Over this indescribably romantic country—which has been inhabited since the earliest time and has undergone fewer changes than any other known upon the globe—a mighty Presence seems on patient guard. One is never freed from the sense of some Great Unseen.
At points the configuration is fantastic and weird in the character of its desolation. It is a region of gloomy cliffs, of granite hills, of detached, volcanic centers—like that of the true Mount Sinai—and over whose difficult passages the complaining camel seems fittest transport.
Each tribe, in this Land of Ishmael, claims descent from some one of the three members of Abraham’s family; and insists that social and religious status were overthrown by Mohammed, when he subjected them to his version of the law of the One God. To this it may be added that there are those who believe that the enmity of Christians against the Jews prevented the great prophet from adopting the Christian faith.
Upon his possession of Arabia does the Sultan base his title of Caliph. With the downfall of those [[17]]rulers came a relapse into the former separate chieftaincies; so that every valley, between desert and coast, or mountain range, now supports its wandering band. For this reason, these people love that the stories told them should concern that time of the Caliphs; when the country flourished as never before or after.
Yemen, a central, fertile tract in southwest Arabia, is the Arab’s Arcadia. Here Alexander the Great determined to fix his court after he should have conquered India. His strong nature was attracted to this surprising land; where a single step may bear one from dreary somberness into the most luxurious vegetation—from the desert into an oasis, redolent with the scent of flowers, shadowed with orchards and musical with the insect’s drone.
In a land like this, among a people of courtesy and charm, it becomes gently imperative that the most barren imagination should indulge in bits of phantasy and the dullest sense become susceptible to passing beauty. A pure and refreshing fountain is certain to become a center of romantic interest that will unseal the lips of a traveler. And, since bachelors are looked upon with disfavor and not an old maid exists in all the country, it is to be expected that any relation should turn upon marriage. Nor need one fear that the tale will prove erotic, [[18]]since its creation was in a land where the modesty of a peasant will not admit even of his staring at a company of bathers; but sends his eyes to search the tree tops or distant mountains, until temptation is far passed.
Perhaps it will be well to begin these stories from the Orient with a relation of cruel intrigue and of patient revenge, aided by potent, albeit most unlikely, supernatural forces: