Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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deed, for a moment or two poor Rustum was quite bereft of speech ; and it was all he could do to get his thoughts back again into their proper pigeon-holes, and answer the questioner with some degree of composure. Thine is a problem that can only find an answer after prajer and inler -ention with the gods. replied Rustum. The extreme heat ' ' — taking lip a fan and waving it energetically — doth pass upon the spirits of the Immortals, and doth make them ungentle listeners to our feeble prayers. Alayhap the gods have ever sought the cooler skies of the West — a great distance for my prayer to travel. But if thy road be this way this day twelve months, my voice may bv then have penetrated to the ears of the gods, and I will be able to furnish thee with thine answer. This day twelve-month, then, said the beggar, and chuckling in- wardly at his host ' s discomfiture, departed. Alas! moaned poor Rustum, when left alone, he is surel 7 a learned man who is endeavouring to rob me of my reputation that he might take m ,- place as wise man of the village. To make himself reach as near as possible to the ears of the hob ' ones, and to make sure that his prayers would reach their destination, Rustum climbed to the very peak of an extremely high mountain, and al in the heat of noon-day. For surely if I so toil, thought he, the gods will hear me graciously. A.s he prayed upon the mountain pinnacle, a cloud drifted over him, bearing from their secret pasture-lands upon earth, a herd of holy ele- phants belonging to the gods. The leader, espying Rustum, extended his trunk, and whisked the startled mortal into the cloud. The cloud had entered the portals of heaven, before Rustum recovered his senses. Where am I? he asked in a dazed voice. In the abode of the gods, answered the elephant, setting him down, Then my prayers have ])een answered! ejaculated Rustum, fer- vently. Wilt thou, O most hol - Elephant, lead me into the presence of the gods? I have a petition that must be urged. Thou art a daring mortal, answered the elephant. But if thou wonldst behold the grace of the gods, and live, claim the garment of divinity, and acknowledge thyself as no less a being than one of the Immortal host. And the elephant winked knowingly. Rustum, who had never seen an elephant wink, beheld the opera- tion with fascinated wonder. Can they brethren, O holy Elephant, vvink too? he asked with in- terest. Impudent, cried the elephant, a loud and angry trumpeting issuing irom his sacred throat, and prepared to make a charge at Rustum. The latter, without waiting to offer apologies, took to his heels; and seeing an open door-way, made for it with all possible speed, his one thought to escape the wrath of the holy elephant. 10

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THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTUM-AL-ALI. There «.)nce lived, in a drowsy illayc of the Orii ut, a man by the name of Rustum-al-Ali. Possessing- a readier wit than the villagers hr seemed to their simple minds, to be a great and wise man ; and with such ease did he disentangle dit culties that seemed to the peasants to be beyond solution, that he was reputed to be the favoured of the gods, and blessed with no slight portion of their divine knowledge. The god of mischief, on beholding how Rustum-al-Ali ' s self-com- placency grew with the years, immediately fastened upon him as the next victim of his love of teasing and tormenting. Accordingly he one day parted the veil of the heavens, and, in the guise of a mendicant, descended upon earth, alighting before Rustiim ' s cottage-door. He begged to be allowed to share the w ise man ' s noon-day meal, whereupon Rustum made him welcome at his table. W hen the meal was over, the supposed beggar, making a lowly obeisance, addressed his host as follows : O wise and holy man, who hast surely beheld the face of the gods, and to whom the most secret signs of heaven are made manifest; thou, O favoured of Immortals, canst surely give answer to a question that has long taxed my dull mind. Beaming with gratification and delight. Rustiun-al-Ali bowed his assent ; nor did it ever occtir to him that he might be dealing with a man whose wits were as sharp, or even sharper than his own. Thou hast spoken truly, my friend, he replied in pompous tones. T have indeed been favoured with the counsels of the gods, and to me the inmost secrets of the heavens have been revealed. Speak, and I will answer. Then, said the god of mischief, smiling to see how readv was his host to flounder into the snare prepared for him, Then it is this. In the beginning of things, there were but one man and one woman upon earth. Is this not so? Yea, answered Rustum, solentnly. Since that long-ago beginning of things, continued the beggar, the race of man has increased to many millions; but the earth, the stable work of the god, is as it was. Is this not so? Somewhat perplexed as to what his guest was driving at, yet not with less confident in his powers of sohition, Rtistum again inclined his head m assent. ■ ' Since it is evident that man will continue to multiply in number, and since it is equally evident that the earth will never accommodate itself to his increase, what then do the gods intend when mankind shall have outgrown his habitation ? Thou, O intimate of the gods, canst inform me of their purpose, and relieve the anxiety which presses upon the mind of thy- humble servant. The poor wise man was in a state of utter bewilderment, when oftered so hard a nut to crack. The god of mischief, through his divine power, was able to look right into Rustum ' s thinking-box, under his top-knot. The wise man ' s ideas had fallen out of their pigeon-holes, and were staggering- round in such a manner that their owner must hav e felt quite dizzy. In- 9

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U chanced that this cloor-way led into the Assembly Hall of tht; gods. At that moment Boreas was setting torth to the Immortals l i- bitter complaints against Xeptune, charging the sea-king with unjust:- Tiable interference with the winds passing over his domains. The god of the W inds was just reaching towards a grand rhetorical climax when Rustum-al-Ali made his precipitate entry. Wiio art thou. ' thundered Boreas, enraged at so untimely a inter ruption. A-a god. panted Rustmn, the holy ele])hant ' s advice recalled sharpl ,■ to his memory when he perceived that the attendants of the gods were ringeruig the hilts of their bright, sharp scimitars. A god should not behave in so undignified a manner, declared n prim-looking goddess, severely. 1-1 am one of the lesser gods, stammered Rustum — the ver, lesser lie added, with a deprecating wave of the hand. Ah ! said Boreas in a that-explains-it ' tone, and proceeded with his harangue. To escape the indignant glances of the audience of Immortals, Rustum sought a door-way opposite to that by which he had so hastil, entered. He soon foimd himself in a magnificent garden al)la .e with gorgeous tropical flowers. Seating himself under a wide-spreading ' tree he began to review the incidents that led to his entrance into heaven, with man . a bitter thought for the cunning beggar and his impossible riddle. But now that 1 am here in the very abode of the gods, 1 shall surelv be able to discover the gate of man, he thought. Mortal, what dost thou here. ' came a hoarse voice from somewhere above him. Rustum leaped to his feet in terror, his knees knocking together, then threw himself prostrate upon the ground, crying: Mercy! mercy! How earnest thou here, miserable human? repeated the strange, awful voice. 1 am discovered! was the unhappy Rustum ' s inward thought. Aloud, he said: O great and invisible god! the holy elephants bore me hither. What wouldst thou? demanded the harsh v oice. 1 would know what gate the gods hold in store for man when he shall have so increased that no room shall be left him on earth, answered Rustum more boldly, inspired by the hope that the great mysterious god would grant him the desired information. Ho! said the voice; then, after a pause: I am coming ' down to thee. These words sent the crouching Rustum to his feet with astonishing- rapidity, and in the same moment he was leaping over the bright flower- beds with an agility that would have made a monkey envious. Nor did he look backward, else he might have perceived a great comi-notion in the branches of the tree under which he had but lately been so quietly sitting. But he had not gone far when his flight was abruptly arrested. A great hand seized the neck of his garments from behind and shook him till the poor man ' s senses reeled, then the hand swung him sharply round, and the 11