Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/170

158 Then he called his three sons, who were three doughty champions, each of whom could cope with a thousand horse in the field and the stead of strife, and bade them mount. So they took horse forthwith and the King and the flower of his knights and nobles and officers mounted with them and followed in the track of the fugitives till they came up with them in the valley aforesaid. When Meryem saw them, she mounted her horse and girt on her sword and took her arms. Then she said to Noureddin, ‘How is it with thee and how is thy stomach for battle and strife and contention?’ Quoth he, ‘Verily, my steadfastness in battle is as the steadfastness of the stake in bran.’ And he recited the following verses:

When she heard his speech and his verses, she laughed and said, ‘O my lord Noureddin, abide in thy place and I will keep thee from their mischief, though they be as the sands of the sea in number. But mount and be behind me, and if we be defeated and put to flight, beware of falling, for none can overtake thy charger.’ So saying, she couched her lance and gave her horse the rein, whereupon he darted off with her, like the storm-wind or like water poured forth of the straitness of the pipes. Now Meryem was the doughtiest of the folk of her time and the unique pearl of her age; for her father had taught her, whilst she was yet little, to ride on horseback and