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Death is the mother of beauty mind metaphor criticism
Mark Turner Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Mark Turner
ISBN(s): 9781877275135, 1877275131
File Details: PDF, 6.31 MB
Year: 2002
Language: english
 Mark Turner

Death Is the
Mother of Beauty
MIND, METAPHOR, CRITICISM
 Death Is the
Mother ofBeauty
MIND, METAPHOR, CRITICISM

Mark Turner

Cybereditions
 Cybereditions Corporation
Christchurch, New Zealand
www.cybereditions.com
[email protected]

Cybereditions welcomes comments from readers.

In particular we wish to be informed of any misprints
or errors in our books, so that we may correct them.

Copyright © zooo ,\1ark Turner

The moral right of the audtor is asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted and protected

by International and Pan American Copyright Conventions.
Other than for personal use, no part of it may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means widtout dte prior permission in writing of
Cybereditions Corp. The unaudtorized reproduction,
storage, transmission or commercial exploitation of
any material in this publication may result in civil
liability and criminal prosecution.

Thr first rdition of this book &L'OS published by

the Unit•n"Sity of Chicago Prrss in HJ87
 Contents
Acknowledgments, 7
1. Introduction, 9
.! ••\1etaphor and Kin, 17
3· Literary 'li:!xts, 69
+Causation, 120

5· Similarity. 1 ;s
6. <Jcnealogy, 161
7· Conclusion, 16-J.
:'\otes, 167
Bibliography, 171
 Acknowkdg;ments

To \Vayne Booth and George Lakoff, for sustained help, criticism, and
encouragement on all counts, my debt is incalculable and inexpressible.
To Julian Boyd, Philip Damon, and Joseph \Villiams, it is very high. My
two anonymous readers for the University of Chicago Press were unusually
intelligent and thorough. I thank Alan Thomas, my editor at the Press,
for his acuity.
I am grateful to Claudia Brugman, Bettina Nicely, Eve Sweetser,and
\t\'illiam Veeder for readings. I have benefited from conversations about
pans of this book with Joel Altman, Stephen Greenblatt, Greg Meagher,
Jenny Schaffer, William Wimsatt, and many colleagues and students in the
deparonents of English and linguistics and the Committee on Cognition
and Communication at the University of Chicago, and the deparunems
of English and Linguistics and the Institute of Cognitive Studies at the
University of California, Berkeley.
I am grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a year's
Fellowship for Independent Study and Research, which helped me finish this
book. The Institute of Cognitive Studies, at the University of California,
Berkeley, under the acting directorship of Charles J. Fillmore, has been
invaluably hospitable.
 Chapter I

Introduction

This book is a modem rhetoric which makes use of insights from contemporary
cognitive science and linguistics. Classical rhetoric sought to discover what
knowledge and thought members of an audience brought to communication.
How could a speaker, through language, move his audience from one locus
of thought ro another? \Vh.at were lhe rrnmnonplnas of knowledge? \Vh.at
were the connections between thought and /angmrge. and how could one
work those connections to evoke, invent, and persuade? Aristotle wanted
to know how figures of diction connect with figrtrts of tho11ght. Cicero
held that rhetoric's beginning, which other parts of rhetoric serve to
unfold, is mental invmtion or conception. He explored some processes by
which we invent.
Rhetoric degenerated (as Paul Ricoeur chronicles in chapter z of The
Rnlt of Mttnphm·) when it abandoned dtought for sryle. lnanentive 10 mind
underlying surface forms of language, rhetoric reduced itself 10 cataloguing
what it took to be kinds of surface wordplay as if dtey had no analogues in
cognition. Rhe10ric dtereby lost its abiliry 10 tell us anything about dtought
and language and so became peripheral, until recent rhetorics, such as Wayne
Booth's RIHtliTic of Irony ( 1974), revived classical rhe10ric.
The revival has been aided by contemporary dteories of metaphor widtin
linguistics and dte cognitive sciences. ~This research has demonstrated that
metaphor is not merely a matter of u·ords hut is rather a fundamental mode of
CDgnition affecting all human dtought and action, including everyday language
and poetic language. The principal text demonstrating dte conceptual basis
of linguistic metaphor is Lakoff and Johnson's Mtt•pbon ~ Uvt By ( 1¢lo),
10 DEATH Is THE MoTHER oF BEALIY

which builds upon previous work by Nagy (1974) and Reddy (1979).
Here, I want to stan to develop a mode of analysis that I take to be the
naturnl successor to Classical rhetoric. This mode of analrsis begins with the
fact that audiences share many things- conceptual systems, social practices,
commonplace knowledge, discourse genres, and every aspect of a common
language, including syntax, semantics, morphology, and phonology. Rhetoric
seeks to analyze all these common cognitive systems of audiences and the
ways in which they can be used. The job of rhetoric thus overlaps with the
job of the cognitive sciences.
Modem literary criticism does not ordinarily begin from this perspective.
It typically begins not by analyzing the cognitive apparatus underlying
language but rather by assuming and using that apparatus to conduct
conversations that are often extensions of literature. \Ve hold conversations
for many reasons: to learn about the world, to discover the opinions of others,
to situate ourselves in our communities and traditions, to develop a sense of
aesthetics or ethics, and so on. Modern literary critical traditions rypically
extend such conversations legitimately. Conversations, we all concede, can
be interesting even if the conversants do not understand the linguistic and
cognitive processes allowing them to converse. Similarly, we all feel that
a performance by a dancer can be compelling even if the dancer has not
analyzed the biophysics of the human muscular and skeletal systems. Just
so, we all gram that a piece of literary criticism might be worthwhile even
if the literary critic does not understand the cognitive apparatus underlying
language and literature.
But there are dangers and losses that arise from the literary critic's typical
beginning point. Literary criticism usually assumes that we understand the
cognitive apparatus underlying language and literature, but, in fact, the
analysis has only begun. This cognitive apparatus dominantly informs any
conversation we may hold and any literature we ma}· write and any criticism
we may conduct. It underlies all literary subtleties. \\'hen a literary critic
presupposes that he or she understands that apparatus and proceeds to
analyze subtleties that derive from it, the literary critic may be simply
mistaken in the presupposition. This may vitiate the worth of the consequent
analysis. Someone who has not studied tonality might analyze a Bach cantata
in many beguiling ways, but would be in constant danger of pinning the
analysis on mistaken presuppositions about the workings of music. Literary
criticism typically finds itself in this dangerous position.
An example is deconstructive criticism. This mode of criticism begins with
the \iew that linguistic meaning is inherently unanchored.(t] Deconstructive
criticism derives this view hy uncritically accepting a literary critical
extension of a basic concept belonging to Saussurian linguistics. Ferdinand
de Saussure correctly observed that phonemes arc detem1ined on the basis
lnrrvduction

of distributional contrasts within a phonemic system. For example, the

phoneme /r/ at the beginning of "time" contrasts with the phoneme /dl at
the beginning of "dime .., It is partially because "time., and "dime" are used
as two different words that we know that /t/ and /d/ are phonemic and in
contrast. Thus, how an acoustic instance of a phoneme works is not just a
matter of its sounds. An acoustic instance of a phoneme also works by virtue
of the fact that there are relationships berween phonemes. For instance, we
know that the phonemes /r/ and /d/ contrast with each other. \Ve know from
our language that in certain context<> either /r/ or /d! can occur, and it can
make a difference which one actually occurs in a given instance.
For a more complicated example of relationships between phonemes, take
the words "writer" and "rider." Many speakers of English, myself included,
pronounce these as [rayDr] and [ra:yDr] respectively. In pronunciation, the
distinction berween phonemic /r/ and /d/ is neutralized to the phone known
as flap-[D] and appears instead in the difference in the length of the vowel,
lay! versus /a:y/. Thus, in the absence of context we cannot tell whether
the sound (OJ is an instance of the \'oiceless phoneme /t/ or the element
that it minimally contrasts with, the voiced phoneme /d!. This shows that
what makes something phonemic in a language is a matter of complicated
relationships within the phonological system of the language.
Saussure's correct observation about phones and phonemes has been
incorrectly extended in deconstructionist criticism to lexemes- for the most
part, words. The details of this extension have never been anything hue
murky, but I take it that the details run something like this: Lexemes get
their meaning only by virtue of distributional contrasts within the lexemic
system of the language. A phoneme or a lexeme, so the logic goes, consists
in the traces of what it contrasts with. So what is present amsists i11 traces
of what is absent. A lexeme comists in traces of other lexemes that it is
not. So everything consists not only in its opposite but also in everything
else it is not.
This deconstructionist conclusion derives from [Wo assumptions. First,
phonemes consist in traces of what they contrast with. (Saussure, on my
reading, never said this, and the notion that the phonemic system is grounded
nowhere but in itself has been discredited by modem linguistic research. But
let the first assumption pass.) Second, lexemes work like phonemes. This
assumption is wrong on a grand scale.
Once these two presuppositions are made, it is easy to make arguments
like the following: Just as the sound (D) can be assigned to either of rwo
minimally contrasting phonemes, It/ and /d!, so any word can be assigned
to either a given meaning or it<> opposite. Further, so the logic seems to
go, since a meaning and it.'i opposite are contradictory, a word can have
contradictory meanings, and if a word can have contradictory meanings, it
 DEATH Is THE MoTHER oF BEALIY

