Fraternity-Testvériség, 1958 (36. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1958-02-01 / 2. szám
8 FRATERNITY since drained from the eyes of the people. The very last drop was wept away during the seven-year massacre. Now, concerning the wise Abu Majub: as soon as he heard the stamping of feet and the rattling of weapons, he knew at once that the soldiers had come because of the flea. Intimidated, trembling in fear of the caliph’s wrath, he tucked his wonderful beard under his arms so that it would not hinder him when running, leaped out the window and with the miraculous speed of his long and ancient legs slipped away from the soldiers. He raced through villages and towns, plains and mountains, forest and pastures, with his noisy pursuers always behind him but unable to get even within bow-shot. It almost seemed as though he would make good his escape when he suddenly found his way hopelessly blocked by a formidable body of water, an angrily running river which he could not hope to swim across. The pursuing soldiers formed a half-circle around him to prevent him from running farther along the bank of the river either right or left, either up or down. And the circle gradually tightened. Abu Majub, perceiving that he had reached the end of his road, sank to the ground and began to pray in a loud voice: “Allah is my helper and the Prophet my protector!” In that instant a gigantic elephant trotted out of the shrubbery. Its height was not below that of Mount Kaf, its blackness not less deep than the blackness of the night, its trunk like a minaret, its tusks like the columns of a mosque. The elephant lifted Abu Majub, placed him between his ears and plunged into the water right under the nose of the astonished soldiers. And some of the waves timidly avoided him, others humbly licked his feet, as he waded through the river. With each step he left a mile behind him, yet two days and two nights passed as he carried between his ears Abu Majub who from the height of the clouds and the proximity of the stars scanned the distant opposite shore. When they finally reached safe ground, the elephant put him down and Abu Majub, making salaam after salaam, addressed him as follows: “Emperor of Elephants, King of Tusks, Prince of Trunks, how shall I express my gratitude for your generosity in saving my miserable life?” The elephant laughed, and his laughter sounded like thunder on a hot summer day:
