Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/268

she did not even know his name, in case she had to make complaint to his Abbot. “Oh,” said the monk, “that is easily remedied. We all go by Scripture names in our convent. Mine is “Ufa lina Khateyâna.”^[1] You have but to inquire for ’Ufû lina Khateyâna, and I should be called at once.” “Ah, that’s a beautiful name,” said the woman, “but I have a better one: “La tadkhilna fi et-tajribat wa-lakin najì dajajâti min esh-sharìr.”^[2]

There once lived at Damascus a rich man, Hâj Ahmad Izreyk by name, whose property consisted of great herds of camels, from which he supplied the caravans from that city.

When this man’s time came to die, instead of quickly departing, he lay so long at the last gasp that his friends were sure he must have injured some one who had not forgiven him. They therefore summoned all his acquaintance to come and declare that they had no grudge against him. Even his enemies, moved by his prolonged agony, came to the bedside and begged Hâj Ahmad to forgive them as they forgave him any wrong he might have done them. But in vain. The gates of death remained closed to the dying man.

At last some one imagined that it might be some animal he had offended. As he had had most to do with camels, it was decided to ask his camels to forgive him. Camels are disobliging creatures, and