morning?"

She said, and raised her skinny hand As in defiance to high Heaven, And stretched her long lean finger forth And spake aloud the words of power. The Spirits heard her call, And lo! before her stands Her Demon Minister. "Spirit!" the Enchantress cried, "Where lives the Boy coeval with whose life "Yon magic fire must burn?" DEMON. Mistress of the mighty Spell, Not on Ocean, not on Earth. Only eyes that view Allah's glory throne, See his hiding-place. From some believing Spirit, ask and learn.

"Bring the dead Hodeirah here," Khawla cried, "and he shall tell." The Demon heard her bidding, and was gone. A moment passed, and at her feet Hodeirah's corpse was laid. His hand still held the sword he grasped in death, The blood not yet had clotted on his wound.

The Sorceress looked and with a smile That kindled to more fiendishness Her hideous features, cried, "Where Hodeirah is thy soul? "Is it in the [24]Zemzem well? "Is it in the Eden groves? "Waits it for the judgement-blast "In the trump of Israfil? "Is it plumed with silver wings "Underneath the throne of God? "Even if beneath his throne "Hodeirah, thou shalt hear, "Thou shalt obey my voice!"

She said, and muttered charms that Hell in fear And Heaven in horror heard. Soon the stiff eye-balls rolled, The muscles with convulsive motion shook, The white lips quivered. Khawla saw, her soul Exulted, and she cried, "Prophet! behold my power! "Not even death secures "Thy slaves from Khawla's Spell! "Where Hodeirah is thy child?"

Hodeirah groaned and closed his eyes, As if in the night and the blindness of death He would have hid himself.

"Speak to my question!" she exclaimed, "Or in that mangled body thou shall live "Ages of torture! answer me! "Where can we find the Boy?"

"God! God! Hodeirah cried, "Release me from this life, "From this intolerable agony!"

"Speak!" cried the Sorceress; and she snatched A Viper from the floor, And with the living reptile lashed[25] his neck. Wreathed, round him with the blow, The Reptile tighter drew her folds And raised her wrathful head, And fixed into his face Her deadly teeth, and shed Poison in every wound. In vain! for Allah heard Hodeirah's prayer, And Khawla on a corpse Had wrecked her baffled rage. The fated fire moved on And round the Body wrapt its funeral flames. The flesh and bones in that portentous pile Consumed; the Sword alone, Circled with fire was left.

Where is the Boy for whose hand it is destined? Where the Destroyer who one day shall wield The Sword that is circled with fire? Race accursed, try your charms! Masters of the mighty Spell, Mutter o'er your words of power! Ye can shatter the dwellings of man, Ye can open the womb of the rock, Ye can shake the foundations of earth, But not the Word of God: But not one letter can ye change Of what his Will hath written!

Who shall seek thro' Araby Hodeirah's dreaded son? They mingle the Arrows[26] of Chance The lot of Abdaldar is drawn. Thirteen moons must wax and wane Ere the Sorcerer quit his quest. He must visit every tribe That roam the desert wilderness, Or dwell beside perennial streams; Nor leave a solitary tent unsearched Till he has found the Boy, The hated Boy whose blood alone Can quench that dreaded fire.

A crystal ring Abdaldar bore, The powerful gem[27] condensed Primeval dews that upon Caucasus Felt the first winter's frost. Ripening there it lay beneath Rock above rock, and mountain ice up-piled On mountain, till the incumbent mass assumed, So huge its bulk, the Ocean's azure hue.

With this he sought the inner den Where burnt the eternal flame. Like waters gushing from some channelled rock Full thro' a narrow opening, from a chasm The eternal flame streamed up. No eye beheld the fount Of that up-flowing flame, That blazed self-nurtured, and for ever, there. It was no mortal element: the Abyss Supplied it, from the fountains at the first Prepared. In the heart of earth it lives and glows Her vital heat, till at the day decreed, The voice of God shall let its billows loose, To deluge o'er with no abating flood The consummated World; That thenceforth thro' the air must roll, The penal Orb of Fire.

Unturbaned and unsandalled there, Abdaldar stood before the flame, And held the Ring beside, and spake The language that the Elements obey. The obedient flame detatched a portion forth, That, in the crystal entering, was condensed, Gem of the gem, its living Eye of fire. When the hand that wears the spell Shall touch the destined Boy, Then shall that Eye be quenched, And the freed Element Fly to its sacred and remembered Spring.

Now go thy way Abdaldar! Servant of Eblis, Over Arabia Seek the Destroyer! Over the sands of the scorching Tchama, Over the waterless mountains of Naïd, In Arud pursue him; and Yemen the happy, And Hejaz, the country beloved by believers. Over Arabia Servant of Eblis, Seek the Destroyer.

