Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 2.djvu/405

368 “Question the men of war,” I answered her, “of me, Whenas the champions flee before my flashing gaze. I am the world-renowned for fortune and for might, Whose prowess I uplift to what a height of praise! O Hemmad, thou hast roused a lion, who shall show Thee death that comes as swift as vipers in the ways.”

When I heard what he said, I was perplexed about my affair, and considering my condition and how I was become a captive, I was lessened in my own esteem. Then I looked at the damsel and said to myself, ‘It is she who is the cause of all this trouble;’ and I fell a-marvelling at her beauty and grace, till the tears streamed from my eyes and I recited the following verses:

Then the maiden set food before her brother, and he bade me eat with him, whereat I rejoiced and felt assured of my life. When he had made an end of eating, she brought him a flagon of wine and he drank, till the fumes of the wine mounted to his head and his face flushed. Then he turned to me and said, ‘Harkye, Hemmad, dost thou know me?’ ‘By thy life,’ answered I, ‘I am rich in nought but ignorance!’ Said he, ‘I am Ibad ben Temim ben Thaalebeh, and indeed God giveth thee thy liberty and spareth thee confusion.’ Then he drank to my health and gave me a cup of wine and I drank it off. Then he filled me a second and a third and a fourth, and I drank them all; and he made merry with me and took an oath of me that I would never betray him. So I swore to him a thousand oaths that I would never deal perfidiously with him, but would be a friend and a helper to him.