Zehowah

“ But Zehowah sent for her father and entreated him to bid the young prince remain. "For it is not impossible," she said, "that he may yet be converted to the true faith. And have I the right to refuse to sacrifice my freedom when the sacrifice may be the means of converting an idolater to the right way? And if I marry him and go with him to his kingdom, shall we not make true believers of all his subjects, so that I shall deserve to be called the mother of the faithful like Ayesha, beloved by the Prophet, upon whom be peace?" ”

“ Zehowah laughed, as she fanned him with a palm leaf.
'Do you still thirst for war, Khaled?' she asked. 'Truly you have swallowed up all our enemies as the dry sand swallows up water. Where shall I find enemies enough for you to slay? ”

“ In those days, while Khaled thus spent many hours with Almasta, Zehowah often remained for a long time in another part of the harem, either surrounded by her women, or sitting alone upon the balcony over the court, absorbed in watching the people who came and went. The slaves were surprised to see that Khaled seemed to prefer the society of the Georgian to that of his wife, but they dared say nothing to Zehowah and contented themselves with watching her face and endeavouring to find out whether she were displeased at what was happening, or really indifferent as she appeared to be. ”

“ But he who desires bread is not satisfied with locusts. It is your love which I would have. Not the love of another.'
'You are like a man who hopes to get by argument a sum of money from one who has nothing,' said Zehowah, smiling at him. 'Can you make gold grow in the purse of a beggar? Or can you cause a ghada bush to bear dates by reasoning with it? Your heart is a palm tree, but mine is a ghada bush.'
'Yet an angel may touch the ghada and it will bear fruit,' answered Khaled, for he remembered how the angel had turned dry leaves into rich garments for him to wear. ”

“ Yet I am burned up within, and my heart is melting as a piece of frankincense laid upon coals in an empty chamber, when no man cares for its sweet savour. Surely, I am the most wretched of mankind. Oh, that the angel who made garments for me of a ghada bush, and a bay mare of a locust, would come down and lay his hand upon Zehowah's breast and make a living heart of the stone which Allah has set in its place!'
So he rode slowly on, reasoning as he had often reasoned before, and reaching the same conclusion in all his argument, which availed him nothing. ”

“ Khaled watched Zehowah as narrowly as the women did, to see whether any signs of jealousy showed themselves in her face, and sometimes they talked together of Almasta.
'It is strange,' said Khaled, 'that Allah, being all powerful, should have provided matter for dissension on earth by creating one woman more beautiful than another, the one with blue eyes, the other with black, the one with red hair and the other with hair needing henna to brighten it. Are not all women the children of one mother?'
'And are not all men her sons also?' asked Zehowah. ”

“ Khaled would give you many pearls like this, if he married you. Will you not tell me?'
'Whom do you wish to kill?' Almasta asked, very suddenly. But Zehowah was unmoved.
'It may be that I have a private enemy,' she said. 'Perhaps there is one who disturbs me, against whom I plot in the night, but can find no way of ridding myself of him. A woman might give much to destroy such a one.' [122]
'Khaled will kill your enemies. He loves you. He will kill all whom you hate.'
'You make progress. You speak our language better,' said Zehowah, laughing a little. ”

“ He did not know beforehand what he should do, nor what he should say when in the presence of the Sultan of Nejed, still less how he could venture to ask Zehowah in marriage, having no gifts to offer and not being himself a prince. Before he had become a man it would have been easy for him to find treasures in the earth such as men had never seen, for, like all the genii, he had been acquainted with the most deeply hidden mines and with all places where men had hidden wealth in old times. ”

“ But Zehowah's curiosity was burning within her like a thirst, for although she had at first cared little to know of Khaled's former life, she was astonished at his persistency in keeping the secret now, seeing that the whole country was full of false rumours about him.
'How can a man expect that a woman should love him, if he will not put his trust in her?' she asked. ”

