Show THE SEVEN SLEEPERS mm neil who slept years and slept years a more A correspondent with tho the anglo 1 russian commission on the frontier of afghanistan sends the following variant upon the story of 0 the seven sleepers of Ephe aus it seems t that int the grave of tho the seven sleepers which in the koran is s located at ephesus is in reality in the hirak valley on the afghan frontier some four miles to the southwest of the anglo russian camp at chah chabar r samba the ver verb aion ion of the koran says the correspondent pon dent is that seven men firm in their faith in their own god separated from tho the rest of their tribe who had taken to other gods and taking refuge in a cave were caused to sleep thero there with their dog for years the esbens of altai azizan change the scene from ephesus to turkestan Turk estan and tell a ter very different etory story tho the king daki anus they say may was originally a hepherd of Shib bargan and tended his hock flock in the hilla hills for twelve years until ono one day ho 0 found a large slab of stone with an ino upon it not tying being able 0 to o deci decipher th the latter b he showed it to a monollah moo mo ollah who told him it was a re record cord v vf hidden bidden treasure treasur C posse sine sing tho the treasure and baying having killed the moo monollah mo ollah bakia nui nut took service with the kinland Kin gand after some time roso rose to the command of an army ho he soon got the array army on his side seized the kingdom aud and eventually the world when thus in supreme power the devil ap appeared eared before Dak ianus in the form of the angel gabriel and tempted him im by telling him that god had sant him to say that he was godif god of the heavens but that Da dabinnus kinnus was god of the earth Dak ianus who was a worshiper of one god refuted refused to beheye beleto the devil and told the latter that he was not the true angel gabriel the devil then offered to prove that he hd wag was by proposing propping as a test that if a certain fieh fish on top of the water went down on bis big a approach be he was the t true r no G gabriel ab r i et but if it remained up he be was an tin im imposter imp ester oater accordingly Dak ianus aa and the devil went together to the bank of the river and no sooner did the fiah fish eee tee the devil than be he dived down Da dabinnus Dak ianus kinnus believed the test acknowledged the devil as a the angel gabriel left off the worship of the true god jand and at fit the devils tempting him set himself up as a god on bis his own account one day however when eating ing hia his food Dak ianus was hot bothered hered by flim which do 10 what he would be he could not get ri rid d of his ilia servants eaid said to themselves he ile calls himself god and yet cannot even get rid of the flies that bother him he ile ie is no god and they determined to leave him six men went off and on the second day fell in with a shepherd from whom hom they begged bread and water the shepherd gave them fill all he lie had and asked them where they came from and where they were g going 0 1 ng to they told him n story 1 ry and how they were fleeing from Dak ianus lanus ana ani wished to hide and the shepherd agreed to accompany them in their fight the shepherds dog also followed I 1 bis his master and the men told him to drive the dog back leathe leat lest he should betray their whereabouts the jhc shepherd eherd objected saying the dog had been bis his faithful compa companion n for years but tho the other insisted and the shepherd at last struck the dog with his stick breaking one bis his legs the dog still followed and tho shepherd struck it again breaking another leg but the dog still continued to crawl afier after them and the men struck with pity eventually took it in turns to carry it on with them the shepherd guided ahem all to this hie very cave that he knew know of and once there they all went to sleep and awoke for yeara in the koran horan it is distinctly stated that the elee pere were seven in number and the eighth was their ir dog but either tho the arabic arabia of the kuran koran is i beyond the rayed or t they h ey preter a tory story of their own owl whichever it is there is na no doub of the reAl realism isra of the latter of their tale as any one who k kubwa the affection af the shepherd shepherds here have for their greila savage shaggy coated dogs dogs and the hugo slicks that the shepherds echerd always carry will testify furt further I 1 ou on in the lie tory story however the worth worthy sayeda get more confused coo fused still aud tile they y have it U that the sleepers awo awoke ke twice once in the time of hazrat an or christ and again in the time odthe of the prophet the story is 1 they tay say that when these three men anil the they felt hungry and sent one of istir number to go 0 o to the city by called chabr i afroz to buy bread on 0 1 arrival lie found the place much altered tam 1 if the e first baker he went to refused to accept accepts hie his money another er to whom ham he applied asked bim where he got hi his money from the man mail eaid said that was wag morlea hia own and froni his own houe he ile was then told to point out his house but ho lie could not at first and eventually recognized recognised it by a mulberry tree and going in be he told them thorn to dig in a R certo certain in place and there they found euro sure enough his bi store ajar a jar lull full oi of Daki anu coin the then owner of the home house protested and claimed the house and slid the coins as hi und eventually both the roan man and the coin coins were yere taken laken before the king when the king ring who was wag a chris lian heard the mans story and found that be had bad been asleep for peara pears he lie looked on the mail as supernatural and offered to resign the throne in his favor the man inan declined and elated stated that sl ell he wished was to be allowed to return to h his is companions in the cave the ki king thereupon accompanied him hilli wit with the king were a it hawk and a dog and a deer being started on the road was caught by theae two and brought i in n thus making a third animal in the party on arriving arriving at the cave not only the origin original six friends the altai azizan and the shepherd but the king and the dog and the hawk and the deer all went off to sleep and never woke again for years when they were awakened by the arrival of the yar or the four frieu friends ds of the prophet that is omar osman abubakr and lindall all who repeating the mohammedan creed at sit once awoke the sleepers the latter got up repeated the creed and then fell asleep again and there they still remain all this waa was told me by the Sayed sin in the cave and they pointed triumphantly V the relics in proof of their story holding our lighted candles between iho the palings of the wooden screen which debars debar nearer approach to the sleepers we were shown some clothe cloths on the floor apparently pare parent ly a rough common heet with a daak colored fringed cloth above it which wae was eaid said to coyer the sleepers we asked if it were allowed to look under the claib but that they liidi said was impossible E even ven they themselves they thy said saldo L knew new not what was wits therea there A man had once tried mcd to look jook and slid was wag immedi ate athly struck blind I 1 but thae that if two we don doubted ted there poin finx jn in the direction was waa the dog end ind the deer and hawk holding dirik the thet candle to the tile rl right lit we could then see in distinctly something loofe looking g like dried gydies bodies of some animals propped against the wall they were very small the first arat said to be the dog was vu about A foot in height and the deer leer a few inches higher but it was im Tro possible possible to say in euch light what animals they were the bone bones of the legs were visible in fact the do doge doa a legs had fallen ofaf off which rather told told against its being asleep but the body see seemed ed to be covered with dry skin and yet on the strength of these relics some twenty families of ol 01 sayeda arc are kept in comfort and live here on the contributions ol 01 of pi pilgrims gr ims with in addition as much land as they require require free of any rent and taxes pall pa stall mall gascue |