can mean anything. Analysis of meaning is replaced by and subsumed by

analysis of meaning-contrast. Consider some minimal contrasts in word
meaning: presenu-absrnce, up-d01J.•n,mothrr-fnthrr. To the deconstructive critic,
prrsr11cr can mean nbsrncr, or anything else; up can mean douw, or anything
else; mother can mean father, or anything else. There is, the claim goes, "free
play of signifiers," which means that the critic can interpret without limit or
constraint and the author can never be in control of his language. This gives
ultimate power to critics m·er authors.
But words are not sound segments and meanings are not phonemes. The
putative linguistics presupposed by the principle of the free play of signifiers
has no serious basis in contemporary linguistics or cognitive science. If
anything, the opposite seems to be true. [2) Deconstructive readings rely
on the principle of the free pia}' of signifiers, but this principle is mistaken.
\'Ve may, of course, call into use all sorts of knowledge in our reading of a
text and thereby produce supplementary variant readings, but that does not
mean that texts are free to slip without constraint. On the contrary, though
a text may result in various readings, all of these readings are constrained
by our modes of cognition. So deoonstructive criticism, like most literary
criticism, is in the dangerous position of potentially pinning its analyses
on potentially mistaken presuppositions about thought, knowledge, and
language.
My intention is not to change the fundamental job of the literary critic,
which is to hold worthwhile conversations about literature, but rather to
give him or her the tools to do it responsibly and to do it better. At present,
most literary critics do not know what is and is not known about cognition
and language. Such awareness is required for a literary critic to gauge the
implications of his assertions, to know whether his presuppositions are
controversial or safe or plainly mistaken. Everyone agrees that "Death is the
mother of beauty" is a magnificent line. Can we explain why it is a better line
than "Death is the father of beauty" or "Death is parent of beauty"? \\'hy is
"Death is the fraternal twin brother of beauty" a clunker?
10 know exactly why "Death is the mother of beauty" is striking and why
some other kinship terms will not do in the place of "mother" requires us
to understand a great deal. It requires that we understand both the idealized
cognitive models of kinship roles in our culrure and the metaphors that
interact with them to yield metaphoric inferences. That is, it requires
precisely the kind of analysis I provide in this book.
The los..c;es that accompany not knowing the connections between thought,
knowledge, and language are too great for literary critical traditions to
continue to Sll'itain. Good literature is powerful because it masterfully evokes
and manipulates our cognitive apparatus. How it does so is of interest to
anyone concerned with mind. Modem literary criticism, because it is not
Introduction IJ

concerned with these general cognitive capacities, rarely addresses the

source of literature's power. Systematically, by mis-emphasis, it obscures
literature's forceful connections to other kinds of human thought and
knowledge. Consequently, modem literary criticism is often regarded as a
monadic, isolationary practice.
One of the principal reasons that we study literature is to understand the
workings of the human mind. There are certain things about the human
mind that we can see best by looking at literature. Writers, as Pound says,
are the antennae of the race. Writers constantly explore our conceptual
and linguistic suuctures and push these sttucrures to see how they respond
and where they break. What the writer has to teach us cannot be learned
except by studying literature, and it is the literary critic, not the cognitive
psychologist or linguist, who is trained to study literature. So if the literary
critic does not attend to this job, no one else will be able to, and the potential
benefits of doing the job will be lost.
The literary critic, certainly since the Romantic Age, has typically been
content to let the scientist, including the scientist of mind, go about his
investigations, while the critic conducts his readings of specific literary texts,
as if the two enterprises were unconnected. This has robbed the science
of mind of a major source of insight, and it has likewise robbed literary
studies of their influence on the nonliterary world. Who now reads literary
criticism besides literary critics?
This is a great loss, and a needless loss. What the literary critic has to
teach about the mind is indispensable to the work of linguists, psychologists,
philosophers of science, cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind,
anthropologists, and any human being who wishes to understand his or
her nature. For example, metaphor, to which the literary critic is minutely
attuned, is not just a matter of literary wordplay, not even just a matter
of language-it is a pattern of thought that underlies our cognition and
knowledge generally, including our cognition and knowledge about our daily
worlds, about love, about quarks, about family, about nuclear arms, about
rape, about mathematics, about gender, about economics, and about the
hody. When the literary critic speaks about a metaphor, he or she is speaking
about principles of thought-manifested in a certain kind of language.
Since these principles of thought are fundamental to all other human
sciences, the literary critic's claims must place something at stake for all
these disciplines.
The literary critic has much to contribute to the analysis of the cognitive
apparatus fundamental to literature, but other kinds of researchers- inguists,
psychologists, neurobiologists - also have muc:h to contribute, which mean...
that literary critics and these other kinds of researchers should be working
together at the enterprise. This should, I think, be the natural outcome of a
 '4 DEATH Is THE MoTHER oF BEALIY

revised and updated version of Classical rhetoric.

Classical rhetoric would have regarded literature as the apt place to begin
inquiry into anything concerning the human mind. But now we are in the
stultifying position of intelligent people assuming that literarure and science,
including the science of the mind, have nothing to do with each other. I want
to begin to demonsrrate how impoverishing this mistake has been.
The rhetorical approach to literary texts that I would like to revive and
place in a contemporary context is thus rather different from the dominant
approach in literary criticism. \\'hen a critic proposes to examine a text, the
literary critical profession usually calls down the principles of cnllolliflll tr:rts
and 11ovclty of rending, leading to the questions, Does this critic offer a new
reading of a canonical text? Does he show us in the text meaning that we
have previously missed? Under the rubric of not rehearsing the obvious, the
critic ordinarily skips over those places where a text seems straightforward or
a reading natural, unless some insight can be introduced that will complicate
the straightforwardness or alienate the naturalness. But this critical jump skips
the harder and prior question: I low can a text ever seem straightforward? A
reader's quick understanding of a line like "The day is a woman who loves
you" forms, hand in hand with the author's generating the line, the most
dazzling phenomenon the literary critic confronts, and the one for which
literary criticism offers the shallowest explanations, or none at all. \Nhat
must the mind of the reader be, that it can (rather speedily) understand a
text, and what must a text be, that the mind of a reader can understand it?
\Ve understand a text by assuming that it invites us to employ techniques
we already possess to work on things we already know. \\'hat are the
processes and knowledge our linguistic and literary community expects
us to possess?
Such a rhetorical approach places literature and language back at the
center of the investigation of mind. If we wish to know how people conceive
of and model reality, let us look at their patterns of language and invention.
Literature and cognition are doors into each other: literature leads us to
questions about human understanding, and the study of the human mind
rums wisely for clues to the oldest and most abiding arts.
10 begin to develop a mode of analyzing the connections between thought.
knowledge, language, and literature, I need a laboratory. This laboratory
should involve some fundamental kind of thought (e.g., metaphoric thought),
some fundamental kind of knowledge (e.g., our models of family), some
powerful kind of language (e.g., kinship metaphors, like "Necessity is the
mother of invention.,) connected with these kinds of thought and knowledge,
and some important kind of literature (e.g., extended literary kinship
metaphors) connected with all three. I have chosen kinship metaphor as the
laboratory - though others would have senred - because kinship metaphor
Introduction •s
meets these criteria and is rich in other ways appropriate to the project.
The particular powerful kind of thought and the particular powerful kind
of knowledge that combine in kinship metaphor are strongly and deeply
interdependent. One way to understand the abstract notion mttapho,. is in
tenns of what we know about kinship. Often, we think of two concepts as
bearing a metaphoric relation because they resemble each other. We may
understand the notions of rrlati011 and rrsnnhltmn in terms of kin rrlation and
family resnnhlnna. So we may understand the abstract notion metaphor by
seeing that it stands in metaphoric relation to kinship.
This is not surprising when we consider that we often place things into
the same category on the basis of what has been called family resnnhlann.
Family resemblances are perhaps the similarities that from infancy we notice
most. And we use just this concept of similarity to help explain to ourselves
how two things can bear a metaphorical relation or resemblance. In short, we
explain mttapbor to ourselves in tenns of what we know about family.
Kinship metaphor also leads us directly to the srudy of the human mind
along other paths. I will show in the chapter on metaphor and kin that
analysis of kinship metaphor reveals a mental model we use to produce
and understand certain kinds of language about mind. I will argue in the
chapter on causation that kinship metaphor provides the hasic metaphors
we use to understand mtnta/ mation. Other justifications equally strong
will emergw: as the text unfolds.
In exploring this laboratory of kinship metaphor, I bring together ordinary
and literary language. This may seem odd to most linguists and literary
critics, since they share a fundamental misconception about language. Most
linguists and literary critics share the pernicious assumption that ordinary
everyday language and literary language are separate realms to be investigated
separately. Linguists and literary critics hold these views for different reasons.
The dominant modern tradition in linguistics concerns itself with what it
takes to be ordinary literal language. It assumes that literary language is
parasitic on ordinary literal language and therefore is of peripheral, rather
than central, interest. The dominant modem tradition in literary criticism
assumes that ordinary language is simple, well understood, and "common"
in the sense of not being sufficiently refined. Since the literary critic is
concerned with the refinements of language, he feels comfortable taking
ordinary language for granted and srudyingonly literary language. But in fact,
the processes underlying literary refinements belong to ordinary language,
and the refinements themselves derive from and depend on structures of
ordinary language. Conversely, processes such as metaphor and metonymy,
which most linguists deport to the alien realm of literature, are implicit
and indispensable in ordinary language. Moreover, the most common
processes of ordinary language frequently appear in their highest relief and
 DEATH Is THE MOTHER oF BEAt..-n-

