Yasmini

“ A door opened at one end of the black dark cellar, and again the rats scampered for cover as Yasmini herself stood framed in it, with a lantern above her head. She was alone, and he could not see that she had any weapon.
"This way, sahib!" she called sweetly to him.
Never—North, South, East or West, in olden days or modern—did a siren call half so seductively. Every move she ever made was poetry expressed, but framed in a golden aura shed by the lamp, and swaying in the velvet blackness of the pit's mouth, she was, it seemed to Ranjoor Singh, as no man had ever yet seen woman. ”

“ The priests have been told to pass the word along. 'No obedience from priests, no priests at the coronation ceremony!—It's my belief from about two hours' observation that we've got a maharajah now with guts, if you'll excuse my bad French, please, ma'am."
"What does it matter to you, Tom, whether he is good or not?" Yasmini asked mischievously. Isn't there a rumor that the English won't allow any but the native-born instructors after this?" ”

“ None the less, it is certain she must do much of her plotting in the daytime, for by night, until after midnight, she is always the Yasmini whom the Northern gentry know, at home to all comers in her wonderful apartment. ”

“ Above all, I kept thinking of Yasma, kept remembering her in hope that alternated with dejection. Could it be true, as Karem had said, that I was to see her soon? Surely, she must know how impatiently I was waiting! She would not be the last of her tribe to reappear!
That night I had but little sleep; excited visions of Yasma permitted me to doze away only by brief dream-broken snatches. But when the gray of dawn began to creep in through the open window, sheer weariness forced an hour's slumber; and I slept beyond my usual time, and awoke to find the room bright with sunlight. ”

“ Whose very name that sweetly ends I say when I have said, Yasmin.
The morning light is clear and cold: I dare not in that light behold
A whiter light, a deeper gold, a glory too far shed, Yasmin.
But when the deep red eye of day is level with the lone highway,
And some to Mecca turn to pray, and I toward thy bed, Yasmin;
Or when the wind beneath the moon is drifting like a soul aswoon,
And harping planets talk love's tune with milky wings outspread, Yasmin,
Shower down thy love, O burning bright! ”

“ Quoth she, "When the flower-seller passeth I will buy thee a basketful of jessamine." Quoth he, "It is not the jessamine one smells, but a slave-girl named Jessamine, whom my father would not buy for me." So she said to her husband, "Why and wherefore didest thou not buy him the girl?" and he replied, "What is fit for the lord is not fit for the liege and I have no power to take her: no less a man bought her than Ala Al-Din, Chief of the Sixty." ”

“ What do you think Yasine will say when he hears of the fine character you give him?" "Soliman, replies the Shekh, in a very soft tone of voice, I may have forgotten, in the many letters and affairs that pass through my hands in a day; but Yasine is my brother, and I will do every thing for him and you that you could wish: stay only this week, and if my camels do not arrive, I will send and take them from the Arabs, wherever they can be found. They are for the king's business, and not mine." ”

“ And so profound was my longing for Yasma that, despite the moment's misgivings, it seemed that an incalculable epoch must pass before the crescent could expand into the full moon.
Chapter XVII AT THE TIME OF THE FULL MOON
A wedding among the Ibandru is celebrated by twenty-four hours of feasting and rejoicing. All members of the tribe are invited, and all are expected to participate; no one is permitted to labor in the fields or at home; from dawn until dawn the village is delivered into the hands of the merrymakers. Bonfires are lighted at night, and weird and picturesque dances executed ”

“ There were several lesser princes who reigned in other parts of Yaman, and were mostly, if not altogether, subject to the king of Hamyar, whom they called the great king, but of these history has recorded nothing remarkable or that may be depended upon.1 The first great calamity that befell the tribes settled in Yaman was the inundation of Aram, which happened soon after the time of Alexander the Great, and is famous in the Arabian history. No less than eight tribes were forced to abandon their dwellings upon this occasion, some of which gave rise to the two kingdoms of Ghassân and Hira. ”

