DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0432
122
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
[chap. xii.
currence. The horse of the true Nedjed breed will gallop, they
say, one hundred and twenty miles without drawing a thick
breath.
Nedjed is a mountainous country in the Hedjaz, not far from
Mecca, which possesses the horse in the most perfect form known.
The pedigrees of these animals are sometimes worn round their
necks, but on such I should be inclined to look with suspicion ;
for in the more remote regions of the desert, where alone the
pure blood is to be found, writing is unknown. Oral pedigrees,
well borne out by the hieroglyphics of noble blood that may be read
in the outward structure, so eloquent of the power within—these
are the pedigrees most to be relied on. The mare is far more
valued than the horse, as the Bedouin believe that the mother
gives character to the race, and deduce the descent of the horse
through the female line. The mare is also supposed to be capa-
ble of enduring greater fatigue, and to require less sustenance.
In all the Arab tales, the horse figures largely in connexion
with the human heroes. Thus, Achmed was accounted the most
generous man of his time, and it was said that he could refuse
nothing to the veriest stranger, except a celebrated horse, which
shared his tent and his bread. The Sultan, hearing such report
of this generosity, sent one of his officers in disguise to test its
truth. Arrived at Achmed's encampment, the stranger was
received with all hospitality; and though it was said that the
generous Arab had become impoverished, a splendid banquet of
horse-flesh was served up. The next morning, as the guest was
departing, his host inquired if there were any means by which he
could compensate him for the honour he had conferred upon his
tent by accepting its hospitality. " Alas !" said the stranger, " I
have but one request, and that I shrink from asking : my wife is
ill; she sickens with desire to possess that noble horse of which
all Damascus has heard so much." " Wretched man that I
am !" exclaimed the Arab, " I had nothing else to regale ycu with
last night, and I slew him for your repast."
A French officer, who was ambassador to a Syrian Pasha, ob-
served a very beautiful horse, ridden by a Bedouin, and offered
a large sum of money to its poor proprietor : his offer was refused,
and the Pasha sent to the Arab to say that the horse must be
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
[chap. xii.
currence. The horse of the true Nedjed breed will gallop, they
say, one hundred and twenty miles without drawing a thick
breath.
Nedjed is a mountainous country in the Hedjaz, not far from
Mecca, which possesses the horse in the most perfect form known.
The pedigrees of these animals are sometimes worn round their
necks, but on such I should be inclined to look with suspicion ;
for in the more remote regions of the desert, where alone the
pure blood is to be found, writing is unknown. Oral pedigrees,
well borne out by the hieroglyphics of noble blood that may be read
in the outward structure, so eloquent of the power within—these
are the pedigrees most to be relied on. The mare is far more
valued than the horse, as the Bedouin believe that the mother
gives character to the race, and deduce the descent of the horse
through the female line. The mare is also supposed to be capa-
ble of enduring greater fatigue, and to require less sustenance.
In all the Arab tales, the horse figures largely in connexion
with the human heroes. Thus, Achmed was accounted the most
generous man of his time, and it was said that he could refuse
nothing to the veriest stranger, except a celebrated horse, which
shared his tent and his bread. The Sultan, hearing such report
of this generosity, sent one of his officers in disguise to test its
truth. Arrived at Achmed's encampment, the stranger was
received with all hospitality; and though it was said that the
generous Arab had become impoverished, a splendid banquet of
horse-flesh was served up. The next morning, as the guest was
departing, his host inquired if there were any means by which he
could compensate him for the honour he had conferred upon his
tent by accepting its hospitality. " Alas !" said the stranger, " I
have but one request, and that I shrink from asking : my wife is
ill; she sickens with desire to possess that noble horse of which
all Damascus has heard so much." " Wretched man that I
am !" exclaimed the Arab, " I had nothing else to regale ycu with
last night, and I slew him for your repast."
A French officer, who was ambassador to a Syrian Pasha, ob-
served a very beautiful horse, ridden by a Bedouin, and offered
a large sum of money to its poor proprietor : his offer was refused,
and the Pasha sent to the Arab to say that the horse must be