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CHIDHER'S WELL.
Of Chidher's Well, the Eastern λουτρον παλιγγενεσιας, Von Hammer, in the very interesting introduction to his History of Persian Poetry, gives this account: ‘Contemporary with Moses lived the Prophet Chiser, of whom some hold that he is the same with Elias, while others altogether distinguish them. He is one of the chief personages of Eastern mythology, the ever-ready helper of the oppressed, the Genius of spring, the deliverer in peril, the admonisher of princes, the avenger of unrighteousness, the guide through the wilderness of the world, and, finally, the ever-youthful guardian of the fountain of life. As such he revives the youth of men and beasts and plants, gives back lost beauty, and in spring arrays the dead earth with its fresh garments of green. His fountain bestows on whomsoever drinks it eternal beauty, youth, and wisdom. What wonder then that all mortals with burning desire seek it, though as yet not one, not even Alexander, the conqueror of the world, who, in quest of it, undertook an expedition into the land of darkness, has found it!’ Probably this, his journey through the land of darkness, is but a mythic form of his expedition through the Libyan desert to the temple of Jupiter Ammon.
Over land and barren main,
That thou makest young again;
Washing free from every stain.
Aye betake them, when they wane;
While they bathe in thee, retain.
Mingling with the vernal rain,
With its young attire again.
Up the water-courses strain;
Seek it through the desert plain.
Sought that fountain, but in vain;
In its quest with fruitless pain,
Did his thirst unslaked remain.
Must lie down and dizzy brain,
Unto them, in death complain.
Weary wanderer, tell me plain.
It must well, a lucid vein.
That I do not thirst again;
Shall the earth's dark waters stain.
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