“ I will go alone. When they see that they will follow me. They are not foxes. They are brave men.'
Khaled rose and girt his sword about him. Zehowah helped him, seeing that she could not persuade him to stay. ”

“ He was the Sultan's friend, but he was more soldier than courtier. He deserved a better death.'
'Abdul Kerim died in peace. He was asleep.' Almasta smiled still, but more sadly, and her eyes were cast down.
'He died in peace,' Zehowah repeated, watching her narrowly. 'But it is better to die in battle by the enemy's hand. Such a man, falling in the front of the fight for the true faith, enters immediately into paradise, to dwell for ever under the perpetual shade of the tree Sedrat, and neither blackness nor shame shall cover his face. ”

“ If you destroy that, the tree will wither and the tower will fall.'
'Surely there was never such a man as you,' Zehowah answered, half jesting but half in earnest. 'You are as one who has bought a white mare; and though she is fleet, and good to look at, and obedient to his voice and knee, yet he is discontented because she cannot speak to him, and he would fain have her black instead of white, and if possible would teach her to sing like a Persian nightingale.'
'Is it then not natural in a woman to love man? ”

“ A man slain in battle for the faith enters directly into the possession of all [119] this, but unbelievers shall be taken by the forelock and the heels and cast into hell, to drink boiling molten brass, as a thirsty camel drinks clear water.'
Almasta understood very little of what Zehowah said, but she smiled, nevertheless, catching the meaning of some of the words.
'The Sultan Khaled loves black eyes,' she said. 'He will go to paradise.'
'Doubtless, he will quench his thirst in the incorruptible milk of heavenly rivers,' Zehowah replied. ”

“ Abdul Kerim has the first right, since Allah has removed your father, upon whom be peace.'
'Your words are my laws,' answered Zehowah obediently. 'And, indeed, it may be that you are right, for I believe she can neither dance nor sing, nor play upon any musical instrument. She would certainly weary me after a time, as you say. ”

“ Must you overcome Egypt and make Syria pay tribute as far as Damascus before you will rest?'
'I will conquer the whole world for you, if you wish it,' said Khaled.
'What should I do with the world?' asked Zehowah. 'Have I not treasures and garments enough and to spare, besides the spoil you have now brought home? And besides, if you would conquer the world you must needs make war upon true believers, amongst whom we do not count the people of Shammar. ”

“ Since she would be now permanently established in his harem, nothing would be easier than for him to spend many hours in the woman's society. Being a simple-minded man the plan seemed to him subtle, and he determined to put it into execution without delay. He knew also that Almasta had loved him since the first day when she had been brought before him in the palace at Haïl, and this would make it still more easy to rouse Zehowah's jealousy. ”

“ But if not, I will go alone, and they and the rest will follow after.'
'It is summer, too,' said Zehowah, keeping him back. 'Is this a time to go out into the northern desert? Both men and beasts will perish by the way.'
'Has not Allah bound every man's fate about his neck? And can a man cast it from him?'
'I know not otherwise, but if heat and hunger and thirst do not kill the men, they will certainly destroy the beasts, whose names are not recorded by Asrael, and who have no destiny of their own.'
'You hinder me,' said Khaled. ”

“ For I am strong, and if I am able to give out of charity I am also able to take by force. My fate is ever with me. I cannot escape it. But neither can others escape theirs. I will fight alone if need be, for if you will not love me I care little how I may end. Moreover, in battle, it is not good to stand in the way of a man who seeks death.'
But Zehowah thought this might be the speech of a desperate man such as Ali Hassan, the robber, as well as of Khaled, the Jinn, and she was not convinced, though she no longer smiled. ”

“ Go hence to the third heaven and when the angel Asrael shall be at leisure he will write thy name in the book of the living. Then thou shalt return hither and go into the city of Riad bearing gifts. And Zehowah will accept thee in marriage, though she love thee not, for Allah commands that it be so. But if in the course of time this virtuous woman be moved to love, and say to thee, 'Khaled, I love thee,' then at that moment thou shalt receive an immortal soul, and if thy deeds be good thy soul shall enter paradise with the believers, but if not, thou shalt burn. ”

