164 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

whom is it,’ exclaimed he, ‘that I am going to yield thee
up? To Europeans! who will tie thee close, who will beat
thee, who will render thee miserable! Return with me, my
beauty, my jewel! and rejoice the hearts of my children.’
As he pronounced the last words, he sprang upon her back,
and was out of sight almost in a moment.” This story
forms the subject of the well known ballad by the Hon.
Mrs. Norton, entitled “The Arab’s farewell to his steed.”
Clarke thus describes the way in which the Arab will address
a horse:—“Ibrahim went frequently to Rama to inquire
news of the mare whom he dearly loved; he would embrace
her, wipe her eyes with his handkerchief, would rub her
with his shirt sleeves, would give her a thousand benedictions
during whole hours that he would remain talking to her.
‘My eyes! my soul! my heart! he would say, ‘must I be
so unfortunate as to have thee sold to somany masters, and
not keep thee myself? I am poor, my antelope! I brought
thee up in my dwelling as a child; I did never beat nor
chide thee——” Arabs have been known to refuse enormous
sums for horses, though actually themselves in a condition of
extreme want. That the horse can reciprocate the kindness
shown to him is proved by many astory of his fidelity. Chateau-
briand says, “When I was at Jerusalem the feats of one of
these steeds made a great noise. The Bedouin to whom
the animal, a mare, belonged, being pursued by the govern-
or’s guards, rushed with her from the top of the hills that
overlooked Jericho. The mare scoured at full gallop down
an almost perpendicular declivity without stumbling, and left
the soldiers lost in admiration and astonishment. The poor
creature, however, dropped down dead on entering Jericho,
and the Bedouin, who would not quit her, was taken,
weeping over the body of his faithful companion.”
More romantic is the story told by M. de Lamartine, thus
quoted by Mrs. Bowdich. “An Arab chief and the tribe to
which he belonged attacked a caravan in the night, and were