Then from his[80] girdle Thalaba took the knife With stern compa.s.sion, and from side to side Across[81] the Camel's throat, Drew deep the crooked blade.

Servant of man, that merciful deed For ever ends thy suffering, but what doom Waits thy deliverer! "little will thy death "Avail us!" thought the youth, As in the water-skin he poured The Camel's h.o.a.rded draught: It gave a scant supply, The poor allowance of one prudent day.

Son of Hodeirah, tho' thy steady soul Despaired not, firm in faith, Yet not the less did suffering Nature feel Her pangs and trials, long their craving thirst Struggled with fear, by fear itself inflamed; But drop by drop, that poor, That last supply is drained!

Still the same burning sun! no cloud in heaven!

The hot air quivers, and the sultry mist Floats o'er the desert, with a show Of distant[82] waters, mocking their distress!

The youth's parched lips were black, His tongue was[83] dry and rough, His eye-b.a.l.l.s red with heat.

His comrade gazed on him with looks That seemed to speak of pity, and he said "Let me behold thy Ring, "It may have virtue that can save us yet!"

With that he took his hand And viewed the writing close, Then cried with sudden joy "It is a stone that whoso bears "The Genii must obey!

"Now raise thy voice, my Son, "And bid them in his name that here is written "Preserve us in our need."

"Nay!" answered Thalaba, "Shall I distrust the providence of G.o.d?

"Is it not He must save?

"If Allah wills it not "Vain were the Genii's aid."

Whilst he spake Lobaba's eye Full on the distance fixed, Attended not his speech.

Its fearful meaning drew The looks of Thalaba.

Columns of sand came moving on, Red in the burning ray Like obelisks of fire They rushed before the driving wind.

Vain were all thoughts of flight!

They had not hoped escape Could they have backed the Dromedary then Who in his rapid race Gives to the tranquil[84] air, a drowning force.

High ... high in heaven upcurled The dreadful[85] columns moved, Swift, as the whirlwind that impelled their way, They rushed towards the Travellers!

The old Magician shrieked, And lo! the foremost bursts, Before the whirlwind's force, Scattering afar a burning shower of sand.

"Now by the virtue of the Ring "Save us!" Lobaba cried.

"While yet thou hast the power "Save us. O save us! now!"

The youth made no reply, Gazing in aweful wonder on the scene.

"Why dost thou wait?" the Old Man exclaimed, "If Allah and the Prophet will not save "Call on the Powers that will!"

"Ha! do I know thee, Infidel accurst?"

Exclaimed the awakened youth.

"And thou hast led me hither, Child of Sin!

"That fear might make me sell "My soul to endless death!"

"Fool that thou art!" Lobaba cried, "Call upon him whose name "Thy charmed signet bears, "Or die the death thy foolishness deserves!"

"Servant of h.e.l.l! die thou!" quoth Thalaba.

And leaning on his bow He fitted the loose string, And laid the arrow in its resting-place.

"Bow of my Father, do thy duty now!"

He drew the arrow to its point, True to his eye it fled, And full upon the breast It smote the wizard man.

Astonished Thalaba beheld The blunted point recoil.

A proud and bitter smile Wrinkled Lobaba's cheek, "Try once again thine earthly arms!" he cried.

"Rash Boy! the Power I serve "Abandons not his votaries.

"It is for Allah's wretched slaves, like thou, "To serve a master, who in the hour of need "Forsakes them to their fate!

"I leave thee!"... and he shook his staff, and called The Chariot of his Charms.

Swift as the viewless wind, Self-moved, the Chariot came, The Sorcerer mounts the seat.

"Yet once more weigh thy danger!" he exclaimed, "Ascend the car with me, "And with the speed of thought "We pa.s.s the desert bounds."

The indignant youth vouchsafed not to reply, And lo! the magic car begins its course!

Hark! hark!... he screams.... Lobaba screams!

