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'If he is not your son, asked the Maharajah cunningly, 'why did you bring him to the durbar? 'Because he wished to come 'To say that I did not tell, said Sunni. 'Call the woman, ordered His Highness. She was in the crowd in the courtyard, waiting to see her old master pass again. She came in bent and shaking, with her head-covering over her face.
This conviction has buried itself deep in the minds of the Persian people, and they now and then are painfully reminded of the savage readiness of their Sunni neighbours to emphasize the fact.
They foreshadow the gathering of the children of Israel in their ancient homeland; the erection of the banner of Bahá’u’lláh in the Egyptian citadel of Sunní Islám; the extinction of the powerful influence wielded by the Shí’ah ecclesiastics in Persia; the load of misery which must needs oppress the pitiful remnants of the breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant at the world center of His Faith; the splendor of the institutions which that triumphant Faith must erect on the slopes of a mountain, destined to be so linked with the city of Akká that a single grand metropolis will be formed to enshrine the spiritual as well as the administrative seats of the future Bahá’í Commonwealth; the conspicuous honor which the inhabitants of Bahá’u’lláh’s native land in general, and its government in particular, must enjoy in a distant future; the unique and enviable position which the community of the Most Great Name in the North American continent must occupy, as a direct consequence of the execution of the world mission which He entrusted to them: finally they foreshadow, as the sum and summit of all, the “hoisting of the standard of God among all nations” and the unification of the entire human race, when “all men will adhere to one religion ... will be blended into one race, and become a single people.”
It is because they rule there. The Maharajah's face went all into a pucker of angry wrinkles, and his eyes shone like little coals. 'What talk is that? he said angrily. 'His great-grandfather was a monkey! There is only one master here. Pig's daughter, his name is Sunni! Tooni did not dare to say a word, and even the little prince was silent. 'Look you, said the old man to Sonny Sahib.
Then, very gradually and cautiously, Sunni slipped over the balcony's edge and let himself down, down, till he reached a branch thick enough to cling to. The turban was none too long, the branches at the top were so slender.
'I could talk of him for nine moons, said Sunni; and then something occurred which changed the subject as completely as even the little prince could desire. This was a garden for the pleasure of the ladies of the court; they never came out in it, but their apartments looked down upon it, and a very high wall screened it from the rest of the world.
They have become a power which it is the policy of the rulers to conciliate, and thus secure their support. But notwithstanding this, the fanatical hatred of the orthodox Sunni, as representing both Church and State, cannot be suppressed.
To this indifference is to be attributed my not having positively ascertained whether they are followers of the sunni or the shiah sect, although from their tolerant principles and frequent passages in their writings in praise of Ali I conclude them to be the latter. Even in regard to the practice of ceremonies they do not imitate the punctuality of the Arabs and others of the mussulman faith.
'Matiya if you think it was Matiya makes pretty gifts, said Sunni, 'and the Maharajah will keep your necklace for you for ever in an iron box. But this armlet will get broken just as the other two armlets that were given to me have got broken. I cannot wear armlets and play polo, and I would rather play polo. 'That is because you were clumsy, Moti answered. Moti was peevish that afternoon.
'If it is excusable, said he, 'I do not eat of the pig. At which Colonel Starr's face expressed curiosity, amusement, and interest all at once; but he kept silence until Sunni had finished. 'Now, said he pleasantly, 'listen, my small prisoner. I am sure you have a great deal to tell me about yourself. Very good, I will hear it. I should like to hear it. But not now there is no time.
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