Page:Man in the Panther's Skin.djvu/117

 for those who gazed upon them. —Now will I tell thee of that knight's battle, the punisher of his adversaries.

597. "I perceived their design, and saw them donning their headgear. Ships met me, I know not if there were eight (in all); swiftly I threw myself upon them; they began to row; I struck (one of the ships) with my heel and upset it; like women they bewailed themselves.

598. "I betook myself to yet another, and seized the lip (prow) of the ship with my hand; I drowned them in the sea, I slew them; they had no opportunity for battle. The rest fled from me, they made for their harbour ; all who saw me marvelled, they praised me, they hated me not.

599. "We crossed the sea, we landed. Mounted they threw themselves on us. Again we engaged; there began the vicissitudes of battle. P'hridon's bravery and agility pleased me then; in warfare a lion, in face a sun, that aloe-tree fought.

600. "With his sword he cast down both his cousins, he cut their hands clean off; thus he crippled them ; he led them away bound by the arms; the one did not abandon the two. He made their knights to weep, his knights to vaunt themselves.

601. "Their soldiers fled from us, we threw ourselves upon them, we scattered them; swiftly we seized the city, we wasted no time; we broke their legs with stones, we tanned their skin into leather. Kill me, if it was possible to empty the treasure both by lading and stowing!

602. "P'hridon inspected the treasures and put his seals upon them; he himself led away his two vanquished cousins; he shed their blood in exchange for his, and