that her foot was pierced with a thorn, she lingered till the other

women had gone by. Then she came up to me, and we greeted one another,

gazing heavily into each other's eyes.

"In an ill day did I hearken to you, Baleka," I said, "to you and to

the Mother of the Heavens, and save your child alive. See now what has

sprung from this seed! Dead are all my house, dead is the Mother of

the Heavens--all are dead--and I myself have been put to the torment

by fire," and I held out my withered hand towards her.