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’[FN#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,[FN#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 back-sides 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[FN#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.