Then Sherkan heard her say to the girls, "Come on, that I may
wrestle with you, ere the moon set and the dawn come." So they
came up to her, one after another, and she overthrew them, one by
one, and bound their hands behind them with their girdles. When
she had thrown them all, there turned to her an old woman, who
was before her, and said, as if she were wroth with her, "O
wanton, dost thou glory in overthrowing these girls? Behold, I am
an old woman, yet have I thrown them forty times! So what hast
thou to boast of? But if thou have strength to wrestle with me,
stand up that I may grip thee and put thy head between thy feet."
The young lady smiled at her words, although her heart was full
of anger against her, and said, "O my lady Dhat ed Dewahi, wilt
indeed wrestle with me, or dost thou jest with me?" "I mean to
wrestle with thee in very deed," replied she. "Stand up to me
then," said the damsel, "if thou have strength to do so." When
the old woman heard this, she was sore enraged and the hair of
her body stood on end, like that of a hedge-hog. Then she sprang
up, whilst the damsel confronted her, and said, "By the virtue of
the Messiah, I will not wrestle with thee, except I be naked." "O
baggage!" So she loosed her trousers and putting her hand under
her clothes, tore them off her body; then, taking a handkerchief
of silk, she bound it about her middle and became as she were a
bald Afriteh or a pied snake.
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