the midday sun
Up to this time , through all his wanderings , he had not found a stream from whose source he was able to draw water . He had certainly seen in deep hollows small rivulets issuing from the rock , which by their fall covered the neighbouring plain with white flakes of foam . Still , although he persevered assiduously , he could not discover one spot which he could approach sufficiently near . He was by this time suffering intensely from thirst ; for , notwithstanding the height at which he had arrived , where the cold was more severe than in the hollows beneath , still his anxiety , and his journey upwards beneath the midday sun , had parched his lips , and he had not yet been able to reach a stream at which to moisten them . `` Fool , fool that I am ! '' exclaimed Jalaladdeen , bitterly ; `` why should I thus exhaust my strength ? If I attain the summit of the hill , I shall meet with no water ; or even if I were to find a spring at the top of it , still I should not be able to carry its waters in a rush basket . ''