“ It begins with the narrative of creation: God finishes his work in seven days—Sunday to Saturday. In each day he creates an angel or king (melek) . Melek Ṭâ ́ûs, who is created on Sunday, is made chief of all. After that Fahr-ad Dîn creates the planets, man, and animals. Then follows a story about Adam and Eve, their temptation and quarrel; the coming of the chief angels to the world to establish the Yezidi kingdom; the flood; the miraculous birth of Yezîd bn Mu‘awiya; and certain ordinances in regard to food, the New Year, and marriages.
13
The Appendix contains the following:
1. ”

“ Exclaimed his mother, "O strumpet, let my son have his will of thee!" But Jessamine answered "O bitch, by what law is it lawful for a woman to marry two men; and how shall the dog be admitted to the place of the lion?" With this, the ugly youth's love-longing redoubled and he sickened for yearning and unfulfilled desire; and refusing food returned to his pillow. Then said his mother to her, "O harlot, how canst thou make me thus to sorrow for my son? Needs must I punish thee with torture, and as for Ala al-Din, he will assuredly be hanged." "And I will die for love of him," answered Jessamine. ”

“ Hayyē Tinyānē, generally called Yōshamīn. This last name is evidently meant to be Hebrew, “Yahweh of the heavens,” the God of the Jews being of a secondary rank in the usual Gnostic style. The next emanation after Yōshamīn is “the messenger of life” (Mandā d’hayyē, literally γνῶσις τῆς ζωῆς) , the most important figure in the entire system, the mediator and redeemer, the λόγος and the Christ of the Mandaeans, from whom, as already stated, they take their name. He belongs to the heathen Gnosis, and is in his essence the same as the Babylonian Marduk. ”

“ Janshah, passing the Sabbation river and reaching the Jews’ city, is persuaded to be sewn up in a skin and is carried in the normal way to the top of the Mountain of Gems where he makes acquaintance with Shaykh Nasr, Lord of the Birds: he enters the usual forbidden room; falls in love with the pattern Swan-maiden; wins her by the popular process; loses her and recovers her through the Monk Yaghmús, whose name, like that of King Teghmús, is a burlesque of the Greek; and, finally, when she is killed by a shark, determines to mourn her loss till the end of his days. ”

“ The King wanted also that Giassemen who was responsible for his achieving such high office should marry Achel, the faithful companion of Giulla. And a solemn and great feast was announced in which everyone from near and far away towns participated. At the end of the festivities the King made Feristeno and Giassemen patrons of great treasure. And the King and his wife lived as true Christians, and they continually rendered endless thanks to Our Lord for the great benefits they had received. ”

“ She was all the women she had ever been, yet in her knowing she was Yasmina. This consciousness was not lost in the throes of reincarnation. At one and the same time she was a naked slave-wench groveling under the whip, and the proud Devi of Vendhya. And she suffered not only as the slave-girl suffered, but as Yasmina, to whose pride the whip was like a white-hot brand.
Life merged into life in flying chaos, each with its burden of wo and shame and agony, until she dimly heard her own voice screaming unbearably, like one long-drawn cry of suffering echoing down the ages. ”

“ Festival of the new yams at Coomassie and Benin. A second festival of yams used to be celebrated at Coomassie in December, when the king or a fetish priest consecrated the new yams before they could be eaten by common folk. On one of the days of this December celebration all the laws were suspended, and every man might do what seemed good in his own eyes: he might even, contrary to custom, look at the king's wives, to the number of several hundreds, when they returned with the king and his suite from washing in the fetish water of Tana. ”

“ The closing sections of the Yasna (Ys. 55-72) conclude the ritual worship.
2. The Visperad 'all the masters' forms in 24 sections a supplement to the Yasna. Invocations and offerings of praise are addressed to all holy beings and sacred things. In ceremonial recitation the sections of the Visperad are inserted between the Yasna chapters, somewhat as the verses of the litany in church service.
3. The Yashts 'praises' form a book of some 21 hymns of adoration and praise of the divinities or angels, Yazatas (Izads) ' worshipful ones' of the religion. ”

