But Djaffar was ever the Man of Steel-- The morrow, he vowed, should see her a wife! “Then, hear me, brother!--thy sister’s life Hangs upon this her last appeal! Write to the Khadi thus, I entreat-- ‘Health from Ayoob to her lordly lover! Send, she prays thee, a veil to cover Her sorrowful figure from head to feet, Lest, while passing the Aga’s door, Her children greet her as heretofore.’”
The letter was sent, and the veil came home; And by noon on the morrow the bride was arrayed; And a gorgeous train and cavalcade Set out for the Khadi’s palace-dome. They journeyed till sunset purpled the sky, And now, alas! her trial is nigh-- Her trial is nigh, her bosom is swelling; They come within sight of Ibrahim’s dwelling-- They near the gates--ah, well-a-day! Her children cannot mistake their mother-- “Mamma! Mamma! ah, don’t go away!” They cry, and their voices drown one another.
That mother groaned in her wretchedness! “Live long!” she said, “my Lord and Master! Mayest thou ever defy Disaster! May thy shadow never be less! Bid, I implore thee, the cavalcade wait A moment in front of the Aga’s gate, While I go into the house, and leave Some gifts with my little ones, lest they grieve.”
Silently then, like a ghost from the tombs, She enters once more the remembered rooms, Gives to her sons little gold-laced boots, Gives to her daughters little kapoots,[2] And leaves with the babe in the cradle-bed Some toys and a basket of sugar-bread.
Now, the desolate father was standing apart, And he marked that she neither spake nor sighed, And Agony wrung his manly heart-- “Come, come to me, hither, my children!” he cried, “For I see that your mother’s bosom is grown Colder and harder than marble stone.”
But, as soon as Ayoob heard Ibrahim speak, And saw her children turning away, She fell on the floor without a shriek, And without a stir on the floor she lay; And the funeral-wailers of Islambol Were chanting ere night the hymn for her soul.[3]
[1] The incidents of this narrative are founded on fact.
[3] The popular notion that the Mohammedans deny immortality to the souls of women is altogether a mistake, as will be apparent to any one who takes the trouble of looking through the Koran.