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(From The Spanish Jew’s Tale)
INTO the city of Kambalu, | |
| By the road that leadeth to Ispahan, | |
| At the head of his dusty caravan, | |
| Laden with treasure from realms afar, | |
| Baldacca and Kelat and Kandahar, | 5 |
| Rode the great captain Alau. | |
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| The Khan from his palace-window gazed, | |
| And saw in the thronging street beneath, | |
| In the light of the setting sun, that blazed | |
| Through the clouds of dust by the caravan raised, | 10 |
| The flash of harness and jewelled sheath, | |
| And the shining scimitars of the guard, | |
| And the weary camels that bared their teeth, | |
| As they passed and passed through the gates unbarred | |
| Into the shade of the palace-yard. | 15 |
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| Thus into the city of Kambalu | |
| Rode the great captain Alau; | |
| And he stood before the Khan, and said: | |
| “The enemies of my lord are dead; | |
| All the Kalifs of all the West | 20 |
| Bow and obey thy least behest; | |
| The plains are dark with the mulberry-trees, | |
| The weavers are busy in Samarcand, | |
| The miners are sifting the golden sand, | |
| The divers plunging for pearls in the seas, | 25 |
| And peace and plenty are in the land. | |
| |
| “Baldacca’s Kalif, and he alone, | |
| Rose in revolt against thy throne: | |
| His treasures are at thy palace-door, | |
| With the swords and the shawls and the jewels he wore; | 30 |
| His body in dust o’er the desert blown. | |
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| “A mile outside of Baldacca’s gate | |
| I left my forces to lie in wait, | |
| Concealed by forests and hillocks of sand, | |
| And forward dashed with a handful of men, | 35 |
| To lure the old tiger from his den | |
| Into the ambush I had planned. | |
| Ere we reached the town the alarm was spread, | |
| For we heard the sound of gongs from within; | |
| And with clash of cymbals and warlike din | 40 |
| The gates swung wide; and we turned and fled; | |
| And the garrison sallied forth and pursued, | |
| With the gray old Kalif at their head, | |
| And above them the banner of Mohammed: | |
| So we snared them all, and the town was subdued. | 45 |
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| “As in at the gate we rode, behold, | |
| A tower that is called the Tower of Gold! | |
| For there the Kalif had hidden his wealth, | |
| Heaped and hoarded and piled on high, | |
| Like sacks of wheat in a granary; | 50 |
| And thither the miser crept by stealth | |
| To feel of the gold that gave him health, | |
| And to gaze and gloat with his hungry eye | |
| On jewels that gleamed like a glow-worm’s spark, | |
| Or the eyes of a panther in the dark. | 55 |
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| “I said to the Kalif: ‘Thou art old, | |
| Thou hast no need of so much gold. | |
| Thou shouldst not have heaped and hidden it here, | |
| Till the breath of battle was hot and near, | |
| But have sown through the land these useless hoards | 60 |
| To spring into shining blades of swords, | |
| And keep thine honor sweet and clear. | |
| These grains of gold are not grains of wheat; | |
| These bars of silver thou canst not eat; | |
| These jewels and pearls and precious stones | 65 |
| Cannot cure the aches in thy bones, | |
| Nor keep the feet of Death one hour | |
| From climbing the stairways of thy tower!’ | |
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| “Then into his dungeon I locked the drone, | |
| And left him to feed there all alone | 70 |
| In the honey-cells of his golden hive: | |
| Never a prayer, nor a cry, nor a groan | |
| Was heard from those massive walls of stone, | |
| Nor again was the Kalif seen alive! | |
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| “When at last we unlocked the door, | 75 |
| We found him dead upon the floor; | |
| The rings have dropped from his withered hands, | |
| His teeth were like bones in the desert sands: | |
| Still clutching his treasure he had died; | |
| And as he lay there, he appeared | 80 |
| A statue of gold with a silver beard, | |
| His arms outstretched as if crucified.” | |
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| This is the story, strange and true, | |
| That the great captain Alau | |
| Told to his brother the Tartar Khan, | 85 |
| When he rode that day into Kambalu | |
| By the road that leadeth to Ispahan. | |
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