Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/165

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

SECTION III

I

FOLKS GENTLE AND SIMPLE

Ahmad Al-muttafakhir, ibn Al-muttashakhim, sheykh of the Fasharin Arabs,[1] was unduly proud of his noble ancestry and constantly boasting of it. One day, when with a caravan on its way from Tadmor to Akka, he was speaking on his favourite theme when he saw a derwish sitting by the roadside staring intently at a white object which he had in his hands. Being of an inquisitive turn of mind, Ahmad galloped up to him in order to see what it might be. It turned out to be a human skull. The sheykh asked the derwish why he was examining it so closely. “Ah!” said the holy man, who evidently knew his man, “I found this skull lying at the door of a cave which I passed this morning, and am trying to discover whether it belonged, when alive, to some great man, or whether it was only the brainpan of some ordinary mortal like yourself or me.” Ahmad galloped off, offended, and for that day said no more about his noble forefathers.

  1. ↑ i.e. Ahmad the Conceited, son of the Vainglorious, sheykh of the Boaster Arabs.—Ed.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.