most compelling manifestations in literature. So the linguist committed to

studying ordinary language must rake literature as part of what he seeks
to study and explain and will be helped in his chosen task by doing so.
And the literary critic who seeks to understand the refined use a particular
author makes of language must undersm.nd how that author is employing the
cognitive apparatus underlying ordinary language.
1Wo aspecrs of my methodology call for discussion. First, I usually analyze
kinship metaphors decontexrualized. In doing so, I do not mean to imply that
a textually situated kinship metaphor does not lose aspecrs of irs meaning
when lifted from context. Of course, it must. But I am interested in the
patterns of meaning that run through all these kinship mem.phors. These
patterns of meaning transcend local textual manifestations because they
are part of our cognitive capacity for metaphor and our cognitive models
of kinship, derived from our participation in our linguistic and literary
communities. Take, for example, "I am a child of the modern age." I am
not discussing the special effects of the discursive situation from which this
kinship metaphor is drawn. We all understand the metaphor in a certain
way when it is removed from discursive context, and it is that understanding
alone that I will be dealing with.
Second, I often juxm.pose literary texts from various cultures, languages,
and epochs within the Western literary tradition. Some structuralisrs have
been justifiably attacked for doing something ostensibly similar, in particular
for ignoring wide-ranging cultural and linguistic differences around the
world. (See, e. g., Paul Ricoeur's critique of Levi-Strauss, "Structure and
henneneutics" in Tht C.'onftict of lnttrprrtntions.) This work differs in taking
as irs literarydomain what counrs as a single cultural tradition with respect to
kinship metaphor, namely, the Western literary tradition.
Still, there may be confusion about how this book relates to the study
of culture because the debate betWeen structuralism and hermeneutics has
sometimes led to the fuzzy notion that research into common mental systems
somehow inherently slighrs the role of culture, which is wrong. Artifacrs
aside, culture is embodied in the mind. It is the major insight of cognitive
anthropology that in order to study culture, one must study cognition, that
is, the conceptual structures employed by the members of that culture. That
is one of the things this book seeks to do.
The main thing this book seeks to achieve is a bringing together of
certain kinds of researchers typically isolated from each other. It is not
apr for some people to work on semantics, others ro work on literature,
and others to work on the nature of mind without taking into account
one another's insights.
 Chapter 2
Metaphor and Kin
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Basic metaphors and Aristotle's metaphor
2. 3 .\1etonymy of associations
2.4 Personification of properties
2.5 Basic kinship metaphors
1.6 Basic metaphoric inference patterns
2. 7 Connotations
z.S Case studies
Appendices

2.1 Introduction
Literary language abounds with the metaphorical uses of kinship terms, from
Blake's "Babylon is the mother of harlots and abominations" to Stevens's
"The moon is the mother of pathos and pity" to Donne's "Darknesse, lights
elder brother" and Sidney's "Invention, nature's child, Aed Stepdame Study's
blows." They occur in everything from proverbs like "Necessity is the mother
of invention" or "A proverb is the child of experience" to popular song lyrics
like Randy Newman's "I'm the son of the prairie and the wind that sweeps
the plain .. or the jefferson Airplane's "Science is mankind's brother." How
can we understand and invent so many so easily?
A handful of basic conceptual metaphors accounts for all of these and for
an infinity of expressions beyond them. Each of these expressions is a specific
linguistic metaphor, that is, a metaphorical idea as expressed in words. But
the metaphorical ideas themselves are conceptual matters, matters of thought
that underlie the particular words that express them. \Vhile there is an infinity
of such expres.~ions at the level of particular words, they all derive from a
few basic metaphors at the conceptual level; these combine and interact
with our knowledge of kinship to yield ten basic metaphoric inference
patterns about kinship. All of the reasoning that we do when we invent or
understand a kinship metaphor is an application of some combination of

'7
 DEATH Is THE MoTHER oF BEALIY

chese ten patterns of inference.

Imagination is thus not unfettered; it is governed by principles. These
principles are automatic and below che level of consciousness. The job here
is co show just what some of chese principles are. \\'hen a literary critic, a
linguist, or for chat matter anyone at all, interpreto; a metaphor as meaning
such-and-such, he is drawing upon our ability to use these principles, just as
a speaker of a language uses principles of syntax and semantics wichout being
aware of, or being able to state, the principles he is using.
Such principles are cognitive principles. \\'e use them to understand our
experience and to communicate on the basis of that understanding. But
such metaphoric principles are not arbitrary, and chey do not come out of
nowhere. They are motivated by our knowledge of kinship and our everyday
experience with it. Not just any kinship metaphor is consistent with chat
knowledge and chat experience. Thus, che so-called "free play of imagination"
is not, strictly speaking, free, though it is infinite. It is constrained by our
knowledge, our experience, and our modes of cognition. And a violation
of any given constraint, when successful, is meaningful precisely because
che constraint existo;.
Thus, the following questions arise:
\Vhat, precisely, do we know about kinship?
How does this knowledge give rise to che basic kinship
metaphors?
How do chese metaphors combine wich chat knowledge and
with each other co give rise to the basic inference patterns that
we use in inventing and understanding kinship metaphors?

2..2. Basic metaphors and Aristotle's metaphor

Discussions of metaphor often begin not wich what I call basic conceptual
metaphors, but rather with a supposed definition of metaphor. This
'definition' says chat when two chings share salient properties, one can be
ao;ed as a metaphor for the other in order to evoke our recognition of some
of those shared properties. Metaphor is thus defined as an expression of
similarity. And che definition presupposes that the relevant properties that
are shared and chat constitute che similarity are already embodied in our
conceptual representations. Metaphors, on this view, do not impose structure
on our concepts; chey merely rely on previous structure and do no more than
highlight, filter, or select aspect.o; of chat given structure.
This supposed definition of metaphor is not a definition at all. As we shall
see, it is itself a metaphor, a basic metaphor, but only one of a very great
number. A metaphor, in general, provides a way of seeing one conceptual
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pitched tents for him at the city-gate; and Ajib entered in to Jaland,
weeping-eyed and heavy-hearted. Now Jaland’s wife was the
daughter of Ajib’s paternal uncle and he had children by her; so,
when he saw his kinsman in this plight, he asked for the truth of
what ailed him and Ajib told him all that had befallen him, first and
last, from his brother and said, “O King, Gharib biddeth the folk
worship the Lord of the Heavens and forbiddeth them from the
service of simulacres and other of the gods.” When Jaland heard
these words he raged and revolted and said, “By the virtue of the
Sun, Lord of Life and Light, I will not leave one of thy brother’s folk
in existence! But where didst thou quit them and how many men are
they?” Answered Ajib, “I left them in Cufa and they be fifty thousand
horse.” Whereupon Jaland called his Wazir Jawámard,[13] saying,
“Take thee seventy thousand horse and fare to Cufa and bring me
the Moslems alive, that I may torture them with all manner of
tortures.” So Jawamard departed with his host and fared through the
first day and the second till the seventh day, when he came to a
Wady abounding in trees and rills and fruits. Here he called a halt
——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Forty-

fourth Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Jaland sent Jawamard with his army to Cufa, they came upon a
Wady abounding in trees and rills where a halt was called and they
rested till the middle of the night, when the Wazir gave the signal for
departure and mounting, rode on before them till hard upon dawn,
at which time he descended into a well-wooded valley, whose
flowers were fragrant and whose birds warbled on boughs, as they
swayed gracefully to and fro, and Satan blew into his sides and
puffed him up with pride and he improvised these couplets and
cried:—
I plunge with my braves in the seething sea; ✿ Seize the foe in my strength and
my valiancy;
And the doughtiest knights wot me well to be ✿ Friend to friend and fierce foe to
mine enemy.
I will load Gharib with the captive’s chains ✿ Right soon, and return in all joy and
glee;
For I’ve donned my mail and my weapons wield ✿ And on all sides charge at the
chivalry.[14]

Hardly had Jawamard made an end of his verses when there came
out upon him from among the trees a horseman of terrible mien
covered and clad in steely sheen, who cried out to him, saying,
“Stand, O riff-raff of the Arabs! Doff thy dress and ground thine
arms-gear and dismount thy destrier and be off with thy life!” When
Jawamard heard this, the light in his eyes became darkest night and
he drew his sabre and drove at Jamrkan, for he it was, saying, “O
thief of the Arabs, wilt thou cut the road for me, who am captain of
the host of Jaland bin Karkar and am come to bring Gharib and his
men in bond?” When Jamrkan heard these words, he said, “How
cooling is this to my heart and liver!” And he made at Jawamard
versifying in these couplets:—
I’m the noted knight in the field of fight, ✿ Whose sabre and spear every foe
affright!
Jamrkan am I, to my foes a fear, ✿ With a lance-lunge known unto every knight:
Gharib is my lord, nay my pontiff, my prince, ✿ Where the two hosts dash very
lion of might:
An Imam of the Faith, pious, striking awe ✿ On the plain where his foes like the
fawn take flight;
Whose voice bids folk to the faith of the Friend, ✿ False, doubling idols and gods
despite!

