Page 163 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (3)_Neat
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NEGLECTED ARABIA
Missionary News and Letters
Published Quarterly . .
J:
FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION AMONG THE FRIENDS OF
) THE ARABIAN MISSION /
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L- ■
[ • The Tale of the Thousand and Second Night
Rev. J. W. Willoughby
Hou: Mr. Willoughby went to Mosul in 1922 as a representative of the Presbyterian Church
• b lb« United Mission in Mesopotamia which is the union venture in that land of the Prcsby-
l*Ua Church, the Reformed Church in-the U. S. and the Reformed Church in America.—Ed.
TN case the famous stories we call the “Arabian Nights,” or the
I “Thousand and One Nights ” should seem incredible to you, or
X should you wonder how such stories ever originated, I shall
relate a story which has recently arisen. You who may be ex
perts in psychology and its workings in folk-lore, or plain, old-
uihioned exaggeration can explain how such a story arose. We
have no inkling of what facts may be at the kernel of it, nor have |
meed it to any central source.
It happened near the village of Tuz Khurmatu, which is in the
w oil-nelds beginning to/be developed. While a man was exca-
BCW
vilinff for the foundation pf a house, he came upon a slab of marble.
On lilling it he found himself peering into u black hole—apparently i
v. of great denth. • Listening! he could hour in It u bluing sound,
V
funiQwhut like the hiss of a serpent.
: He let down a rope and found that the hole was indeed very
deep. (Some report it as 400 meters, nearly one-fourth of a mile.)
When he finally found the bottom, he could not pull the rope up,
lorocthing evidently had hold of it. He thereupon sent to the town . \
(or help, and among those who came out to join the investigation, *• 1
were officials of the Turkish Petroleum Company, and some say I
an archaeologist was also present.
Meanwhile the rope was discovered to be loose and, was drawn
. yp. Since no man would venture into the pit a sheep was tied to i *
L the rope and let down. In seven seconds the rope was drawn back
v yp but the sheep had disappeared. A second sheep was let down b
V after five minutes it too was no longer on the rope. Then a l
U ihird sheep was brought and killed and its meat poisoned. It like*
wise was devoured, but ere long the hissing ceased. A fourth sheep, i
let down alive, was left quite a while and when brought back was
K inharmed. , • . ’
*;• Here there is a difference of opinion. Some say"'one animal per
V day was let down for four successive days, that the third one was
P pQUoned and that on the fifth morning the fourth sheep was found
0 untouched. * Others say the sheep were all let down on the one ?•
jjg'day and in rapid succession, that nine disappeared and the tenth
S; lad been lowered a few minute? when the bystanders heard a
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