I must
choose between your father's death and mine. I cannot live
dishonored and perjured. The tschorbadji can then release the
prisoners; and he will do so, for he is kindly disposed, and it was
I alone who wished to proceed with severity. And Osman will join you
in your entreaties to his father. Now all is clear; now I know what
it was I wished to say to you here on Bucephalus. Ah, still so much,
and there is but an hour left me! How often have I gazed, from this
place, at the heavens above, and the sea beneath; how often seen the
sun rise in its splendor! But now that I have gazed in your eyes,
Masa, all else is forgotten and extinguished, and for me there
exists only the present; no longer a past. Yet I wished to see you
once more before my death, and, I entreat you, grant me one request.
My mother, Sitta Khadra, once told me that when a man was about to
die, Allah's holy spirit is shed upon him, and the best and purest
of all the welis is sent down to the dying, that a heavenly
atmosphere may surround him even here on earth. It seems to me that
you are the weli sent by Allah to him who is about to die.
Therefore, remove your veil, that I may behold the brightness of
your eyes and the crimson of your lips, and refresh my soul in the
light of your countenance. Yes, die I must, and die I will, when I
shall have seen the brightness of your eyes!"
"Look at me," said she, softly, "and hear what I have to say; I will
not have you die! There must be some other means of saving my
father.
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