Now Jamrkan had fared on with his tribesmen ten days’ journey
from Cufa-city and called a halt on the eleventh day till midnight,
when he ordered a march and rode on devancing them till he
descended into the valley aforesaid and heard Jawamard reciting his
verses. So he drave at him as the driving of a ravening lion, and
smiting him with his sword, clove him in twain and waited till his
captains came up, when he told them what had passed and said to
them, “Take each of you five thousand men and disperse round
about the Wady, whilst I and the Banu Amir fall upon the enemy’s
van, shouting, Allaho Akbar—God is Most Great! When ye hear my
slogan, do ye charge them, crying like me upon the Lord, and smite
them with the sword.” “We hear and we obey,” answered they and
turning back to their braves did his bidding and spread themselves
about the sides of the valley in the twilight forerunning the dawn.
Presently, lo and behold! up came the army of Al-Yaman, like a flock
of sheep, filling plain and steep, and Jamrkan and the Banu Amir fell
upon them, shouting, “Allaho Akbar!” till all heard it, Moslems and
Miscreants. Whereupon the True Believers ambushed in the valley
answered from every side and the hills and mountains responsive
cried and all things replied, green and dried, saying, “God is Most
Great! Aidance and Victory to us from on High! Shame to the
Miscreants who His name deny!” And the Kafirs were confounded
and smote one another with sabres keen whilst the True Believers
and pious fell upon them like flames of fiery sheen and naught was
seen but heads flying and blood jetting and faint-hearts hieing. By
the time they could see one another’s faces, two-thirds of the
Infidels had perished and Allah hastened their souls to the fire and
abiding-place dire. The rest fled and to the deserts sped whilst the
Moslems pursued them to slay and take captives till middle-day,
when they returned in triumph with seven thousand prisoners; and
but six-and-twenty thousand of the Infidels escaped and the most of
them wounded. Then the Moslems collected the horses and arms,
the loads and tents of the enemy and despatched them to Cufa with
an escort of a thousand horse;——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Forty-

fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Jamrkan in his
battle with Jawamard slew him and slew his men; and, after taking
many prisoners and much money and many horses and loads, sent
them with an escort of a thousand riders, to Cufa city. Then he and
the army of Al-Islam dismounted and expounded The saving Faith to
the prisoners, who made profession with heart and tongue;
whereupon they released them from bonds and embraced them and
rejoiced in them. Then Jamrkan made his troops, who had swelled
to a mighty many, rest a day and a night and marched with the
dawn, intending to attack Jaland bin Karkar in the city of Oman;
whilst the thousand horse fared back to Cufa with the loot. When
they reached the city, they went in to King Gharib and told him what
had passed, whereat he rejoiced and gave them joy and, turning to
the Ghul of the Mountain, said, “Take horse with twenty thousand
and follow Jamrkan.” So Sa’adan and his sons mounted and set out,
amid twenty thousand horse for Oman. Meanwhile, the fugitives of
the defeated Kafirs reached Oman and went in to Jaland, weeping
and crying, “Woe!” and “Ruin!” whereat he was confounded and said
to them, “What calamity hath befallen you?” So they told him what
had happened and he said, “Woe to you! How many men were
they?” They replied, “O King, there were twenty standards, under
each a thousand men.” When Jaland heard these words he said,
“May the sun pour no blessing on you! Fie upon you! What, shall
twenty thousand overcome you, and you seventy thousand horse
and Jawamard able to withstand three thousand in field of fight?”
Then, in the excess of his rage and mortification, he bared his blade
and cried out to those who were present, saying, “Fall on them!” So
the courtiers drew their swords upon the fugitives and annihilated
them to the last man and cast them to the dogs. Then Jaland cried
aloud to his son, saying, “Take an hundred thousand horse and go to
Al-Irak and lay it waste altogether.” Now this son’s name was
Kúraján and there was no doughtier knight in all the force; for he
could charge single-handed three thousand riders. So he and his
host made haste to equip themselves and marched in battle-array,
rank following rank, with the Prince at their head, glorying in himself
and improvising these couplets:—
I’m Al-Kurajan, and my name is known ✿ To beat all who in wold or in city wone!
How many a soldier my sword at will ✿ Struck down like a cow on the ground
bestrown?
How many a soldier I’ve forced to fly ✿ And have rolled their heads as a ball is
thrown?
Now I’ll drive and harry the land Irak[15] ✿ And like rain I’ll shower the blood of
fone;
And lay hands on Gharib and his men, whose doom ✿ To the wise a warning shall
soon be shown!

The host fared on twelve days’ journey and, while they were still
marching, behold, a great dust cloud arose before them and walled
the horizon, and the whole region. So Kurajan sent out scouts,
saying, “Go forth and bring me tidings of what meaneth this dust.”
They went till they passed under the enemy’s standards and
presently returning said, “O King, verily this is the dust of the
Moslems.” Whereat he was glad and said, “Did ye count them?” And
they answered, “We counted the colours and they numbered
twenty.” Quoth he, “By my faith, I will not send one man-at-arms
against them, but will go forth to them alone by myself and strew
their heads under the horses’ hooves!” Now this was the army of
Jamrkan who, espying the host of the Kafirs and seeing them as a
surging sea, called a halt; so his troops pitched the tents and set up
the standards, calling upon the name of the All-wise One, the
Creator of light and gloom, Lord of all creatures, Who seeth while
Him none see, the High to infinity, extolled and exalted be He! There
is no God but He! The Miscreants also halted and pitched their tents,
and Kurajan said to them, “Keep on your arms, and in armour sleep,
for during the last watch of the night we will mount and trample
yonder handful under feet!” Now one of Jamrkan’s spies was
standing nigh and heard what Kurajan had contrived; so he returned
to the host and told his chief who said to them, “Arm yourselves and
as soon as it is night, bring me all the mules and camels and hang
all the bells and clinkets and rattles ye have about their necks.” Now
they had with them more than twenty thousand camels and mules.
So they waited till the Infidels fell asleep, when Jamrkan
commanded them to mount, and they arose to ride and on the Lord
of the Worlds they relied. Then said Jamrkan, “Drive the camels and
mules to the Miscreants’ camp and push them with your spears for
goads!” They did as he bade and the beasts rushed upon the
enemy’s tents, whilst the bells and clinkets and rattles jangled[16] and
the Moslems followed at their heels, shouting, “God is Most Great!”
till all the hills and mountains resounded with the name of the
Highmost Deity, to whom belong glory and majesty! The cattle
hearing this terrible din, took fright and rushed upon the tents and
trampled the folk, as they lay asleep.——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Forty-

sixth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Jamrkan fell upon them with his men and steeds and camels, and
the camp lay sleeping, the idolaters started up in confusion and,
snatching up their arms, fell upon one another with smiting, till the
most part was slaughtered. And when the day broke, they looked
and found no Moslem slain, but saw them all on horseback, armed
and armoured; wherefore they knew that this was a sleight which
had been played upon them, and Kurajan cried out to the remnant
of his folk, “O sons of whores, what we had a mind to do with them,
that have they done with us and their craft hath gotten the better of
our cunning.” And they were about to charge when, lo and behold! a
cloud of dust rose high and walled the horizon-sky, when the wind
smote it, so that it spired aloft and spread pavilion-wise in the lift
and there it hung; and presently appeared beneath it the glint of
helmet and gleam of hauberk and splendid warriors, baldrick’d with
their tempered swords and holding in rest their supple spears. When
the Kafirs saw this, they held back from the battle and each army
sent out, to know the meaning of this dust, scouts, who returned
with the news that it was an army of Moslems. Now this was the
host of the Mountain-Ghul whom Gharib had despatched to
Jamrkan’s aid, and Sa’adan himself rode in their van. So the two
hosts of the True Believers joined company and rushing upon the
Paynimry like a flame of fire, plied them with keen sword and
Rudaynian spear and quivering lance, what while day was darkened
and eyes for the much dust starkened. The valiant stood fast and
the faint-hearted coward fled and to the wilds and the wolds swift
sped, whilst the blood over earth was like torrents shed; nor did they
cease from fight till the day took flight and in gloom came the night.
Then the Moslems drew apart from the Miscreants and returned to
their tents, where they ate and slept, till the darkness fled away and
gave place to smiling day; when they prayed the dawn-prayer and
mounted to battle. Now Kurajan had said to his men as they drew
off from fight (for indeed two-thirds of their number had perished by
sword and spear), “O folk, to-morrow, I will champion it in the stead
of war where cut and thrust jar, and where braves push and wheel I
will take the field.” So, as soon as light was seen and morn appeared
with its shine and sheen, took horse the hosts twain and shouted
their slogans amain and bared the brand and hent lance in hand and
in ranks took stand. The first to open the door of war was Kurajan,
who cried out, saying, “Let no coward come out to me this day nor
craven!” Whereupon Jamrkan and Sa’adan stood by the colours, but
there ran at him a captain of the Banu Amir and the two drave each
at other awhile, like two rams butting. Presently Kurajan seized the
Moslem by the jerkin under his hauberk and, dragging him from his
saddle, dashed him to the ground where he left him; upon which the
Kafirs laid hands on him and bound him and bore him off to their
tents; whilst Kurajan wheeled about and careered and offered battle,
till another captain came out, whom also he took prisoner; nor did
he leave to do thus till he had made prize of seven captains before
mid-day. Then Jamrkan cried out with so mighty a cry, that the
whole field made reply and heard it the armies twain, and ran at
Kurajan with a heart in rageful pain, improvising these couplets:—
Jamrkan am I! and a man of might, ✿ Whom the warriors fear with a sore
affright:
I waste the forts and I leave the walls ✿ To wail and weep for the wights I smite:
Then, O Kurajan, tread the rightful road ✿ And quit the paths of thy foul unright:
Own the One True God, who dispread the skies ✿ And made founts to flow and
the hills pegged tight:
An the slave embrace the True Faith, he’ll ’scape ✿ Hell-pains and in Heaven be
deckt and dight!

When Kurajan heard these words, he snarked and snorted and foully
abused the sun and the moon and drave at Jamrkan, versifying with
these couplets:—
I’m Kurajan, of this age the knight; ✿ And my shade to the lions of Shara’[17] is
blight:
I storm the forts and snare kings of beasts ✿ And warriors fear me in field of
fight;
Then, Harkye Jamrkan, if thou doubt my word, ✿ Come forth to the combat and
try my might!

