by Allâh!' He said, 'I seek Red Death, its very self'[1] To which I replied, 'I desire death with thee.' So he said, 'Go with us.' And we journeyed the whole of that day until night closed upon us. And half of it had passed when we arrived at an encampment of the encampments of the Arabs. And he said to me, 'Red Death is within this encampment, O ʾAmr! Wilt thou then hold my horse whilst I go, and return with what I want; or wilt thou go whilst I hold thy horse, and bring me what I desire?'
"So I replied, 'It is well that thou shouldst go, for thou knowest better than I what thou wantest.' Then he flung to me his horse's bridle, and I was willing, by Allâh! O Commander of the Faithful, to be Sâyis[2] to him!
"Then he passed into a tent, and brought out of it a damsel, than whom my eyes have never beheld one excelling in beauty and grace. And he mounted her
- ↑ "Red Death," i.e., which takes place through the shedding of blood. Amongst the mystics, the resistance of man to his passions. "White Death," i.e., natural death. Amongst the mystics, hunger. "Black Death," i.e., death by strangulation. "Green Death," i.e., clothing oneself in rags or patched garments, after the manner of dervishes.
- ↑ Sâyis, groom or horsekeeper.
