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Then there came an aged stranger, journeying with his caravan; And when each had each saluted, Abdel-Hassan thus began: "Knowest thou this well of water? lies it on the travelled ways?" And he answered, "From the highway thou art distant many days. "Where thou seest this well of water, where these thorns and palm-trees stand, Once the Desert swept unbroken in a waste of burning sand;
It was now the twelfth day's journey, but its closing did not bring Abdel-Hassan and his servants to the long-expected spring. From the ancient line of travel they had wandered far away, And at evening, faint and weary, on a waste of Desert lay. Fainting men and famished camels stretched them round the master's tent; For the water-skins were empty, and the dates were nearly spent.
Men beheld his reverend aspect, and revered his blameless name; And in peace he dwelt with strangers, in the fulness of his fame. But the heart of Abdel-Hassan yearned, as yearns the heart of man, Still to die among his kindred, ending life where it began. So he summoned all his household, and he gave the brief command, "Go and gather all our substance; we depart from out the land."
Sixty years had Abdel-Hassan, since the stranger's friendly hand Saved him from the burning Desert, lived and prospered in the land; And his life of peaceful labor, in its pure and simple ways, For his loss fourfold returned him, and a mighty length of days. Sixty years of faith and patience gave him wisdom's mural crown; Sons and daughters brought him honor with his riches and renown.
Moved by pity, spake the stranger, bending o'er him in his grief: "What affects the man of sorrow? Speak, for speaking is relief." Then he answered, rising slowly to that aged stranger's knee, "Thou beholdest Abdel-Hassan! They were mine, and I am he!" Wondering, stood they all around him, and a reverent silence kept, While, amidst them, Abdel-Hassan lifted up his voice and wept.
Then he died; and pious Nature, where he lay so gaunt and grim, Moved by her divine compassion, did the same kind thing for him. Earth upon her burning bosom held him in his final rest, While the hot winds of the Desert piled the sand above his breast. Onward in his fiery travel Abdel-Hassan held his way, Yielding to the camel's instinct, halting not, by night or day,
Slowly murmured Abdel-Hassan, as they bathed his fainting head, "All is lost, for all have perished! they are numbered with the dead! "I, who had such power and treasure but a single moon ago, Now my life and poor subsistence to a stranger's bounty owe. "God is great! His name is mighty! He is victor in the strife! Stripped of pride and power and substance, He hath left me faith and life."
Then his words were few and solemn to the leader of his train: "Thirty men and eighty camels, Haroun, in thy care remain. "Keep the beasts and guard the treasure till the needed aid I bring. God is great! His name is mighty! I, alone, will seek the spring." Mounted on his strongest camel, Abdel-Hassan rode away, While his faithful followers watched him passing, in the blaze of day,
All the night, as Abdel-Hassan on the Desert lay apart, Nothing broke the lifeless silence but the throbbing of his heart; All the night he heard it beating, while his sleepless, anxious eyes Watched the shining constellations wheeling onward through the skies. When the glowing orbs, receding, paled before the coming day, Abdel-Hassan called his servants and devoutly knelt to pray.
As he spake, he swept the Desert with his vision clear and calm, And along the far horizon saw the green crest of the palm. Man and beast, with weak steps quickened, hasted to the lonely well, And around it, faint and panting, in a grateful tumult fell. Many days they stayed and rested, and amidst his fervent prayer Abdel-Hassan pondered deeply that strange bond which held him there.
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