A troop of horsemen slowly came in view;
Their banner bore the crescent and the star.
I knelt and cried: “Praise be to Allah’s name!”
And then, it seemed, I was within a grot
That opened on a placid lake. The moon
Was at the full and o’er the water threw
A track of silver sheen. Beside me stood
A child with upturned face. I placed my hand
Upon its head, when, lo! from out the lake
Arose a horrid, monster form. It glared