The king then asked him if we had done any harm? He said: No. Then he ordered that we should be put into prison; there we remained for nine months as prisoners, during which time twelve of us died. And when it was the Easter-day of the Infidels, his eldest son Wirmirsiana,[1](1) begged for us, then he set us free, and ordered that we should be brought to him; then we were obliged to promise him that we should never try to escape again, and he gave us back our horses and increased our pay. [1] The Amir Souleiman. The other sons of Bajazet were Mouhammed and Mousa. 7.—How Wyasit took the city of Samson.(1) Afterwards, in the summer, Wyasit took eighty thousand men into a country called Genyck, and lay siege to a capital called Samson. This city was built by the strong man Samson, from whom it has its name. The lord of the country was of the same name as the country, Zymayd, and the king expelled the lord out of the land; and when it was heard in the city that their lord was driven away, the people gave themselves up to Weyasit, who occupied the city and all the country with his people. 8.—Of serpents and vipers. A great miracle is to be noted which took place near the said city of Samson, during the time that I was with Weyasit. There came around the city such a lot of vipers and serpents, that they took up the space of a mile all round. There is a country called Tcyenick which belongs to Sampson; it is a wooded country in which are many forests. One part of the vipers came from the said forests, and one part came out of the sea. The vipers remained for XI days, and then they fought with each other, and nobody dared to leave the city on account of the vipers, although they did no harm either to men or to cattle. Then the lord of the city and of the country gave orders that likewise no harm should be done to these reptiles, and said it was a sign and a manifestation from Almighty God. And now on the tenth day, the serpents and vipers fought with each other from morning until the going down of the sun, and when the lord and the people of the city saw what was done, the lord caused the gate to be opened, and rode out with a few people out of the city, and looked where the vipers were fighting, and saw that the vipers from the sea had to succumb to those of the forests. And the next morning early, the lord again rode out of the city to see if the reptiles were still there; he found none but dead vipers, which he ordered to be collected and counted. There were eight thousand. He then ordered a pit to be made, and ordered all to be thrown in and covered with earth, and he sent to Weyasit, who at that time was lord in Turkey, to tell him of the marvel. He took it for a piece of luck, as he had only just taken the city and country of Samson, and almost rejoiced that the forest adders had succumbed to the sea adders, and said it was a manifestation from Almighty God, and he hoped that as he was a powerful lord and king