like a shadow
streamed Abarak, and Noorna kneeled by the waterside and fetched the
little man from it likewise; he was without a change, as if drawn from a
familiar element; and when he had prostrated himself thrice and called on
the Prophet's name in the form of thanksgiving, he wrung his beard of the
wet, and had wit to bless the action of Noorna, that saved him. Then the
two raised Shibli Bagarag from the rock, and reclined him lengthwise
under the wings of Koorookh, and Noorna stretched herself there beside
him with one arm about his neck, the fair head of the youth on her bosom.
And she said to Abarak, 'He hath dreamed many dreams, my betrothed, but
never one so sweet as that I give him. Already, see, the hue returneth to
his cheek and the dimples of pleasure.' So was it; and she said, 'Mount,
O thou of the net and the bar! and stride Koorookh across the neck, for
it is nigh the setting of the moon, and by dawn we must be in our middle
flight, seen of men, a cloud over them.'

Said Abarak, 'To hear is to obey!'

He bestrode the neck of Koorookh and sat with dangling feet, till she
cried, 'Rise!' and the bird spread its wings and flapped them wide,
rising high in the silver rays, and flying rapidly forward with the three
on him from the mountain in front of Aklis, and the white sea with its
enchanted isles and wonders; flying and soaring till the earth was as
what might be held in the hollow of the hand, and the kingdoms of the
earth a mingled heap of shining dust in the midst.

THE REVIVAL

Now, the feathers of Koorookh in his flight were ruffled by a chill
breeze, and they were speeding through a light glow of cold rose-colour.
Then said Noorna, ''Tis the messenger of morning, the blush. Oh, what
changes will date from this day!'

The glow of rose became golden, and they beheld underneath them, on one
side, the rim of the rising red sun, and rays streaming over the earth
and its waters. And Noorna said, 'I must warn Feshnavat, my father, and
prepare him for our coming.'

So she plucked a feather from Koorookh and laid the quill downward,
letting it drop. Then said she, 'Now for the awakening of my betrothed!'

Thereupon she hugged his head a moment, and kissed him on the eyelids,
the cheeks, and the lips, crying, 'By this means only!' Crying that, she
pushed him, sliding, from the back of the bird, and he parted from them,
falling headforemost in the air like a stricken eagle. Then she called to
Koor