The Legend of How the Arabian Horse Was Created |
When God desired to create the horse, he summoned forth the South Wind, which the people of Egypt call "El Marees," saying: "I shall create from thy substance a new being which shall be good fortune unto my followers and humiliation to my enemies. Condense thyself!" And the wind condensed itself. And the angel Gabriel caught a handful of it and said to God: "Here is the handful of wind." And God created therefrom and Arab horse of bay color and addressed it by saying, "I have created thee and named thee horse. I have bestowed my blessings upon thee above all other beastes of burden and made thee their master. Success and happiness are bound to thy forelock; bounty reposes on your back and riches are with you wherever you may be. And I have endowed thee to fly without wings; you are for pursuit and for flight. And thou shalt carry men who will glorify me, and thou shalt glorify me thereby." And when the horse neighed, He said to it: "I have blessed thee and will affright the pagans with your neighing and I will fill their ears with it and fill their hearts with great fear from it, and humiliate their necks with the sound of it!" --Attributed to the Prophet Mohammed |