'Thou stand'st before the Sultan! bend thy knee'?"
To him the Arab, sneering, "Verily,
Packsaddle of an ass! it well may be!
I kneel to none but God."
The Khalif's rage
Exceeded now, and, "By my realm and age!
Arab, thy hour is come, thy very last!"
Then said, "Call in the headsman.—Fool, thou hast
Cast thy young life away. Its thread is past."
The shepherd answered, "Aye?—by Allah, then,