When Jamrkan heard these verses, he charged him with a stout

heart and they smote each at other with swords till the two hosts
lamented for them, and they lunged with lance and great was the
clamour between them: nor did they leave fighting till the time of
mid-afternoon prayer was passed and the day began to wane. Then
Jamrkan drave at Kurajan and smiting him on the breast with his
mace,[18] cast him to the ground, as he were the trunk of a palm-
tree; and the Moslems pinioned him and dragged him off with ropes
like a camel. Now when the Miscreants saw their Prince captive, a
hot fever-fit of ignorance seized on them and they bore down upon
the True Believers thinking to rescue him; but the Moslem
champions met them and left most of them prostrate on the earth,
whilst the rest turned and sought safety in flight, seeking surer site,
while the clanking sabres their backsides smite. The Moslems ceased
not pursuing them till they had scattered them over mount and
wold, when they returned from them to the spoil; whereof was great
store of horses and tents and so forth:—good look to it for a spoil!
Then Jamrkan went in to Kurajan and expounded to him Al-Islam,
threatening him with death unless he embraced the Faith. But he
refused; so they cut off his head and stuck it on a spear, after which
they fared on towards Oman[19] city. But as regards the Kafirs, the
survivors returned to Jaland and made known to him the slaying of
his son and the slaughter of his host, hearing which he cast his
crown to the ground and buffeting his face, till the blood ran from
his nostrils, fell fainting to the floor. They sprinkled rose-water on his
head, till he came to himself and cried to his Wazir, “Write letters to
all my Governors and Nabobs, and bid them leave not a smiter with
the sword nor a lunger with the lance nor a bender of the bow, but
bring them all to me in one body.” So he wrote letters and
despatched them by runners to the Governors, who levied their
power and joined the King with a prevailing host, whose number
was one hundred and eighty-thousand men. Then they made ready
tents and camels and noble steeds and were about to march when,
behold, up came Jamrkan and Sa’adan the Ghul, with seventy
thousand horse, as they were lions fierce-faced, all steel-encased.
When Jaland saw the Moslems trooping on he rejoiced and said, “By
the virtue of the Sun, and her resplendent light, I will not leave alive
one of my foes; no, not one to carry the news, and I will lay waste
the land of Al-Irak, that I may take my wreak for my son, the havoc-
making champion bold; nor shall my fire be quenched or cooled!”
Then he turned to Ajib and said to him, “O dog of Al-Irak, ’twas thou
broughtest this calamity on us! But by the virtue of that which I
worship, except I avenge me of mine enemy I will do thee die after
foulest fashion!” When Ajib heard these words he was troubled with
sore trouble and blamed himself; but he waited till nightfall, when
the Moslems had pitched their tents for rest. Now he had been
degraded and expelled the royal camp together with those who were
left to him of his suite: so he said to them, “O my kinsmen, know
that Jaland and I are dismayed with exceeding dismay at the coming
of the Moslems, and I know that he will not avail to protect me from
my brother nor from any other; so it is my counsel that we make our
escape, whilst all eyes sleep, and flee to King Ya’arub bin Kahtán,[20]
for that he hath more of men and is stronger of reign.” They, hearing
his advice exclaimed “Right is thy rede,” whereupon he bade them
kindle fires at their tent-doors and march under cover of the night.
They did his bidding and set out, so by daybreak they had already
fared far away. As soon as it was morning Jaland mounted with two
hundred and sixty thousand fighting-men, clad cap-à-pie in hauberks
and cuirasses and strait-knit mail-coats, the kettle-drums beat a
point of war and all drew out for cut and thrust and fight and fray.
Then Jamrkan and Sa’adan rode out with forty-thousand stalwart
fighting-men, under each standard a thousand cavaliers, doughty
champions, foremost in champaign. The two hosts drew out in
battles and bared their blades and levelled their limber lances, for
the drinking of the cup of death. The first to open the gate of strife
was Sa’adan, as he were a mountain of syenite or a Marid of the
Jinn. Then dashed out to him a champion of the Infidels, and the
Ghul slew him and casting him to the earth, cried out to his sons and
slaves, saying, “Light the fire and roast me this dead one.” They did
as he bade and brought him the roast and he ate it and crunched
the bones, whilst the Kafirs stood looking on from afar; and they
cried out, “Oh for aid from the light-giving Sun!” and were affrighted
at the thought of being slain by Sa’adan. Then Jaland shouted to his
men, saying, “Slay me yonder loathsome beast!” Whereupon another
captain of his host drove at the Ghul; but he slew him, and he
ceased not to slay horseman after horseman, till he had made an
end of thirty men. With this the blamed Kafirs held back and feared
to face him, crying, “Who shall cope with Jinns and Ghuls?” But
Jaland raised his voice saying, “Let an hundred horse charge him
and bring him to me, bound or slain.” So an hundred horse set upon
Sa’adan with swords and spears, and he met them with a heart
firmer than flint, proclaiming the unity of the Requiting King, whom
no one thing diverteth from other thing. Then he cried aloud, “Allaho
Akbar!” and, smiting them with his sword, made their heads fly and
in one onset he slew of them four-and-seventy whereupon the rest
took to flight. So Jaland shouted aloud to ten of his captains, each
commanding a thousand men, and said to them, “Shoot his horse
with arrows till it fall under him, and then lay hands on him.”
Therewith ten thousand horse drove at Sa’adan who met them with
a stout heart; and Jamrkan, seeing this, bore down upon the
Miscreants with his Moslems, crying out, “God is Most Great!” Before
they could reach the Ghul, the enemy had slain his steed and taken
him prisoner; but they ceased not to charge the Infidels, till the day
grew dark for dust and eyes were blinded, and the sharp sword
clanged while firm stood the valiant cavalier and destruction
overtook the faint-heart in his fear; till the Moslems were amongst
the Paynims like a white patch on a black bull.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Forty-

seventh Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that battle
raged between the Moslems and the Paynims till the True Believers
were like a white patch on a black bull. Nor did they stint from the
mellay till the darkness fell down, when they drew apart, after there
had been slain of the Infidels men without compt. Then Jamrkan
and his men returned to their tents; but they were in great grief for
Sa’adan, so that neither meat nor sleep was sweet to them, and
they counted their host and found that less than a thousand had
been slain. But Jamrkan said, “O folk, to-morrow I will go forth into
the battle-plain and place where cut and thrust obtain, and slay their
champions and make prize of their families after taking them
captives and I will ransom Sa’adan therewith, by the leave of the
Requiting King, whom no one thing diverteth from other thing!”
Wherefore their hearts were heartened and they joyed as they
separated to their tents. Meanwhile Jaland entered his pavilion and
sitting down on his sofa of estate, with his folk about him, called for
Sa’adan and forthright on his coming, said to him, “O dog run wood
and least of the Arab brood and carrier of firewood, who was it slew
my son Kurajan, the brave of the age, slayer of heroes and caster
down of warriors?” Quoth the Ghul, “Jamrkan slew him, captain of
the armies of King Gharib, Prince of cavaliers, and I roasted and ate
him, for I was anhungered.” When Jaland heard these words, his
eyes sank into his head for rage and he bade his swordbearer smite
Sa’adan’s neck. So he came forward in that intent, whereupon
Sa’adan stretched himself mightily and bursting his bonds, snatched
the sword from the headsman and hewed off his head. Then he
made at Jaland who threw himself down from the throne and fled;
whilst Sa’adan fell on the bystanders and killed twenty of the King’s
chief officers, and all the rest took to flight. Therewith loud rose the
crying in the camp of the Infidels and the Ghul sallied forth of the
pavilion and falling upon the troops smote them with the sword,
right and left, till they opened and left a lane for him to pass; nor did
he cease to press forward, cutting at them on either side, till he won
free of the Miscreants’ tents and made for the Moslem camp. Now
these had heard the uproar among their enemies and said, “Haply
some calamity hath befallen them.” But whilst they were in
perplexity, behold, Sa’adan stood amongst them and they rejoiced at
his coming with exceeding joy; more especially Jamrkan, who
saluted him with the salam as did other True Believers and gave him
joy of his escape. Such was the case with the Moslems; but as
regards the Miscreants, when, after the Ghul’s departure, they and
their King returned to their tents, Jaland said to them, “O folk, by
the virtue of the Sun’s light-giving ray and by the darkness of the
Night and the light of the Day and the Stars that stray, I thought not
this day to have escaped death in mellay; for, had I fallen into
yonder fellow’s hands, he had eaten me, as I were a kernel of wheat
or a barley-corn or any other grain.” They replied, “O King, never
saw we any do the like of this Ghul.” And he said, “O folk, to-morrow
do ye all don arms and mount steed and trample them under your
horses’ hooves.” Meanwhile the Moslems had ended their rejoicings
at Sa’adan’s return and Jamrkan said to them, “To-morrow, I will
show you my derring-do and what behoveth the like of me, for by
the virtue of Abraham the Friend, I will slay them with the foulest of
slaughters and smite them with the bite of the sword, till all who
have understanding confounded at them shall stand. But I mean to
attack both right and left wings; so, when ye see me drive at the
King under the standards, do ye charge behind me with a resolute
charge, and Allah’s it is to decree what thing shall be!” Accordingly
the two sides lay upon their arms till the day broke through night
and the sun appeared to sight. Then they mounted swiftlier than the
twinkling of the eyelid; the raven of the wold croaked and the two
hosts, looking each at other with the eye of fascination, formed in
line-array and prepared for fight and fray. The first to open the
chapter of war was Jamrkan who wheeled and careered and offered
fight in field; and Jaland and his men were about to charge when,
behold, a cloud of dust up-rolled till it walled the wold and overlaid
the day. Then the four winds smote it and away it floated torn to
rags, and there appeared beneath it cavaliers, with helms black and
garb white and many a princely knight and lances that bite and
swords that smite and footmen who lion-like knew no affright.
Seeing this both armies left fighting and sent out scouts to
reconnoitre and report who thus had come in main and might. So
they went and within the dust-cloud disappeared from sight, and
returned after awhile with the news aright that the approaching host
was one of Moslems, under the command of King Gharib. When the
True Believers heard from the scouts of the coming of their King,
they rejoiced and driving out to meet him, dismounted and kissed
the earth between his hands——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Forty-

