When Saum had heard the words of his son his spirit was troubled, and he cried-
"Woe unto me, for now is clear what hath so long been hidden. One whom a wild bird hath reared looketh for the fulfilment of wild desires, and seeks union with an accursed race."
And he pondered long what he should answer. For he said, "If I say, Abandon this desire, sow no discord, return to reason, I break my oath and God will punish me. Yet if I say, Thy desire is just, satisfy the passions of thy heart, what offspring can come to pass from the union of a Deev and the nursling of a bird?"
And the heart of Saum was heavy with care. So he called unto him his Mubids that they should search the stars, for he said-
"If I mingle fire and water I do ill, and ill will come of it."
Then all that day th
