presented him with about forty questions, all of which Said answered satisfactorily. Except for one, which they did not realize was incorrect, and accepted. As the gathering was dispersing, Molla Said recalled this, and hurried back to inform them and give the correct answer. Upon which they admitted that they were well and truly defeated, and a number of them started to study under Molla Said. Mustafa Pasha also presented him with the promised rifle, and began to perform the obligatory prayers. [^38]

[^38]:Tarihçe, 39-41.

Molla Said was physically fit and strong, just as he was intellectually. He particularly enjoyed wrestling, and used to wrestle with all the students in the medreses. And neither were they able to better him at it,

One day, he and Mustafa Pasha went out to race each other on horseback. Mustafa Pasha had ordered that an unbroken, uncontrollable horse be prepared, which he gave to Molla Said to ride. Molla Said wanted to gallop the rebellious horse after walking it round for a bit. Given some rein, the horse galloped off away from the direction it had been pointed. Said tried to stop it with all his strength; he could not. Finally the horse careered towards a group of children. The son of one of the Jizre tribal leaders was standing right in its path. The horse reared up and struck the child between the shoulders with its forelegs. The child fell to the ground under the horse's hooves and began to struggle desperately. After some minutes, those watching reached them. When they saw the child, by then motionless as though dead, they wanted to kill Molla Said. On the tribal leader's servants pulling out their daggers, Molla Said immediately drew his revolver, and said to them:

"If you look at the reality of the matter, Allah killed the child. If you look at the cause, Kel Mustafa killed him, because it was he who gave me this horse. Wait, let me come and look at the child. If he is dead, we can fight it out later." And dismounting, he picked up the child. When he saw no signs of life in him, he plunged him into cold water and immediately pulled him out. The child opened his eyes and smiled. All the people who had poured onto the spot to watch were dumbfounded.

Molla Said stayed a short time longer in Jizre after this strange incident then set off with one of his students for some desert country and its nomadic Arab tribes. He had not been there long when he heard that Mustafa Pasha had reverted to his former evil ways, and he returned to advise him to give them up. But it was more than Mustafa Pasha could bear to be dictated to in this way, and it was only on his son's intervention that he