Penny Dreadfuls, 1900 · page 109 of 142
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the Salaman and Absal of Jami — page 109: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running verse poetry from a Victorian penny dreadful titled "Salaman and Absal" (page 83). The text depicts romantic and dramatic scenes: a wounded man fleeing with his beloved Absal on a camel, described as "like sweet twin almonds in a single shell," and a separate passage about the Moon of Canaan Yusur stealing away from her palace prison in Egypt to reach her buried treasure, declaring that even a palace wider than the horizon would be narrower than an ant's eye if it separated her from her love. The page combines orientalist themes with melodramatic sentiment about love and sacrifice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SALAMAN AND ABSAL. — ——— le ee Bled from the arrow, and his anguish grew. How bear it P—By the hand of Hatred dealt, Easy to meet—and deal with, blow for blow ; But from Love’s hand which one must not requite, And cannot yield to—what resource but Flight ? Resolv’d on which, he victuall’d and equipp’d A Camel, and one night he led it forth, And mounted—he with Apsit at his side, Like sweet twin almonds in a single shell. And Love least murmurs at the narrow space That draws him close and closer in embrace, When the Moon of Canaan Ytsur In the prison of Egypt darken’ d, Nightly from her spacious Palace- Chamber, and its rich array, Stole Zuiaixna like a fantom To the dark and narrow dungeon Where her buried Treasure lay. Then to those about her wond’ring— ** Were my Palace,” she replied, | “ Wider than Horizon-wide, “ Tt were narrower than an Ant’s eye, 7 COMmicoooks.conn