Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/193

167 make of his case, he caught sight of a ship and signalled with his sleeve to the sailors, who came to him and took him up, saying, ‘Who art thou and whence comest thou?’ Quoth he, ‘Do ye feed me and give me to drink, till I recover myself, and after I will tell you who I am.’ So they brought him water and victual, and he ate and drank and God restored his reason to him. Then said he to them, ‘O folk, what countrymen are ye and what is your faith?’ ‘We are from Kerej,’ answered they, ‘and worship an idol called Mincash.’ ‘Perdition to you and your idol!’ cried Gherib. ‘O dogs, none is worthy of worship save God who created all things, who saith to a thing “Be!” and it is.’ When they heard this, they fell upon him in great wrath and would have seized him. Now he was unarmed, but whomsoever he struck, he smote down and deprived of life, till he had felled forty men, after which they overcame him by force of numbers and bound him fast, saying. ‘We will not put him to death save in our own country, that we may [first] show him to our King.’

Then they sailed on till they came to the city of Kerej, the builder whereof was a fierce Amalekite and set up at each gate of the city a magical figure of brass, which, whenever a stranger entered, blew a blast on a trumpet, that all in the city heard it and fell upon the stranger and slew him, except he embraced their faith. When Gherib entered the city, the brazen figure stationed at the gate blew such a terrible blast that the King was affrighted and going in to his idol, found fire and smoke issuing from its eyes and mouth and nostrils. Now a devil had entered the belly of the idol and speaking as with its tongue, said to the King of the city, ‘O King, there is come to thy city one Gherib, King of Irak, who uses to bid the folk quit their faith and worship his Lord; wherefore, when