“Woe to him!” cried the Appointed, a stern smile
Darkening with stronger shades his countenance,
“Woe to him! he hath laid his toils
“To take the Antelope,
“The Lion is come in!”
She shook her head, “a Sorcerer he
“And guarded by so many! Thalaba,...
“And thou but one!”
He raised his hand to Heaven,
“Is there not God, Oneiza?
“I have a Talisman, that, whoso bears,
“Him, nor the Earthly, nor the Infernal Powers
“Of Evil can cast down.
“Remember Destiny
“Hath marked me from mankind!
“Now rest in faith, and I will guard thy sleep!”
So on a violet bank
The Arabian Maid lay down,
Her soft cheek pillowed upon moss and flowers.
She lay in silent prayer,
Till prayer had tranquillized her fears,
And sleep fell on her. By her side
Silent sate Thalaba,
And gazed upon the Maid,
And as he gazed, drew in
New courage and intenser faith,
And waited calmly for the eventful day.
Loud sung the Lark, the awakened Maid
Beheld him twinkling in the morning light,
And wished for wings and liberty like his.
The flush of fear inflamed her cheek,
But Thalaba was calm of soul,
Collected for the work.
He pondered in his mind
How from Lobaba’s breast
His blunted arrow fell.
Aloadin too might wear
Spell perchance of equal power
To blunt the weapon’s edge!
Beside the river-brink,
Rose a young poplar, whose unsteady leaves
Varying their verdure to the gale,
With silver glitter caught
His meditating eye.
Then to Oneiza turned the youth
And gave his father’s bow,
And o’er her shoulders slung
The quiver arrow-stored.
“Me other weapon suits;” said he,
“Bear thou the Bow: dear Maid!
“The days return upon me, when these shafts,
“True to thy guidance, from the lofty palm
“Brought down the cluster, and thy gladdened eye
“Exulting turned to seek the voice of praise.
“Oh! yet again Oneiza, we shall share
“Our desert joys!”
So saying to the bank
He moved, and stooping low,
With double grasp, hand below hand, he clenched
And from its watry soil
Uptore the poplar trunk.
Then off he shook the clotted earth,
And broke away the head
And boughs and lesser roots,
And lifting it aloft
Wielded with able sway the massy club.
“Now for this child of Hell!” quoth Thalaba,
“Belike he shall exchange to day
“His dainty Paradise
“For other dwelling, and the fruit
“Of Zaccoum,[134] cursed tree.”
With that the youth and Arab maid
Towards the garden centre past.
It chanced that Aloadin had convoked
The garden-habitants,
And with the assembled throng
Oneiza mingled, and the appointed youth.
Unmarked they mingled, or if one
With busier finger to his neighbour notes
The quivered Maid, “haply,” he says,
“Some daughter of the[135] Homerites,
“Or one who yet remembers with delight
“Her native tents of Himiar!” “Nay!” rejoins
His comrade, “a love-pageant! for the man
“Mimics with that fierce eye and knotty club
“Some savage lion-tamer, she forsooth
“Must play the heroine of the years of old!”
Radiant with gems upon his throne of gold
Aloadin sate.
O’er the Sorcerer’s head
Hovered a Bird, and in the fragrant air
Waved his winnowing wings,
A living canopy.
Large as the plumeless Cassowar
Was that o’ershadowing Bird;
So huge his talons, in their grasp
The Eagle would have hung a helpless prey.
His beak was iron, and his plumes
Glittered like burnished gold,
And his eyes glowed, as tho’ an inward fire
Shone thro’ a diamond orb.
The blinded multitude
Adored the Sorcerer,
And bent the knee before him,
And shouted out his praise,
“Mighty art thou, the Bestower of joy,
“The Lord of Paradise!”
Aloadin waved his hand,
In idolizing reverence
Moveless they stood and mute.
“Children of Earth,” he cried,
“Whom I have guided here
“By easier passage than the gate of Death,
“The infidel Sultan to whose lands
“My mountains reach their roots,
“Blasphemes and threatens me.
“Strong are his armies, many are his guards,
“Yet may a dagger find him.
“Children of Earth, I tempt you not
“With the vain promise of a bliss unseen,
“With tales of a hereafter Heaven
“Whence never Traveller hath returned!
“Have ye not tasted of the cup of joy,
“That in these groves of happiness
“For ever over-mantling tempts
“The ever-thirsty lip?
“Who is there here that by a deed
“Of danger will deserve
“The eternal joys of actual Paradise?
“I!” Thalaba exclaimed,
And springing forward, on the Sorcerer’s head
He dashed the knotty club.
He fell not, tho’ the force
Shattered his skull; nor flowed the blood.
For by some hellish talisman
His life imprisoned still
Dwelt in the body. The astonished crowd
Stand motionless with fear, and wait
Immediate vengeance from the wrath of Heaven.
And lo! the Bird ... the monster Bird
Soars up ... then pounces down
To seize on Thalaba!
Now Oneiza, bend the bow,
Now draw the arrow home!
It fled, the arrow from Oneiza’s hand,
It pierced the monster Bird,
It broke the Talisman.
Then darkness covered all,...
Earth shook, Heaven thundered, and amid the yells
Of Spirits accursed, destroyed
The Paradise[136] of Sin.
At last the earth was still;
The yelling of the Demons ceased;
Opening the wreck and ruin to their sight
The darkness rolled away. Alone in life
Amid the desolation and the dead
Stood the Destroyer and the Arabian Maid.
They looked around, the rocks were rent,
The path was open, late by magic closed.
Awe-struck and silent down the stony glen
They wound their thoughtful way.
Amid the vale below
Tents rose, and streamers played
And javelins sparkled in the sun,
And multitudes encamped
Swarmed, far as eye could follow, o’er the plain.
There in his war pavilion sate
In council with his Chiefs
The Sultan of the Land.
Before his presence there a Captain led
Oneiza and the appointed Youth.