Then Noorna said, ’Hadst thou a difficulty in obtaining the waters of the well?’

He answered, ’Surely all was made smooth for me by thy aid.  Now when I came to the well I marked not them by it, but plunged, and the depth of that well seemed to me the very depth of the earth itself, so went I ever downward; and when I was near the bottom of the well I had forgotten life above, and lo! no sooner had I touched the bottom of the well when my head emerged from the surface:  ’twas wondrous!  But for a sign that touched the bottom of the well, see, O Noorna bin Noorka, the Jewel, the one of myriads that glitter at the bottom, and I plucked it for a gift to thee.’

So Noorna took the Jewel from his hand that was torn and crimson, and she cried, ’Thou fair youth, thou bleedest with the plucking of it, and it was written, no hand shall pluck a jewel at the bottom of that well without letting of blood.  Even so it is!  Worthy art thou, and I was not mistaken in thee.’

At her words Shibli Bagarag burst forth into praises of her, and he sang: 

       ’What is my worthiness
        Match’d with thy worth? 
        Darkness and earthiness,
        Dust and dearth!

O Noorna, thou art wise above women:  great and glorious over them.’

In this fashion the youth lauded her that was his betrothed, but she exclaimed, ’Hush! or the jealousy of this Ass will be aroused, and of a surety he’ll spill us.’

Then he laughed and she laughed till the tail of Karaz trembled.

THE HORSE GARRAVEEN

Now, they descended leisurely the slopes of the mountain, and when they were again in the green of its base, Noorna called to the Ass, ’Ho!  Karaz!  Sniff now the breezes, for the end of our journey by night is the meadows of Melistan.  Forward in thy might, and bray not when we are in them, for thy comfort’s sake!’

The Ass sniffed, turning to the four quarters, and chose a certain direction, and bore them swiftly over hills and streams eddying in silver; over huge mounds of sand, where the tents of Bedouins stood in white clusters; over lakes smooth as the cheeks of sleeping loveliness; by walls of cities, mosques, and palaces; under towers that rose as an armed man with the steel on his brows and the frown of battle; by the shores of the pale foaming sea it bore them, going at a pace that the Arab on his steed outstrippeth not.  So when the sun was red and the dews were blushing with new light, they struggled from a wilderness of barren broken ground, and saw beneath them, in the warm beams, green, peaceful, deep, the meadows of Melistan.  They were meadows dancing with flowers, as it had been fresh damsels of the mountain, fair with variety of colours that were so many gleams of changing light as the breezes of the morn swept over them; lavish of hues, of sweetness, of pleasantness, fir for the souls of the blest.