thanks to
the Prophet, and praised the hawk, but the hawk darted out of the cabin,
and he followed it on deck, and, lo! the vessel was in flames, and the
hawk in a circle of the flames; and the flames soared with it, and left
it no outlet. Now, as Shibli Bagarag watched the hawk, the flames
stretched out towards him and took hold of his vestments. So he delayed
not to commend his soul to the All-merciful, and bore witness to his
faith, and plunged into the sea headlong. When he rose, the ship had
vanished, and all was darkness where it had been; so he buffeted with the
billows, thinking his last hour had come, and there was no help for him
in this world; and the spray shaken from the billows blinded him, the
great walls of water crumbled over him; strength failed him, and his
memory ceased to picture images of the old time--his heart to beat with
ambition; and to keep the weight of his head above the surface was
becoming a thing worth the ransom of kings. As he was sinking and turning
his eyes upward, he heard a flutter as of fledgling's wings, and the two
red ruby eyes of the hawk were visible above him, like steady fires in
the gloom. And the hawk perched on him, and buried itself among the wet
hairs of his head, and presently taking the Identical in its beak, the
hawk lifted him half out of water, and bore him a distance, and dropped
him. This the hawk did many times, and at the last, Shibli Bagarag felt
land beneath him, and could wade through the surges to the shore. He gave
thanks to the Supreme Disposer, kneeling prostrate on the shore, and fell
into a sleep deep in peacefulness as a fathomless well, unruffled by a
breath.
Now, when it was dawn Shibli Bagarag awoke and looked inland, and saw
plainly the minarets of a city shining in the first beams, and the front
of yellow mountains, and people moving about the walls and on the towers
and among the pastures round the city; so he made toward them, and
inquired of them the name of their city. And they stared at him, crying,
'What! know'st thou not the City of Oolb? the hawk on thy shoulder could
tell thee that much.' He looked and saw that the hawk was on his
shoulder; and its left wing was scorched, the plumage blackened. So he
said to the hawk, 'Is it profitable, O preserving bird, to ask of thee
questions?'
The hawk shook its wings and closed an eye.
So he said, 'Do I well in entering this city?'
The hawk shook its wings again and closed an eye.
So h
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