Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of AnimalsLee, R., Mrs.
General
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals
Lee, R., Mrs.
Animal behavior -- Juvenile literature
trial: the man came, was very quiet, did not promise anything, but
united the parts, bandaged them together, had the patient fastened down
in the position in which he chose him to lie, and after some weeks of
careful tending, the animal was restored to his master even without
blemish. It was only by passing the hand along the parts which had been
severed, that the scar could be detected; and he was afterwards sold for
a handsome sum.
M. de Lamartine tells an interesting story of an Arab chief and his
horse, which is highly characteristic. They, and the tribe to which they
belonged, attacked a caravan in the night, and were returning with their
plunder, when some horsemen, belonging to the Pasha of Acre, surrounded
them, killed several, and bound the rest with cords. Among the latter
was the chief, Abou el Marek, who was carried to Acre, and, bound hand
and foot, laid at the entrance of their tent during the night. The pain
of his wounds kept him awake, and he heard his own horse neigh, who was
picketed at a little distance from him. Wishing to caress him, perhaps
for the last time, he dragged himself up to him, and said--"Poor friend!
what will you do among the Turks? You will be shut up under the roof of
a Khan, with the horses of a Pasha or an Aga; no longer will the women
and children of the tent bring you barley, camel's milk, or dhourra, in
the hollow of their hands; no longer will you gallop free as the wind in
the desert; no longer will you cleave the waters with your breast, and
lave your sides, as pure as the foam from your lips. If I am to be a
slave, at least you may go free. Return to our tent, tell my wife that
Abou el Marek will return no more; but put your head still into the
folds of the tent, and lick the hands of my beloved children." With
these words, as his hands were tied, the chief, with his teeth, undid
the fetters which held the courser bound, and set him at liberty; but
the noble animal, on recovering his freedom, instead of galloping away
to the desert, bent his head over his master, and seeing him in fetters,
and on the ground, took his clothes gently between his teeth, lifted him
up and set off at full speed towards home. Without resting he made
straight for the distant, but well-known tent in the mountains of
Arabia. He arrived there in safety, laid his master down at the feet of
his wife and children, and immediately dropped down dead with fatigue.
The whole tribe mourned him, the poets celebrated his fidelity; and his
name is still constantly in the mouths of the Arabs of Jericho.
The Arabs have five noble races, among which that of Kohlan is the most
celebrated for its beauty, temper, courage, memory, and almost human
intelligence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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