The Prophet and the Country 154 _Gow’s Watch: Act IV, Sc. 4_ 171 The Bull That Thought 177 _Alnaschar and the Oxen_ 196 _Gipsy Vans_ 201 A Madonna of the Trenches 203 _Gow’s Watch: Act V. Sc. 3_ 223 _The Birthright_ 229 The Propagation of Knowledge 230 _A Legend of Truth_ 257 A Friend of the Family 259 _We and They_ 277 On the Gate: A Tale of ’16 281 _The Supports_ 303 _Untimely_ 309 The Eye of Allah 310 _The Last Ode: Nov. 27, B.C. 8 (Horace, Ode 31, Bk._ V) 336 The Gardener 339 _The Burden_ 353 THE ENEMIES TO EACH OTHER _With Apologies to the Shade of Mirza Mirkhond_ THE ENEMIES TO EACH OTHER It is narrated (and God knows best the true state of the case) by Abu Ali Jafir Bin Yakub-ulisfahani that when, in His determinate Will, The Benefactor had decided to create the Greatest Substitute (Adam), He despatched, as is known, the faithful and the excellent Archangel Jibrail to gather from Earth clays, loams, and sands endowed with various colours and attributes, necessary for the substance of our pure Forefather’s body. Receiving the Command and reaching the place, Jibrail put forth his hand to take them, but Earth shook and lamented and supplicated him. Then said Jibrail: “Lie still and rejoice, for out of thee He will create that than which (there) is no handsomer thing--to wit a Successor and a Wearer of the Diadem over thee through the ages.” Earth said: “I adjure thee to abstain from thy purpose, lest evil and condemnation of that person who is created out of me should later overtake him, and the Abiding (sorrow) be loosed upon my head. I have no power to resist the Will of the Most High, but I take refuge with Allah from thee.” So Jibrail was moved by the lamentations and helplessness of Earth, and returned to the Vestibule of the Glory with an empty hand. After this, by the Permission, the Just and Terrible Archangel Michael next descended, and he, likewise, hearing and seeing the abjection of Earth, returned with an empty hand. Then was sent the Archangel Azrael, and when Earth had once again implored God, and once again cried out, he closed his hand upon her bosom and tore out the clays and sands necessary.