rregnum
with the huris. Reckless, thoughtless, heartless, he plunges headlong
again. It is said in Al-Hadith that he who guards himself against the
three cardinal evils, namely, of the tongue (_laklaka_), of the
stomach (_kabkaba_), and of the sex (_zabzaba_), will have guarded
himself against all evil. But Khalid reads not in the Hadith of the
Prophet. And that he became audacious, edacious, and loquacious, is
evident from such wit and flippancy as he here likes to display. "Some
women," says he, "might be likened to whiskey, others to seltzer
water; and many are those who, like myself, care neither for the soda
or the whiskey straight. A 'high-ball' I will have."

Nay, he even takes to punch; for in his cup of amour there is a subtle
and multifarious mixture. With him, he himself avows, one woman
complemented another. What the svelte brunette, for instance, lacked,
the steatopygous blonde amply supplied. Delicacy and intensity,
effervescence and depth, these he would have in a woman, or a hareem,
as in anything else. But these excellences, though found in a hareem,
will not fuse, as in a poem or a picture. Even thy bones, thou scented
high-lacquered Dervish, are likely to melt away before they melt into
one.

It is written in the K. L. MS. that women either bore, or inspire, or
excite. "The first and the last are to be met with anywhere; but the
second? Ah, well you have heard the story of Diogenes. So take up your
lamp and come along. But remember, when you do meet the woman that
inspires, you will begin to yearn for the woman that excites."

And here, the hospitality of the Dervish does not belie his Arab
blood. In Bohemia, the bonfire of his heart was never extinguished,
and the wayfarers stopping before his tent, be they of those who
bored, or excited, or inspired, were welcome guests for at least three
days and nights. And in this he follows the rule of hospitality among
his people.

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BOOK THE SECOND

IN THE TEMPLE

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TO NATURE

_O Mother eternal, divine, satanic, all encompassing, all-nourishing,
all-absorbing, O star-diademed, pearl-sandaled Goddess, I am thine
forever and ever: whether as a child of thy womb, or an embodiment of
a spirit-wave of thy light, or a dumb blind personification of thy
smiles and tears, or an ignis-fatuus of the intelligence that is in
thee or beyond thee, I am thine forever and ever: I come to thee, I
prostrate my face before the