“ Baruch
Our shame is theirs, and Israel’s need is Egypt’s.
Zebulon
Naught have we in common with any other folk on earth. Our strength lies in isolation.
The Other
But they will fight for us.
Zebulon
They will fight for themselves. Each nation fights for itself alone.
Baruch
Are we still to be slaves? Shall Zedekiah be a king of slaves, and Zion remain in bondage to Chaldea? Were but Zedekiah a true king!
Zebulon
Silence, I command you. It befits not a boy to lay down the law for kings.
Baruch
It is true that I am young; but who is Jerusalem, if it be not her young men? ”

“ Zeph always read the Bible straight along in course, without a moment's thought or inquiry as [92] to the sense of what he was reading, which this morning was from Zechariah xi., as follows: "Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage is come down. There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." ”

“ But he did not possess the power to oppose the nobles and their actions. Zedekiah may have intended to remain faithful to the oath of fealty which he had taken to his liege lord Nebuchadnezzar; but he had not the strength of will to adhere to his resolution. Rebellious schemes were secretly formed, which he, in the seclusion of his palace, did not find out, or, if cognisant of them, was incapable of opposing. This weakness on the part of the king, and foolhardiness on the part of the nobles, led to the fall of Judah. The nobles appear to have been seized with madness. ”

“ I will punish the princes, and the king's children - After the death of Josiah the kingdom of Judah saw no prosperity, and every reign terminated miserably; until at last King Zedekiah and the king's children were cruelly massacred at Riblah, when Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem. ”

“ Kneel before Nebuchadnezzar, even as I kneel before thee. Open the gates, and open thy heart. Abase thyself, King Zedekiah, for it is better thou shouldst be abased than that Israel should be laid low.
Zedekiah
Away with thee, away! I will humble myself before no man on earth.
Jeremiah
[Springing impetuously to his feet] Accurst, then, be the oil with which thou wast anointed. Zion has been entrusted to thy hands, and by thy hands is Zion destroyed. Mayst thou be forgotten by God’s mercy, even as thou hast forgotten Jerusalem. A curse be upon thee, murderer of Zion. ”

“ And to him bending over a copy of the mystic Zohar,—that thirteenth century Cabalistic classic, forged in Chaldaic by a Jew of Spain, which paved the way for the Turkish Messiah—was brought a little child.
A little boy in his father's arms, his image in miniature, with a miniature grimy caftan and miniature coal-black [515] ringlets beneath his little black skull-cap. A human curiosity brought to interest the stranger and increase his bakhshísh. ”

“ The Zowia itself seemed even more Eastern than most buildings of its kind, the walls merely baked mud, the towers but hardly overtopping them, and all the animals of a superior class to those raised by the ordinary Moors. The tribe ranks high for fighting qualities, as riders, shots, and swordsmen, and though small, can hold its own against all comers. The women, taller and thinner than the women of the Moors, were dressed in blue, after the desert fashion, and in procession walked to the well, with each one carrying an amphora upon her head. ”

“ Huddled close against Zemzem, she whispered to her the reason for her serene fortitude of soul.
“Ahmed is coming!” she said. “Aye! He is coming! I saw it in the magic crystal!”
“But he is alone, Heaven-Born! What can one man do against the Mongol horde?”
“Have you ever been in love, Zemzem?” smiled Zobeid. ”

“ In fact, the favourite idea of Modern Zionism, the idea of a spiritual centre in Zion for the whole Diaspora, the focussing of a pure Jewish life in Palestine, the creation of an intellectual and moral reservoir, from which a stream of influence should flow all over the scattered nation, and waves of Jewish inspiration and knowledge should spread in all directions, making the little land a metropolis of Judaism in religion and life—was not this Zionist programme laid down and carried out in the intentions and achievements of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah? ”