“ I now lost no time in going to Ozoro Esther to intercede for the government of Ras el Feel for Yasine.
Among the crowd I met first Tecla Mariam, the king's secretary, who taking me by the hand, said, with a laughing countenance, "O ho, I wish you joy; this is like a man; you are now no stranger, but one of us; why was not you at court?" I said I had no particular business there, but that I came hither to see Ayto Confu, that he might speak in favour of Yasine to get him appointed deputy of Ras el Feel. "Why don't you appoint him yourself? says he ”

“ Possibly it is that the girls of the Ibandru come early to maturity; or possibly they do not labor under civilized repressions, and are seldom other than their natural selves. At all events, Yasma suffered from few of those inhibitions which would have hampered her western sisters. Finding something in me to interest her, she was at no pains to conceal her interest, but would act as unhesitatingly as if she had been the man and I the woman. ”

“ And once again Yasma and I were happy. The glamour of our first few wedded months was revived; we had almost forgotten that the glow could ever fade, scarcely remembered the old omens and predictions; and if any of the villagers ever muttered their secret fears, they made sure that we were well out of hearing. Yet all the while I realized that we were living in a house of glass, and Yasma must have realized it too; and in bad dreams at times I heard the rumbling of approaching storms, and saw the fragile walls of paradise come clattering about our feet in ruins. ”

“ JOSIAH KEEP,
in West Coast Shells.
MAY 23.
TO YOSEMITE.
The silence of the centuries,
The calm where doubtings cease,
And over all the brooding of God's presence
And the spell of perfect peace!
O Granite Cliffs that steadfast face the dawn,
O Forest Kings that heard Creation's sigh!
Teach me thy simple creed, that, living, I
May live like thee, and as serenely die!
E.F. GREEN.
TO THE UNNAMED FALL IN THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.
Thou needest not that any man should name thee ”

“ You could live with me here in a cabin in Sobul, or maybe I could take you with me to see the world I come from, and you would then know where the clouds go, and see strange cities with houses as tall as precipices and people many as the leaves of a tree. What do you say, Yasma? Don't you want to make us both happy?"
Yasma stared at me with wide-lidded eyes in which I seemed to read infinite longing.
"You know I would!" she cried. "You know I would—if I could! But ours is a strange people, and our ways are not your ways. ”

“ God has assisted me: I give praise to him for his bounty, and always remain much obliged to you. What follows is all that I can inform you as touching the news of Abyssinia. King Yasous is long since dead: his son, Tecla Haimanout, having seized upon the kingdom by force, caused his father to be assassinated. This king Yasous, having given me leave to go to Sennaar, furnished me with a letter addressed to the king there, in which he desired him to put no obstacles in the way of du Roule the French ambassador's journey, but to suffer him to enter Ethiopia. ”

“ Among the three branches of the deity in the second degree, Melek Ṭâ ́ûs holds an important place in the theology of the Yezidis. The language used in his praise is so elevated that one is led to think that he is identical with God. Some scholars deny this theory on the ground that the principal prayer of these people is directed to God and no mention is made of King Peacock. ”

“ Note 2.—The Jasper and Chalcedony of our author are probably only varieties of the semi-precious mineral called by us popularly Jade, by the Chinese Yü, by the Eastern Turks Kásh, by the Persians Yashm, which last is no doubt the same word with ἴασπις, and therefore with Jasper. The Greek Jaspis was in reality, according to Mr. King, a green Chalcedony.
The Jade of Turkestan is largely derived from water-rolled boulders fished up by divers in the rivers of Khotan, but it is also got from mines in the valley of the Karákásh River. ”

“ So potently had Yasma woven her spell over me that for the time I was a convert to the ways of Sobul. As the Ibandru lived, so I lived; momentarily I had almost forgotten that I was the son of civilized lands. Each morning I would go forth with Karem and Barkodu to till the fields; and each noon and evening I would return to a home where skilled feminine hands had prepared a tasteful meal. Sometimes, when the work on the farms was not too pressing, I would join the tribesmen in day-long expeditions across the mountains, expeditions in which Yasma would always take part ”