The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
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.”[FN#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!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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