Love horses and take care of them, Spare no trouble; By them comes honour, by them comes beauty. If horses are forsaken of men, I will receive them into my family, I will share with them the bread of my children; My wives clothe them with their veils, And cover themselves with the horse-cloths; I ride them every day Over the field of adventures; Carried away in their impetuous career I combat the most valiant. I have finished the letter which our brother and companion, the friend of all men, the Commandant Sidi-Bou-Senna [Boissonnet], will cause to be delivered into your hands. Peace! THE WAR HORSE. AN ARAB CHAUNT. My steed is black as a night without moon or stars; He was foaled in vast solitudes; He is an air-drinker, son of an air-drinker. His dam also was of noble race, And our horsemen of the days of powder have surnamed him Sabok.[55] The lightning flash itself cannot overtake him: Allah save him from the evil eye! His ears vie with those of the gazelle, His eyes are the eyes of a woman with wiles, His forehead resembles that of a bull, His nostrils the cavern of a lion. His neck, shoulders, and croup are long, He is broad in the seat, in the limbs and flanks, He has the tail of a viper, the thighs of an ostrich, And his vigorous heels are lifted above the ground. I reckon upon him as upon my own heart. Never has mortal mounted his equal. His flesh is firmer than that of the zebra; He has the short gallop of the fox, The easy and prolonged running of the wolf; He accomplishes in one day a five days' march; And when he stretches out at full speed, he strikes the girts with his hocks. You would say that it was a dart hurled by fate, Or a thirsty pigeon that precipitates itself Upon the water preserved in the hollow of a rock. Yes, Sabok is a war horse! He loves the chace of savage animals, He sighs only for glory and booty, And the cries of our virgins excite his ardour. When I urge him into the midst of dangers, His neighing summons the vultures And makes my enemies tremble; On his back, death cannot overtake me, It fears the sound of his hoofs.