Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/107

85 like the swollen sea and passed the night in expectation of battle. As soon as it was day, the two hosts mounted and drew up in battle array and beat their drums and spurred their swift horses, filling the plains; and the champions came out.

The first who sallied forth to the field was the Ghoul of the Mountain, bearing on his shoulder a terrible big tree, and he cried out between the two hosts, saying, ‘I am Saadan the Ghoul: who is for fighting, who is for jousting? Let no sluggard or weakling come forth to me.’ And he called out to his slaves, saying, ‘Out on you! Bring me firewood and fire, for I am hungry.’ So the slaves brought firewood and kindled a fire midmost the lists. Then there came out to him a man of the infidels, an Amalekite of the unbelieving Amalekites, bearing on his shoulder a mace as it were the mast of a ship, and drove at the Ghoul, saying, ‘Woe to thee, O Saadan!’ When the Ghoul heard this, be was angered and raising his club, aimed at the infidel a blow, that whistled through the air. The other met the stroke with his mace, but it beat down his guard and descending with its own weight and that of the mace upon his head, beat in his brain-pan, and he fell like a great palm-tree; whereupon Saadan cried to his slaves, saying, ‘Take this fat calf and roast him quickly.’ So they hastened to skin the infidel and roasted him and brought him to the Ghoul, who ate his flesh and crunched his bones.

When the infidels saw how Saadan did with their fellow, their skins quaked and their colour changed and their hearts died within them and they said to one another, ‘Whoso goeth out against this Ghoul, he eats him and cracks his bones and maketh him to lack the wind of the world.’ Wherefore they quailed for fear of the Ghoul and his sons and turned to fly, making for the town; but Gherib cried out to his troops, saying, ‘Up and after