The Equinox (Volume I, Number VI)

THE SCORPION LAYLAH. Sliman is strong and brave — my splendid boy. FATMA. Ay, there are hairs on his chin. But the strongest and the bravest fall first, LAYLAH. Thou ominous owl I Be silent, or I will have thee whipped. FATMA. Oh! Oh ! indeed Ι only say what we all know. If he should die indeed, thou mayst have Sidi Omar left, thy dear lord. And Othman, and Akbar, and Mohammedl LAYLAH. Sliman is my first-born. FATMA. Ay, he is not like his brothers. He is square and solid-set. He is more like the cedar than the palm. LAYLAH. Sidi Omar's mother was a princess from Lebanon. FATMA. He is silent and stem. LAYLAH. Sidi Omar’s father was the holiest man of Syria. He lived alone forty years in the mountain. FATMA. He is relentless in anger, and obeys not. One would say there was Christian blood in him. LAYLAH. On the night of his begetting there was Christian blood on Sidi Omar’s hands. FATMA. He is as fair as a Christian. LAYLAH. The men of Sidi Omar‘s tribe are white men, thou wizened old black witch. FATMA. Ah! Sidi Omar! Sidi Omar! Sidi Omar! Happy the prince whose wife is as faithful as thou. Thou canst not open thy mouth without uttering his name. LAYLAH. Do not take it in thine, mother of lies! FATMA. My mouth has been shut these twenty years. LAYLAH. What? Any time these twenty years thou hast 85