ookh, 'Seize him!' and the bird slanted his beak and closed his
wings, the two, Abarak and Noorna, clinging to him tightly; and he was
down like an arrow between Shibli Bagarag and the ground, spreading
beneath him like a tent, and Noorna caught the youth gently to her lap;
then she pushed him off again, intercepting his descent once more, till
they were on a level with one of the mountains of the earth, from which
the City of Shagpat is visible among the yellow sands like a white spot
in the yolk of an egg. So by this time the eyes of the youth gave
symptoms of a desire to look upon the things that be, peeping faintly
beneath the lashes, and she exclaimed joyfully, raising her white hands
above her head, 'One plunge in the lake, and life will be his again!'

Below them was a green lake, tinted by the dawn with crimson and yellow,
deep, and with high banks. As they crossed it to the middle, she slipped
off the youth from Koorookh, and he with a great plunge was received into
the stillness of the lake. Meanwhile Koorookh quivered his wings and
seized him when he arose, bearing him to an end of the lake, where stood
one dressed like a Dervish, and it was the Vizier Feshnavat, the father
of Noorna. So when he saw them, he shouted the shout of congratulation,
catching Noorna to his breast, and Shibli Bagarag stretched as doth a
heavy sleeper in his last doze, saying, in a yawning voice, 'What
trouble? I wot there is nought more for us now that Shagpat is shaved!
Oh, I have had a dream, a dream! He that is among Houris in Paradise
dreameth not a dream like that. And I dreamed--'tis gone!'

Then said he, staring at them, 'Who be ye? What is this?'

Noorna, took him again to her bosom, and held him there; and she plucked
a herb, and squeezed it till a drop from it fell on either of his lids,
applying to them likewise a dew from the serpents of the Sword, and he
awoke to the reality of things. Surely, then he prostrated himself and
repeated the articles of his faith, taking one hand of his betrothed and
kissing her; and he embraced Abarak and Feshnavat, saying to the father
of Noorna, 'I know, O Feshnavat, that by my folly and through my weakness
I have lost time in this undertaking, but it shall be short work now with
Shagpat. This thy daughter, the Eclipser of Reason, was ever such a prize
as she? I will deserve her. Wullahy! I am now a new man, sprung like fire
from ashes. Lo, I am revived by her for the great work.'

Said