English travellers who have visited Jerash may remember a handsome but extortionate and insolent Arab sheikh at Sûf, who demanded, and always with success, an extortionate sum as blackmail, for which he gave them an escort and protection during their visit to the ruins.

‘Morena,’ said the old priest, ‘don't be angry with the boy.’

the aptness of iron to rust

[…] leaves have taken flight From yon Slim seedling-birch on the rivage, the flock Of herons has the quiet of solitude […]