"
"Thou hast heard, O king, of the garden of Irem, one of the
prodigies of Arabia the happy."
"I have heard of that garden; it is recorded in the Koran, even in
the chapter entitled 'The Dawn of Day.' I have, moreover, heard
marvellous things related of it by pilgrims who had been to Mecca; but
I considered them wild fables, such as travellers are wont to tell who
have visited remote countries."
"Discredit not, O king, the tales of travellers," rejoined the
astrologer, gravely, "for they contain precious rarities of
knowledge brought from the ends of the earth. As to the palace and
garden of Irem, what is generally told of them is true; I have seen
them with mine own eyes- listen to my adventure; for it has a
bearing upon the object of your request.
"In my younger days, when a mere Arab of the desert, I tended my
father's camels. In traversing the desert of Aden, one of them strayed
from the rest, and was lost. I searched after it for several days, but
in vain, until, wearied and faint, I laid myself down at noontide, and
slept under a palm-tree by the side of a scanty well. When I awoke,
I found myself at the gate of a city. I entered, and beheld noble
streets, and squares, and market-places; but all were silent and
without an inhabitant. I wandered on until I came to a sumptuous
palace with a garden adorned with fountains and fishponds, and
groves and flowers, and orchards laden with delicious fruit; but still
no one was to be seen.
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