Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/112

90 being athirst, called to him for water. So he brought him a flagon of water, drugged with henbane, whereof no sooner had Gherib drunk, than he fell down head foremost; whereupon Siyyar wrapped him in his cloak and carrying him to Agib’s tent, threw him down at his feet. Quoth Agib, ‘O Siyyar, what is this?’ ‘This is thy brother Gherib,’ answered he; whereat Agib rejoiced and said, ‘The blessing of the idols light upon thee! Loose him and wake him.’

So they made him smell to vinegar and he came to himself and opened his eyes; then, finding himself bound and in a tent other than his own, said, ‘There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme!’ Then Agib cried out at him, saying, ‘O dog, dost thou draw on me and seek to slay me and take on me thy wreak of thy father and mother? This very day I will send thee to them and rid the world of thee.’ ‘O dog of the infidels,’ replied Gherib, ‘thou shalt see against whom the wheels of fate shall revolve and who shall be overthrown of the Almighty King, Who knoweth what is in the hearts and Who shall leave thee in hell, tormented and confounded! Have pity on thyself and say with me, “There is no god but God and Abraham is the Friend of God!”’ When Agib heard Gherib’s words, he puffed and snorted and railed at his god of stone and called for the headsman and the carpet of blood; but his vizier, who was at heart a Muslim, though outwardly an infidel, rose and kissing the earth before him, said, ‘O King, deal not hastily, but wait till we know the conquered from the conqueror. If we prove the victors, we shall be free to kill him, and if we be beaten, his being alive in our hands will be a strength to us.’ And the Amirs said, ‘The vizier says sooth.’ So Agib bade lay Gherib in irons and chain him up in his own tent and appointed a thousand stout warriors to guard him.

Meanwhile Gherib’s host, when they awoke and found