DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5073#0403
390
THE SERPENTS' BATTLE.
imitates the blue veins showing through the skin, and
is therefore a natural ornament.
There was an old hag of a woman at Tadmor, who
was much considered by the townspeople, on account of
her having twice made the pilgrimage to Mekka; she
was in consequence called Hajji Elleerieh — but we called
her " Meg Merrilies! " She was the greatest chatterbox
woman could be, and had quantities of legends and
stories to relate. She was a very successful curiosity-
finder, and we used to take her out with us sometimes,
when we went hunting along the ground where the
ancient houses had stood, in hopes of finding coins, bits
of porcelain and glass, &c. One day, when she saw me
busy cleaning a pretty little pebble I had found, she
began with, " Oh, lady! I have found something much
prettier than that; it must needs be a stone belonging
to some jinns, for I never saw anything like it before."
She would not for a long time tell us any more about
the wonderful stone; she said she was afraid, and she
knew we should not believe her if she told us all she
had seen: however, after a whole day's coaxing and
flattering, she told us that she had been out, one day,
among the ruins of Zenobia's Palace, not long before,
about mid-day, when, the sun being very hot, she sat
down by a low wall to rest; presently she heard the
hissing of serpents close to her, and turning her head to
look over the wall, she saw, at a few yards off, two ser-
pents fighting; their heads were curved far back, as their
bodies glided and wriggled about, facing each other; and
every now and then they would dart like lightning one
at the other, each trying to seize his enemy's head. At
last one gave the other a mortal bite, and he fell pro-
strate and bleeding on the sand. Then she made a noise,
and the victor glided frightened away, while she went
THE SERPENTS' BATTLE.
imitates the blue veins showing through the skin, and
is therefore a natural ornament.
There was an old hag of a woman at Tadmor, who
was much considered by the townspeople, on account of
her having twice made the pilgrimage to Mekka; she
was in consequence called Hajji Elleerieh — but we called
her " Meg Merrilies! " She was the greatest chatterbox
woman could be, and had quantities of legends and
stories to relate. She was a very successful curiosity-
finder, and we used to take her out with us sometimes,
when we went hunting along the ground where the
ancient houses had stood, in hopes of finding coins, bits
of porcelain and glass, &c. One day, when she saw me
busy cleaning a pretty little pebble I had found, she
began with, " Oh, lady! I have found something much
prettier than that; it must needs be a stone belonging
to some jinns, for I never saw anything like it before."
She would not for a long time tell us any more about
the wonderful stone; she said she was afraid, and she
knew we should not believe her if she told us all she
had seen: however, after a whole day's coaxing and
flattering, she told us that she had been out, one day,
among the ruins of Zenobia's Palace, not long before,
about mid-day, when, the sun being very hot, she sat
down by a low wall to rest; presently she heard the
hissing of serpents close to her, and turning her head to
look over the wall, she saw, at a few yards off, two ser-
pents fighting; their heads were curved far back, as their
bodies glided and wriggled about, facing each other; and
every now and then they would dart like lightning one
at the other, each trying to seize his enemy's head. At
last one gave the other a mortal bite, and he fell pro-
strate and bleeding on the sand. Then she made a noise,
and the victor glided frightened away, while she went