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Updated: June 2, 2025
"The magic of the unbelievers against that of the People of the Garment!" "Bismillah! To the testing of the magic!" The Spartan simplicity of the proceedings impressed the Master far more than any Oriental ceremony could have done. Here was the Olema, or high priest and chief, of a huge city carved of virgin gold, coming to meet him on horseback and speaking to him face to face, like a man.
Remember, though, that the salt is now in the stomachs of all thy people, both here and in the city, as it is in the stomachs of all my men!" "I will remember." "And now, O Bara Miyan, I will show thee the very great gifts that I have brought thee!" The Olema nodded, in silence. A great dejection held him and his men.
The Olema shook an emphatic head of negation. "Yafta Allah!" he exclaimed, using the absolute, decisive formula of refusal in Arab bargaining. "This gold of ours is sacred. The angel Jibrail himself struck the Iron Mountains with his wing, at the same hour when the Black Stone fell from Paradise, and caused the gold to gush out. It is not earthly gold, but the gold of angels.
But have care not to be led into committing sin, as with these birds for remember, thou hast shed blood and life hath not returned again, and El Barr is sacred from the shedding of blood!" His tone was well calculated to make the lesson sink well to the Olema's heart a valuable lesson for the Legion's welfare. But the Olema only replied: "The blood of believers is meant. Not of animals or Franks!"
Let me subject myself " He waved her away, and making no answer, turned to the Olema. "Hast thou, O Bara Miyan," he asked in a steady voice, "a swordsman who can with one blow split a man from crown to jaw?" "Thou speakest to such a one, White Sheik!" "Take, then, a simitar of the keenest, and cut me down!"
From near the top, the Master, glancing down, could see the white-robed mass of the Arabs, the small, compact group of his own men; and, behind them all, the dim, black lines of the stranglers. But already the Olema was gesturing for him to enter the highest of the galleries. Into this, carved in the virgin metal, both made their way.
Furthermore, the hearts of learned Olema are of three kinds, the heart which is in love with this world; the heart which loveth the next world, and the heart which loveth its Lord; and it is said that hearts are three, the suspended, that of the infidel; the non-existent, that of the hypocrite; and the constant, that of the True-believer.
Every grown-up Mekkawy carries a long stick; among the lower orders, they may rather be called bludgeons. An olema is never seen without his stick. Few persons go armed, except among the lower classes, or the Sherifs, who carry crooked knives in their belts.
He made high festival therefor, bidding to the wedding banquet kith and kin, Olema and Fakirs; friends and foes and all his acquaintances of that countryside. So they ate and drank and made mirth and merriment; and the bride was displayed in her seven dresses and one more, to the women, who could not take their eyes off her.
Surely, 'the generous man is Allah's friend, and thy hand is not tied up." Karun is the Arabic Croesus. The Olema, a quick decision gleaming in his eyes though what that decision might be, who could tell? put down the amber mouthpiece and with an eloquent, lean hand gestured toward a silk-curtained doorway at the right of the vast hall.
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