Author: James Baldwin
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 102
ISBN-13: 9781230467887
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ...That reminds me of another white horse," said Hippion. " Soon after Mahomet had set himself up as a prophet, a band of Koreishites made a sudden attack upon him and his followers, and the Moslem religion was in danger of coming to an untimely end through the slaughter of its founder and all his adherents. Mahomet had with him only two horsemen, and three hundred and ten footmen; but they fought bravely. " ' Courage, children!' shouted the Prophet. 'Shoot your arrows into their midst, and the day is ours!' " He himself cast a handful of sand into the air; and we have his own word for it that the angel Gabriel, riding on the magnificent white horse, Haizum, came immediately with a great host to his aid, and the Koreishites were routed with great confusion and slaughter. This battle occurred in the year 624, and good Moslems still commemorate the appearance of Haizum and his rider by sending up fireworks on the thirteenth day of every January--making a kind of Fourth of July business of it, you know." " Talking about war horses," said the Artist, who seemed not to have heard any of this conversation, " what do you think of the dancing steeds of Sybaris?" "I never heard of them," said Philip. "Never heard of them! Well, suppose I tell you the story." THE DANCING HORSES OF SYBAEIS "Like unbacked colts, they pricked their ears, Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses, As they smelt music."--The Tempest. In the south of Italy there was once a flourishing Greek colony called Sybaris. The town was well situated for commerce, the surrounding country was very fertile, the climate was the finest in the world, and for some centuries the Sybarites were industrious and enterprising, carrying on a profitable trade with other countries and heaping...