From tribe to tribe, from town to town, From tent to tent, Abdaldar past. Him every morn the all-beholding Eye Saw from his couch, unhallowed by a prayer, Rise to the scent of blood, And every night lie down. That rankling hope within him, that by day Goaded his steps, still stinging him in sleep, And startling him with vain accomplishment From visions still the same. Many a time his wary hand To many a youth applied the Ring, And still the dagger in his mantle hid Was ready for the deed.

At length to the cords of a tent That were stretched by an Island of Palms In the desolate sea of the sands, The weary traveller came. Under a shapely palm, Herself as shapely, there a Damsel stood. She held her ready robe And looked towards a Boy, Who from the tree above With one hand clinging to its trunk, Cast with the other down the clustered dates.

The Wizard approached the Tree, He leaned on his staff, like a way-faring man, And the sweat of his travel was seen on his brow. He asks for food, and lo! The Damsel proffers him her lap of dates. And the Stripling descends, and runs into the tent And brings him forth water, the draught of delight.

Anon the Master of the tent, The Father of the family Came forth, a man in years, of aspect mild. To the stranger approaching he gave The friendly saluting of peace, And bade the skin be spread. Before the tent they spread the[28] skin, Under a Tamarind's shade, That bending forward, stretched Its boughs of beauty far. They brought the Traveller rice, With no false colours[29] tinged to tempt the eye, But white as the new-fallen snow, When never yet the sullying Sun Hath seen its purity, Nor the warm Zephyr touched and tainted it. The dates of the grove before their guest They laid, and the luscious fig, And water from the well. The Damsel from the Tamarind tree Had plucked its acid fruit And steeped it in water long; And whoso drank of the cooling[30] draught He would not wish for wine. This to the guest the Damsel brought, And a modest pleasure kindled her cheek, When raising from the cup his moistened lips The Stranger smiled, and praised, and drank again.

Whither is gone the Boy? He had pierced the Melon's pulp And closed with wax the wound, And he had duly gone at morn And watched its ripening rind, And now all joyfully he brings The treasure now matured. His dark eyes sparkle with a boy's delight. As he pours out its liquid[31] lusciousness And proffers to the guest.

Abdaldar ate, and he was satisfied: And now his tongue discoursed Of regions far remote, As one whose busy feet had travelled long. The Father of the family, With a calm eye and quiet smile, Sate pleased to hearken him. The Damsel who removed the meal, She loitered on the way And listened with full [32]hands A moment motionless. All eagerly the Boy Watches the Traveller's lips, And still the wily man With seemly kindness to the eager Boy Directs his winning tale. Ah, cursed man! if this be he, If thou hast found the object of thy search, Thy hate, thy bloody aim, Into what deep damnation wilt thou plunge Thy miserable soul! Look! how his eye delighted watches thine! Look! how his open lips Gasp at the winning tale! And nearer now he comes To lose no word of that delightful talk. Then, as in familiar mood, Upon the Stripling's arm The Sorcerer laid his hand, And the fire of the Crystal fled.

Whilst the sudden shoot of joy Made pale Abdaldar's cheek, The Master's voice was heard: "It is the hour[33] of prayer,... "My children, let us purify ourselves "And praise the Lord our God!" The Boy the water brought, After the law[34] they purified themselves, And bent their faces to the earth in prayer.

All, save Abdaldar; over Thalaba He stands, and lifts the dagger to destroy. Before his lifted arm received Its impulse to descend, The Blast of the Desert came. Prostrate in prayer, the pious family Felt not the Simoom[35] pass. They rose, and lo! the Sorcerer lying dead, Holding the dagger in his blasted hand.

The Third Book.

_THALABA THE DESTROYER._

THE THIRD BOOK.

THALABA.

Oneiza, look! the dead man has a ring,... Should it be buried with him?

ONEIZA.

Oh yes ... yes! A wicked man! all that he has must needs Be wicked too!

THALABA.

But see,... the sparkling stone! How it has caught the glory of the Sun, And streams it back again in lines of light!

ONEIZA.

Why do you take it from him Thalaba?... And look at it so near?... it may have charms To blind, or poison ... throw it in the grave!... I would not touch it!

THALABA.

And around its rim Strange letters,...

ONEIZA.

Bury it.... Oh! bury it!

THALABA.

It is not written as the Koran is; Some other tongue perchance ... the accursed man Said he had been a traveller.

MOATH. _coming from the tent._

Thalaba, What hast thou there?

THALABA.

A ring the dead man wore, Perhaps my father, you can read its meaning.

MOATH.

No Boy,... the letters are not such as ours. Heap the sand over it! a wicked man Wears nothing holy.

THALABA.

Nay! not bury it! It may be that some traveller who shall enter Our tent, may read them: or if we approach Cities where strangers dwell and learned men, They may interpret.

MOATH.

It were better hid Under the desert sands. This wretched man, Whom God hath smitten in the very purpose And impulse of his unpermitted crime, Belike was some Magician, and these lines Are of the language that the Demons use.

ONEIZA.

Bury it! bury it ... dear Thalaba!

MOATH.