The Dabistan

21

come geese, which at every moment plunge their head
into water ; in the state of vegetables, they assume
the form of sticks for rubbing teeth, of reading-
sticks, and of mats to cover the place of prayer ;
and in the state of minerals, they figure as hard
stones, stones of sepulchres, and magnets. The
glow-worms are torch-bearers, who, descending by
degrees, came to take this shape. A dog, having
been in his former state a Turk of the tribe Kazel-
bdshyl and his crooked sword having become his
tail, betrays his Turkish origin by coming forth at
the call khach: which in Turkish means " forth."
These sectaries further say, that the iron by which
a prophet or a saint has been killed, is that which
acquires excellence.

" Saints, when they desire the voyage to the eternal kingdom,
44 Desire from the edge of thy blade the takbtr,* ' magnifying
" 'exclamation/ of death."

They also hold, that the Imam Hossain from state
to state descended from Moses, and that Yezid (his
murderer) descended from Pharaoh. Moses, in
his time, drowned Pharaoh in the waters of the
Nile, and obtained the victory over him; but in the
latter state Moses, having become Hossain, and Pha-

1 This Turkish word signifies *' red head," and is applied by the Turks
to the Persians, who, since the time of Ismail Sofi, the founder of the
present dynasty of Persia, wear a red turban with twelve folds around it,
in honor of the twelve Imams.

2 This consists in exclaiming " God is greatest.''