72
Soft he spread the turf above her, set the aloe on her breast —
'Had not Moonkir shown her favor, smee he brought her
there to rest ?'
Then Abdallah did her bidding, and the Christian slaves dis-
missed ;
Yet through life he left not weeping for the love he so had
missed.
Twice two hundred times the date-tree proud hath donned
her ruby crown,
Since beside the stranger-lady, old and worn he laid him down.
Still the story is remembered, and they say the princess lies
All unchanged in her first beauty, but secure from mortal eyes.
From the tomb a light proceedeth, that would blind with
deadly pain,
Such as guards the Prophet's daughter from the gazer's
glance profane.*
* A common superstition among the Mohammedans ascribes this
miraculous power, not only to the tomb of the Prophet himself, but to that
of "the Lady Fatmeh," his daughter, as well.