What wretch, and hast thou raised The rushing Terrors of the Wilderness To fall on thine own head?

Death! death! inevitable death!

Driven by the breath of G.o.d A column of the Desert met his way.

The Fifth Book.

THALABA THE DESTROYER.

THE FIFTH BOOK.

When Thalaba from adoration rose, The air was cool, the sky With welcome clouds o'ercast, That soon came down in rain.

He lifted up his fevered face to heaven, And bared his head and stretched his hands To that delightful shower, And felt the coolness flow thro' every limb Freshening his powers of life.

A loud quick panting! Thalaba looks up, He starts, and his instinctive hand Grasps the knife hilt: for close beside A Tyger pa.s.ses him.

An indolent and languid eye The pa.s.sing Tyger turned; His head was hanging down, His dry tongue lolling low, And the short panting of his fevered breath Came thro' his hot parched nostrils painfully.

The young Arabian knew The purport of his hurried pace, And following him in hope Saw joyful from afar The Tyger stoop and drink.

The desert Pelican had built her nest In that deep solitude.

And now returned from distant flight Fraught with the river stream, Her load of water had disburthened there.

Her young in the refreshing bath Sported all wantonness; Dipt down their callow heads, Filled the swoln membrane from their plumeless throat Pendant, and bills yet soft, And buoyant with arched breast, Plied in unpractised stroke The oars of their broad feet.

They, as the spotted prowler of the wild Laps the cool wave, around their mother croud, And nestle underneath her outspread wings.

The spotted prowler of the wild Lapt the cool wave,[86] and satiate from the nest, Guiltless of blood, withdrew.

The mother bird had moved not But cowering o'er her nestlings, Sate confident and fearless, And watched the wonted guest.

But when the human visitant approached, The alarmed Pelican Retiring from that hostile shape, Gathers her young, and menaces with wings, And forward thrusts her threatening neck, Its feathers ruffling in her wrath, Bold with maternal fear.

Thalaba drank and in the water-skin h.o.a.rded the precious element.

Not all he took, but in the large nest left Store that sufficed for life.

And journeying onward blest the Carrier Bird, And blest in thankfulness, Their common Father, provident for all.

With strength renewed and confident in faith The son of Hodeirah proceeds; Till after the long toil of many a day, At length Bagdad appeared, The City of his search.

He hastening to the gate Roams o'er the city with insatiate eyes, Its thousand dwellings o'er whose level roofs Fair cupolas appeared, and high-domed mosques And pointed minarets, and cypress groves Every where scattered[87] in unwithering green.

Thou too art fallen, Bagdad! City of[88] Peace, Thou too hast had thy day!

And loathsome Ignorance and brute Servitude Pollute thy dwellings now, Erst for the Mighty and the Wise renowned.

O yet ill.u.s.trious for remembered fame, Thy founder the [89]Victorious, and the pomp Of Haroun, for whose name by blood defiled, Jahia's, and the blameless Barmecides', Genius hath wrought salvation; and the years When Science with the good Al-Maimon dwelt; So one day may the Crescent from thy Mosques Be plucked by Wisdom, when the enlightened arm Of Europe conquers to redeem the East.

Then Pomp and Pleasure dwelt within her walls The Merchants of the East and of the West Met in her arched[90] Bazars; All day the active poor Showered a cool comfort o'er her thronging streets; Labour was busy in her looms; Thro' all her open gates Long troops of laden Camels lined her roads, And Tigris on his tameless[91] current bore Armenian harvests to her mult.i.tudes.

But not in sumptuous Caravansary The adventurer idles there, Nor satiates wonder with her pomp and wealth; A long day's distance from the walls Stands ruined Babylon!

The time of action is at hand, The hope that for so many a year Hath been his daily thought, his nightly dream, Stings to more restlessness.

He loathes all lingering that delays the hour When, full of glory, from his quest returned, He on the pillar of the Tent beloved Shall hang Hodeirah's sword.