| |
| MOUNTED on Kyrat strong and fleet, | |
| His chestnut steed with four white feet, | |
| Roushan Beg, called Kurroglou, | |
| Son of the road and bandit chief, | |
| Seeking refuge and relief, | 5 |
| Up the mountain pathway flew. | |
| |
| Such was Kyrat’s wondrous speed, | |
| Never yet could any steed | |
| Reach the dust-cloud in his course. | |
| More than maiden, more than wife, | 10 |
| More than gold and next to life | |
| Roushan the Robber loved his horse. | |
| |
| In the land that lies beyond | |
| Erzeroum and Trebizond, | |
| Garden-girt his fortress stood; | 15 |
| Plundered khan, or caravan | |
| Journeying north from Koordistan, | |
| Gave him wealth and wine and food. | |
| |
| Seven hundred and fourscore | |
| Men at arms his livery wore, | 20 |
| Did his bidding night and day. | |
| Now, through regions all unknown, | |
| He was wandering, lost, alone, | |
| Seeking without guide his way. | |
| |
| Suddenly the pathway ends, | 25 |
| Sheer the precipice descends, | |
| Loud the torrent roars unseen; | |
| Thirty feet from side to side | |
| Yawns the chasm; on air must ride | |
| He who crosses this ravine. | 30 |
| |
| Following close in his pursuit, | |
| At the precipice’s foot, | |
| Reyhan the Arab of Orfah | |
| Halted with his hundred men, | |
| Shouting upward from the glen, | 35 |
| “La Illáh illa Alláh!” | |
| |
| Gently Roushan Beg caressed | |
| Kyrat’s forehead, neck, and breast; | |
| Kissed him upon both his eyes; | |
| Sang to him in his wild way, | 40 |
| As upon the topmost spray | |
| Sings a bird before it flies. | |
| |
| “O my Kyrat, O my steed, | |
| Round and slender as a reed, | |
| Carry me this peril through! | 45 |
| Satin housings shall be thine, | |
| Shoes of gold, O Kyrat mine, | |
| O thou soul of Kurroglou! | |
| |
| “Soft thy skin as silken skein, | |
| Soft as woman’s hair thy mane, | 50 |
| Tender are thine eyes and true; | |
| All thy hoofs like ivory shine, | |
| Polished bright; O, life of mine. | |
| Leap, and rescue Kurroglou!” | |
| |
| Kyrat, then, the strong and fleet, | 55 |
| Drew together his four white feet, | |
| Paused a moment on the verge, | |
| Measured with his eye the space, | |
| And into the air’s embrace | |
| Leaped as leaps the ocean surge. | 60 |
| |
| As the ocean surge o’er sand | |
| Bears a swimmer safe to land, | |
| Kyrat safe his rider bore; | |
| Rattling down the deep abyss | |
| Fragments of the precipice | 65 |
| Rolled like pebbles on a shore. | |
| |
| Roushan’s tasselled cap of red | |
| Trembled not upon his head, | |
| Careless sat he and upright; | |
| Neither hand nor bridle shook, | 70 |
| Nor his head he turned to look, | |
| As he galloped out of sight. | |
| |
| Flash of harness in the air, | |
| Seen a moment like the glare | |
| Of a sword drawn from its sheath; | 75 |
| Thus the phantom horseman passed, | |
| And the shadow that he cast | |
| Leaped the cataract underneath. | |
| |
| Reyhan the Arab held his breath | |
| While this vision of life and death | 80 |
| Passed above him. “Allahu!” | |
| Cried he. “In all Koordistan | |
| Lives there not so brave a man | |
| As this Robber Kurroglou!” | |
| |
