The goodliest of delights it is one's foes to slay And on the backs of steeds the spoil to bear away. Oft comes a messenger with promise of a friend, And the friend comes himself without a trysting-day. And these also: As I live, I will make of war my mother and the spear My brother and the sword my father, and for fere I will take each shag-haired warrior that meets death with a smile, As if to die in battle were e'en his wish most dear! "Glory be to God," continued he, "Who hath vouchsafed us His almighty aid and hath given us spoil of silver and fine gold!" Then Zoulmekan commanded to depart; and the army set out and fared on, by forced marches, toward Constantinople, till they came to a wide and blooming champaign, full of all things fair, with wild cattle frisking and gazelles passing to and fro. Now they had traversed great deserts and had been six days cut off from water, when they drew near this meadow and saw therein waters welling and trees laden with ripe fruits and the land as it were Paradise; it had donned its adornments and decked itself.[FN#102] The branches of its trees swayed gently to and fro, drunken with the new wine of the dew, and therein were conjoined the fresh sweetness of the fountains of Paradise and the soft breathings of the zephyr. Mind and eye were confounded with its beauty, even as says the poet: Look on the verdant smiling mead, with flowers and herbs beseen, As 'twere the Spring thereon had spread a mantle all of green. If thou behold it with the eye of sense alone, thou'lt see Nought but as 'twere a lake wherein the water waves, I ween: But with thy mind's eye look; thou'lt see a glory in the trees And lo' amidst the boughs above, the waving banners' sheen! Or as another says: The river's a cheek that the sun has rosy made; For ringlets it borrows the cassia's creeping shade. The water makes anklets of silver about the legs Of the boughs, and the flowers for crowns o'er all are laid.