eighth Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Moslems saw the presence of their King Gharib, they joyed with
exceeding joy; and, kissing the earth between his hands, saluted
him and gat around him whilst he welcomed them and rejoiced in
their safety. Then they escorted him to their camp and pitched
pavilions for him and set up standards; and Gharib sat down on his
couch of estate, with his Grandees about him; and they related to
him all that had befallen, especially to Sa’adan. Meanwhile the Kafirs
sought for Ajib and finding him not among them nor in their tents,
told Jaland of his flight, whereat his Doomsday rose and he bit his
fingers, saying, “By the Sun’s light-giving round, he is a perfidious
hound and hath fled with his rascal rout to desert-ground. But
naught save force of hard fighting will serve us to repel these foes;
so fortify your resolves and hearten your hearts and beware of the
Moslems.” And Gharib also said to the True Believers, “Strengthen
your courage and fortify your hearts and seek aid of your Lord,
beseeching him to vouchsafe you the victory over your enemies.”
They replied, “O King, soon thou shalt see what we will do in battle-
plain where men cut and thrust amain.” So the two hosts slept till
the day arose with its sheen and shone and the rising sun rained
light upon hill and down, when Gharib prayed the two-bow prayer,
after the rite of Abraham the Friend (on whom be the Peace!) and
wrote a letter, which he despatched by his brother Sahim to the King
of the Kafirs. When Sahim reached the enemies’ camp, the guards
asked him what he wanted, and he answered them, “I want your
ruler.”[21] Quoth they, “Wait till we consult him anent thee;” and he
waited, whilst they went in to their Sovran and told him of the
coming of a messenger, and he cried, “Hither with him to me!” So
they brought Sahim before Jaland, who said to him, “Who hath sent
thee?” Quoth he, “King Gharib sends me, whom Allah hath made
ruler over Arab and Ajam; receive his letter and return its reply.”
Jaland took the writ and opening it, read as follows:—“In the name
of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate ✿ the One, the
All-knowing, the supremely Great ✿ the Immemorial, the Lord of
Noah and Sálih and Húd and Abraham and of all things He made! ✿
The Peace be on him who followeth in the way of righteousness and
who feareth the issues of frowardness ✿ who obeyeth the Almighty
King and followeth the Faith saving and preferreth the next world to
any present thing! ✿ But afterwards: O Jaland, none is worthy of
worship save Allah alone, the Victorious, the One, Creator of night
and day and the sphere revolving alway ✿ Who sendeth the holy
Prophets and garreth the streams to flow and the trees to grow, who
vaulted the heavens and spread out the earth like a carpet below ✿
Who feedeth the birds in their nests and the wild beasts in the
deserts ✿ for He is Allah the All-powerful, the Forgiving, the Long-
suffering, the Protector, whom eye comprehendeth on no wise and
who maketh night on day arise ✿ He who sent down the Apostles
and their Holy Writ. Know, O Jaland, that there is no faith but the
Faith of Abraham the Friend; so cleave to the Creed of Salvation and
be saved from the biting glaive and the Fire which followeth the
grave ✿ But, an thou refuse Al-Islam look for ruin to haste and thy
reign to be waste and thy traces untraced ✿ And, lastly, send me
the dog Ajib hight that I may take from him my father’s and
mother’s blood-wit.” When Jaland had read this letter, he said to
Sahim, “Tell thy lord that Ajib hath fled, he and his folk, and I know
not whither he is gone; but, as for Jaland, he will not forswear his
faith, and to-morrow, there shall be battle between us and the Sun
shall give us the victory.” So Sahim returned to his brother with this
reply, and when the morning morrowed, the Moslems donned their
arms and armour and bestrode their stout steeds, calling aloud on
the name of the All-conquering King, Creator of bodies and souls,
and magnifying Him with “Allaho Akbar.” Then the kettle-drums of
battle beat until earth trembled, and sought the field all the lordly
warriors and doughty champions. The first to open the gate of battle
was Jamrkan, who drave his charger into mid-plain and played with
sword and javelin, till the understanding was amazed; after which he
cried out, saying, “Ho! who is for tilting? Ho! who is for fighting? Let
no sluggard come out to me to-day nor weakling! I am the slayer of
Kurajan bin Jaland; who will come forth to avenge him?” When
Jaland heard the name of his son, he cried out to his men, “O
whore-sons, bring me yonder horseman who slew my son, that I
may eat his flesh and drink his blood.” So an hundred fighting men
charged at Jamrkan, but he slew the most part of them and put their
chief to flight; which feat when Jaland saw, he cried out to his folk,
“At him all at once and assault him with one assault.” Accordingly
they waved the awe-striking banners and host was heaped on host;
Gharib rushed on with his men and Jamrkan did the same and the
two sides met like two seas together clashing. The Yamáni sword
and spear wrought havoc and breasts and bellies were rent, whilst
both armies saw the Angel of Death face to face and the dust of the
battle rose to the skirts of the sky. Ears went deaf and tongues went
dumb and doom from every side came on whilst valiant stood fast
and faint-heart fled: and they ceased not from fight and fray till
ended the day, when the drums beat the retreat and the two hosts
drew apart and returned, each to its tents.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Forty-

ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King
Gharib ended the battle and the two hosts drew apart and each had
returned to his own tents, he sat down on the throne of his realm
and the place of his reign, whilst his chief officers ranged themselves
about him, and he said, “I am sore concerned for the flight of the
cur Ajib and I know not whither he has gone. Except I overtake him
and take my wreak of him, I shall die of despite.” Whereupon Sahim
came forward and kissing the earth before him, said, “O King, I will
go to the army of the Kafirs and find out what is come of the
perfidious dog Ajib.” Quoth Gharib, “Go, and learn the truth anent
the dog.” So Sahim disguised himself in the habit of the Infidels and
became as he were of them; then, making for the enemy’s camp, he
found them all asleep, drunken with war and battle, and none were
on wake save only the guards. He passed on and presently came to
the King’s pavilion where he found King Jaland asleep unattended;
so he crept up and made him smell and sniff up levigated Bhang and
he became as one dead. Then Sahim went out and took a male
mule, and wrapping the King in the coverlet of his bed, laid him on
its back; after which he threw a mat over him and led the beast to
the Moslem camp. Now when he came to Gharib’s pavilion and
would have entered, the guards knew him not and prevented him,
saying, “Who art thou?” He laughed and uncovered his face, and
they knew him and admitted him. When Gharib saw him he said,
“What bearest thou there, O Sahim?”; and he replied, “O King, this
is Jaland bin Karkar.” Then he uncovered him, and Gharib knew him
and said, “Arouse him, O Sahim,” So he made him smell vinegar[22]
and frankincense; and he cast the Bhang from his nostrils and,
opening his eyes, found himself among the Moslems; whereupon
quoth he, “What is this foul dream?” and closing his eyelids again,
would have slept; but Sahim dealt him a kick, saying, “Open thine
eyes, O accursed!” So he opened them and asked, “Where am I?”;
and Sahim answered, “Thou art in the presence of King Gharib bin
Kundamir, King of Irak.” When Jaland heard this, he said, “O King, I
am under thy protection! Know that I am not at fault, but that who
led us forth to fight thee was thy brother, and the same cast enmity
between us and then fled.” Quoth Gharib, “Knowest thou whither he
is gone?”; and quoth Jaland, “No, by the light-giving sun, I know not
whither.” Then Gharib bade lay him in bonds and set guards over
him, whilst each captain returned to his own tent, and Jamrkan
while wending said to his men, “O sons of my uncle, I purpose this
night to do a deed wherewith I may whiten my face with King
Gharib.” Quoth they, “Do as thou wilt, we hearken to thy
commandment and obey it.” Quoth he, “Arm yourselves and,
muffling your steps while I go with you, let us fare softly and
disperse about the Infidels’ camp, so that the very ants shall not be
ware of you; and, when you hear me cry Allaho Akbar, do ye the like
and cry out, saying, God is Most Great! and hold back and make for
the city gate; and we seek aid from the Most High.” So the folk
armed themselves cap-à-pie and waited till the noon of night, when
they dispersed about the enemy’s camp and tarried awhile when, lo
and behold! Jamrkan smote shield with sword and shouted, “Allaho
Akbar!” Thereupon they all cried out the like, till rang again valley
and mountain, hills, sands and ruins. The Miscreants awoke in
dismay and fell one upon other, and the sword went round amongst
them; the Moslems drew back and made for the city gates, where
they slew the warders and entering, made themselves masters of
the town, with all that was therein of treasure and women. Thus it
befel with Jamrkan; but as regards King Gharib, hearing the noise
and clamour of “God is Most Great,” he mounted with his troops to
the last man and sent on in advance Sahim who, when he came
near the field of fight, saw that Jamrkan had fallen upon the Kafirs
with the Banu Amir by night and made them drink the cup of death.
So he returned and told all to his brother, who called down blessings
on Jamrkan. And the Infidels ceased not to smite one another with
the biting sword and expending their strength till the day rose and
lighted up the land, when Gharib cried out to his men, “Charge, O ye
noble, and do a deed to please the All-knowing King!” So the True
Believers fell upon the idolaters and plied upon every false
hypocritical breast the keen sword and the quivering spear. They
sought to take refuge in the city; but Jamrkan came forth upon them
with his kinsmen, who hemmed them in between two mountain-
ranges, and slew an innumerable host of them, and the rest fled into
the wastes and wolds.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Fiftieth

Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
the Moslem host charged upon the Miscreants they hewed them in
pieces with the biting scymitar and the rest fled to the wastes and
wolds; nor did the Moslems cease pursuing them with the sword, till
they had scattered them abroad in the plains and stony places. Then
they returned to Oman city, and King Gharib entered the palace of
the King and, sitting down on the throne of his kingship, with his
Grandees and Officers ranged right and left, sent for Jaland. They
brought him in haste and Gharib expounded to him Al-Islam; but he
rejected it; wherefore Gharib bade crucify him on the gate of the
city, and they shot at him with shafts till he was like unto a
porcupine. Then Gharib honourably robed Jamrkan and said to him,
“Thou shalt be lord of this city and ruler thereof with power to loose
and to bind therein, for it was thou didst open it with thy sword and
thy folk.” And Jamrkan kissed the King’s feet, thanked him and
wished him abiding victory and glory and every blessing. Moreover
Gharib opened Jaland’s treasuries and saw what was therein of coin,
whereof he gave largesse to his captains and standard-bearers and
fighting-men, yea, even to the girls and children; and thus he
lavished his gifts ten days long. After this, one night he dreamt a
terrible dream and awoke, troubled and trembling. So he aroused his
brother Sahim and said to him, “I saw in my vision that we were in a
wide valley, when there pounced down on us two ravening birds of
prey, never in my life saw I greater than they; their legs were like
lances, and as they swooped we were in sore fear of them.” Replied
Sahim, “O King, this be some great enemy; so stand on thy guard
against him.” Gharib slept not the rest of the night and, when the
day broke, he called for his courser and mounted. Quoth Sahim,
“Whither goest thou, my brother?” and quoth Gharib, “I awoke
heavy at heart; so I mean to ride abroad ten days and broaden my
breast.” Said Sahim, “Take with thee a thousand braves;” but Gharib
replied, “I will not go forth but with thee and only thee.” So the two
brothers mounted and, seeking the dales and leasows, fared on from
Wady to Wady and from meadow to meadow, till they came to a
valley abounding in streams and sweet-smelling flowers and trees
laden with all manner eatable fruits, two of each kind. Birds warbled
on the branches their various strains; the mocking-bird trilled out her
sweet notes fain and the turtle filled with her voice the plain. There
sang the nightingale, whose chant arouses the sleeper, and the
merle with his note like the voice of man and the cushat and the
ring-dove, whilst the parrot with its eloquent tongue answered the
twain. The valley pleased them and they ate of its fruits and drank
of its waters, after which they sat under the shadow of its trees till
drowsiness overcame them and they slept,—glory be to Him who
sleepeth not! As they lay asleep, lo! two fierce Marids swooped down
on them and, taking each one on his shoulders, towered with them
high in air, till they were above the clouds. So Gharib and Sahim
awoke and found themselves betwixt heaven and earth; whereupon
they looked at those who bore them and saw that they were two
Marids, the head of the one being as that of a dog and the head of
the other as that of an ape[23] with hair like horses’ tails and claws
like lions’ claws, and both were big as great palm-trees. When they
espied this case, they exclaimed, “There is no Majesty and there is
no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!” Now the cause of
this was that a certain King of the Kings of the Jinn, hight Mura’ash,
had a son called Sá’ik, who loved a damsel of the Jinn, named
Najmah;[24] and the twain used to foregather in that Wady under the
semblance of two birds. Gharib and Sahim saw them thus and
deeming them birds, shot at them with shafts but wounding only
Sa’ik whose blood flowed. Najmah mourned over him; then, fearing
lest the like calamity befal herself, snatched up her lover and flew
with him to his father’s palace, where she cast him down at the
gate. The warders bore him in and laid him before his sire who,
seeing the pile sticking in his rib exclaimed, “Alas, my son! Who hath
done with thee this thing, that I may lay waste his abiding-place and
hurry on his destruction, though he were the greatest of the Kings of
the Jann?” Thereupon Sa’ik opened his eyes and said, “O my father,
none slew me save a mortal in the Valley of Springs.” Hardly had he
made an end of these words, when his soul departed; whereupon
his father buffeted his face, till the blood streamed from his mouth,
and cried out to two Marids, saying, “Hie ye to the Valley of Springs
and bring me all who are therein.” So they betook themselves to the
Wady in question, where they found Gharib and Sahim asleep, and,
snatching them up, carried them to King Mura’ash.[25]——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
 Now when it was the Six Hundred and Fifty-
first Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the two
Marids, after snatching up Gharib and Sahim in their sleep, carried
them to Mura’ash, king of the Jann, whom they saw seated on the
throne of his kingship, as he were a huge mountain, with four heads
on his body,[26] the first that of a lion, the second that of an
elephant, the third that of a panther, and the fourth that of a lynx.
The Marids set them down before Mura’ash and said to him, “O
King, these twain be they we found in the Valley of Springs.”
Thereupon he looked at them with wrathful eyes and snarked and
snorted and shot sparks from his nostrils, so that all who stood by
feared him. Then said he, “O dogs of mankind, ye have slain my son
and lighted fire in my liver.” Quoth Gharib, “Who is thy son, and who
hath seen him?” Quoth Mura’ash, “Were ye not in the Valley of
Springs and did ye not see my son there, in the guise of a bird, and
did ye not shoot at him with wooden bolts that he died?” Replied
Gharib, “I know not who slew him; and, by the virtue of the Great
God, the One, the Immemorial who knoweth things all, and of
Abraham the Friend, we saw no bird, neither slew we bird or beast!”
Now when Mura’ash heard Gharib swear by Allah and His greatness
and by Abraham the Friend, he knew him for a Moslem (he himself
being a worshipper of Fire, not of the All-powerful Sire), so he cried
out to his folk, “Bring me my Goddess.[27]” Accordingly they brought
a brazier of gold and, setting it before him, kindled therein fire and
cast on drugs, whereupon there arose therefrom green and blue and
yellow flames and the King and all who were present prostrated
themselves before the brazier, whilst Gharib and Sahim ceased not
to attest the Unity of Allah Almighty, to cry out “God is Most Great”
and to bear witness to His Omnipotence. Presently, Mura’ash raised
his head and, seeing the two Princes standing in lieu of falling down
to worship, said to them, “O dogs, why do ye not prostrate
yourselves?” Replied Gharib, “Out on you, O ye accursed! Prostration
befitteth not man save to the Worshipful King, who bringeth forth all
creatures into beingness from nothingness and maketh water to well
from the barren rock-well, Him who inclineth heart of sire unto new-
born scion and who may not be described as sitting or standing; the
God of Noah and Salih and Hud and Abraham the Friend, Who
created Heaven and Hell and trees and fruit as well,[28] for He is
Allah, the One, the All-powerful.” When Mura’ash heard this, his eyes
sank into his head[29] and he cried out to his guards, saying, “Pinion
me these two dogs and sacrifice them to my Goddess.” So they
bound them and were about to cast them into the fire when, behold,
one of the crenelles of the palace-parapet fell down upon the brazier
and brake it and put out the fire, which became ashes flying in air.
Then quoth Gharib, “God is Most Great! He giveth aid and victory
and He forsaketh those who deny Him, Fire worshipping and not the
Almighty King!” Presently quoth Mura’ash, “Thou art a sorcerer and
hast bewitched my Goddess, so that this thing hath befallen her.”
Gharib replied, “O madman, an the fire had soul or sense it would
have warded off from self all that hurteth it.” When Mura’ash heard
these words, he roared and bellowed and reviled the Fire, saying,
“By my faith, I will not kill you save by the fire!” Then he bade cast
them into gaol; and, calling an hundred Marids, made them bring
much fuel and set fire thereto. So they brought great plenty of wood
and made a huge blaze, which flamed up mightily till the morning,
when Mura’ash mounted an elephant, bearing on its back a throne
of gold dubbed with jewels, and the tribes of the Jinn gathered
about him in their various kinds. Presently they brought in Gharib
and Sahim who, seeing the flaming of the fire, sought help of the
One, the All-conquering Creator of night and day, Him of All-might,
whom no sight comprehendeth, but who comprehendeth all sights,
for He is the Subtle, the All-knowing. And they ceased not humbly
beseeching Him till, behold, a cloud arose from West to East and,
pouring down showers of rain, like the swollen sea, quenched the
fire. When the King saw this, he was affrighted, he and his troops,
and entered the palace, where he turned to the Wazirs and
Grandees and said to them, “How say ye of these two men?” They
replied, “O King, had they not been in the right, this thing had not
befallen the fire; wherefore we say that they be true men which
speak sooth.” Rejoined Mura’ash, “Verily the Truth hath been
displayed to me, ay, and the manifest way, and I am certified that
the worship of the fire is false; for, were it goddess, it had warded
off from itself the rain which quenched it and the stone which broke
its brasier and beat it into ashes. Wherefore I believe in Him Who
created the fire and the light and the shade and the heat. And ye,
what say ye?” They answered, “O King, we also hear and follow and
obey.” So the King called for Gharib and embraced him and kissed
him between the eyes and then summoned Sahim; whereupon the
bystanders all crowded to kiss their hands and heads.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Fifty-

second Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Mura’ash and his men found salvation in the Saving Faith, Al-Islam,
he called for Gharib and Sahim and kissed them between the eyes
and so did all the Grandees who crowded to buss their hands and
heads. Then Mura’ash sat down on the throne of his kingship and,
seating Gharib on his right and Sahim on his left hand, said to them,
“O mortals, what shall we say, that we may become Moslems?”
Replied Gharib, “Say:—There is no god but the God, and Abraham is
the Friend of God!” So the King and his folk professed Al-Islam with
heart and tongue, and Gharib abode with them awhile, teaching
them the ritual of prayer. But presently he called to mind his people
and sighed, whereupon quoth Mura’ash, “Verily, trouble is gone and
joy and gladness are come.” Quoth Gharib, “O King, I have many
foes and I fear for my folk from them.” Then he related to him his
history with his brother Ajib from first to last, and the King of the
Jinns said, “O King of men, I will send one who shall bring thee
news of thy people, for I will not let thee go till I have had my fill of
thy face.” Then he called two doughty Marids, by name Kaylaján and
Kúraján, and after they had done him homage, he bade them repair
to Al-Yaman and bring him news of Gharib’s army. They replied, “To
hear is to obey,” and departed. Thus far concerning the brothers; but
as regards the Moslems, they arose in the morning and led by their
captains rode to King Gharib’s palace, to do their service to him; but
the eunuchs told them that the King had mounted with his brother
and had ridden forth at peep o’ day. So they made for the valleys
and mountains and followed the track of the Princes, till they came
to the Valley of Springs, where they found their arms cast down and
their two gallant steeds grazing and said, “The King is missing from
this place, by the glory of Abraham the Friend!” Then they mounted
and sought in the valley and the mountains three days, but found no
trace of them; whereupon they began the mourning ceremonies
and, sending for couriers, said to them, “Do ye disperse yourselves
about the cities and sconces and castles, and seek ye news of our
King.” “Hearkening and obedience!” cried the couriers, who
dispersed hither and thither each over one of the Seven Climes and
sought everywhere for Gharib, but found no trace of him. Now when
the tidings came to Ajib by his spies that his brother was lost and
there was no news of the missing, he rejoiced and going in to King
Ya’arub bin Kahtan, sought of him aid which he granted and gave
him two hundred thousand Amalekites, wherewith he set out for Al-
Yaman and sat down before the city of Oman. Jamrkan and Sa’adan
sallied forth and offered him battle, and there were slain of the
Moslems much folk, so the True Believers retired into the city and
shut the gates and manned the walls. At this moment came up the
two Marids Kaylajan and Kurajan and, seeing the Moslem
beleaguered waited till nightfall, when they fell upon the miscreants
and plied them with sharp swords of the swords of the Jinn, each
twelve cubits long, if a man smote therewith a rock, verily he would
cleave it in sunder. They charged the Idolators, shouting, “Allaho
Akbar! God is Most Great! He giveth aid and victory and forsaketh
those who deny the Faith of Abraham the Friend!” and whilst they
raged amongst the foes, fire issued from their mouths and nostrils,
and they made great slaughter amongst them. Thereupon the
Infidels ran out of their tents offering battle but, seeing these
strange things, were confounded and their hair stood on end and
their reason fled. So they snatched up their arms and fell one upon
other, whilst the Marids shore off their heads, as a reaper eareth
grain, crying, “God is Most Great! We are the lads of King Gharib,
the friend of Mura’ash, King of the Jinn!” The sword ceased not to go
round amongst them till the night was half spent, when the
Misbelievers, imagining that the mountains were all Ifrits, loaded
their tents and treasure and baggage upon camels and made off;
and the first to fly was Ajib.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Fifty-

third Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
Misbelievers made off and the first to fly was Ajib. Thereupon the
Moslems gathered together, marvelling at this that had betided the
Infidels and fearing the tribesmen of the Jinn. But the Marids ceased
not from pursuit, till they had driven them far away into the hills and
wolds; and but fifty thousand Rebels[30] of two hundred thousand
escaped with their lives and made for their own land, wounded and
sore discomfited. Then the two Jinns returned and said to them, “O
host of the Moslems, your lord King Gharib and his brother Sahim
salute you; they are the guests of Mura’ash, King of the Jann, and
will be with you anon.” When Gharib’s men heard that he was safe
and well, they joyed with exceeding joy and said to the Marids,
“Allah gladden you twain with good news, O noble spirits!” So
Kurajan and Kaylajan returned to Mura’ash and Gharib; and
acquainted them with that which had happened, whereat Gharib
finding the two sitting together felt heart at ease and said, “Allah
abundantly requite you!” Then quoth King Mura’ash, “O my brother, I
am minded to show thee our country and the city of Japhet[31] son of
Noah (on whom be peace!)” Quoth Gharib, “O King, do what
seemeth good to thee.” So he called for three noble steeds and
mounting, he and Gharib and Sahim, set out with a thousand
Marids, as they were a piece of a mountain cloven lengthwise. They
fared on, solacing themselves with the sight of valleys and
mountains, till they came to Jabarsá,[32] the city of Japhet son of
Noah (on whom be peace!) where the townsfolk all, great and small,
came forth to meet King Mura’ash and brought them into the city in
great state. Then Mura’ash went up to the palace of Japhet son of
Noah and sat down on the throne of his kingship, which was of
alabaster, ten stages high and latticed with wands of gold wherefrom
hung all manner coloured silks. The people of the city stood before
him and he said to them, “O seed of Yafis bin Nuh, what did your
fathers and grandfathers worship?” They replied, “We found them
worshipping Fire and followed their example, as thou well knowest.”
“O folk,” rejoined Mura’ash, “we have been shown that the fire is but
one of the creatures of Almighty Allah, Creator of all things; and
when we knew this, we submitted ourselves to God, the One, the
All-powerful, Maker of night and day and the sphere revolving alway,
Whom comprehendeth no sight, but Who comprehendeth all sights,
for He is the Subtle, the All-wise. So seek ye Salvation and ye shall
be saved from the wrath of the Almighty One and from the fiery
doom in the world to come.” And they embraced Al-Islam with heart
and tongue. Then Mura’ash took Gharib by the hand and showed
him the palace and its ordinance and all the marvels it contained, till
they came to the armoury, wherein were the arms of Japhet son of
Noah. Here Gharib saw a sword hanging to a pin of gold and asked,
“O King, whose is that?” Mura’ash answered, “’Tis the sword of Yafis
bin Nuh, wherewith he was wont to do battle against men and Jinn.
The sage Jardúm forged it and graved on its back names of might.
[33]
It is named Al-Máhik—the Annihilator—for that it never
descendeth upon a man, but it annihilateth him, nor upon a Jinni,
but it crusheth him; and if one smote therewith a mountain ’twould
overthrow it.” When Gharib heard tell of the virtues of the sword, he
said, “I desire to look on this blade;” and Mura’ash said, “Do as thou
wilt.” So Gharib put out his hand, and, hending the sword, drew it
from its sheath; whereupon it flashed and Death crept on its edge
and glittered; and it was twelve spans long and three broad. Now
Gharib wished to become owner of it, and King Mura’ash said, “An
thou canst smite with it, take it.” “’Tis well,” Gharib replied, and took
it up, and it was in his hand as a staff; wherefore all who were
present, men and Jinn, marvelled and said, “Well done, O Prince of
Knights!” Then said Mura’ash, “Lay thy hand on this hoard for which
the Kings of the earth sigh in vain, and mount, that I may show thee
the city.” Then they took horse and rode forth the palace, with men
and Jinns attending them on foot,——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Fifty-

fourth Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Gharib and King Mura’ash rode forth the palace of Japhet, with men
and Jinns attending them on foot, they passed through the streets
and thoroughfares of the town, by palaces and deserted mansions
and gilded doorways, till they issued from the gates and entered
gardens full of trees fruit-bearing and waters welling and birds
speaking and celebrating the praises of Him to whom belong Majesty
and Eternity; nor did they cease to solace themselves in the land till
nightfall, when they returned to the palace of Japhet son of Noah
and they brought them the table of food. So they ate and Gharib
turned to the King of the Jann and said to him, “O King, I would fain
return to my folk and my force; for I know not their plight after me.”
Replied Mura’ash, “By Allah, O my brother, I will not part with thee
for a full month, till I have had my fill of thy sight.” Now Gharib could
not say nay, so he abode with him in the city of Japhet, eating and
drinking and making merry, till the month ended, when Mura’ash
gave him great store of gems and precious ores, emeralds and
balass-rubies, diamonds and other jewels, ingots of gold and silver
and likewise ambergris and musk and brocaded silks and else of
rarities and things of price. Moreover he clad him and Sahim in
silken robes of honour gold-inwoven and set on Gharib’s head a
crown jewelled with pearls and diamonds of inestimable value. All
these treasures he made up into even loads for him and, calling five
hundred Marids, said to them, “Get ye ready to travel on the
morrow, that we may bring King Gharib and Sahim back to their own
country.” And they answered, “We hear and we obey.” So they
passed the night in the city, purposing to depart on the morrow, but,
next morning, as they were about to set forth behold, they espied a
great host advancing upon the city, with horses neighing and kettle-
drums beating and trumpets braying and riders filling the earth for
they numbered threescore and ten thousand Marids, flying and
diving, under a King called Barkán. Now this Barkan was lord of the
City of Carnelian and the Castle of Gold and under his rule were five
hill-strongholds, in each five hundred thousand Marids; and he and
his tribe worshipped the Fire, not the Omnipotent Sire. He was a
cousin of Mura’ash, the son of his father’s brother, and the cause of
his coming was that there had been among the subjects of King
Mura’ash a misbelieving Marid, who professed Al-Islam hypocritically,
and he stole away from his people and made for the Valley of
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