Whispers From the Tent

Here is a tender story relayed by His Highness Prince Mohamed Aly in his book “Breeding Pure Bred Arabian Horses."

I should like to tell a story which has often been related to me by my old tutor, Aly Pacha Gamali, who was a man with vast experience of the Arab horse, and who had been sent by my ancestor, the Khedive Abbas l, at least twenty  times to Arabia to purchase the finest thoroughbreds. Once a chestnut mare had been bought off an Arab for 10,000 francs. She was a beautiful animal, and was sent to the stables at Dar-el-Beida, where the Khedive kept his best animals. About a year later the former owner came and begged — with tears in his eyes — to be allowed to buy her back again.

D. Hearst photo

It so happened that the Khedive himself chanced to be at the stables that day, and received the man, a Bedouin. After ascertaining that the mare had been in foal he said: if thou knowest thy mare from among 20 like mares, thou canst take her.“  the Arab consented and added another condition; he wished his mare to recognize him. The order was given and 20 chestnut mares, with snaffles on, were turned out into the yard to be led to the watering place. The man then began to sing and clap his hands, and the mare, remembering the master who had loved her so well and who had reared her so tenderly, broke away from the sais who held her, and ran to the Bedouin. 

This little story is perfectly true and was told to me time and again by the Pachas who were in my great grandfather’s service.