" "And dost thou know Sherkan?" asked he.
"Yes," replied she; "and I know of his coming with an army of ten
thousand horse, for that he was sent by his father with these
troops to the succour of the King of Constantinople." "O my
lady," rejoined Sherkan, "I conjure thee, as thou believest in
thy religion, tell me the cause of all this, that I may know
truth from falsehood and with whom the fault lies." "By the
virtue of thy faith," replied she, "were it not that I fear lest
the news of me be bruited abroad that I am of the daughters of
the Greeks, I would adventure myself and sally forth against the
ten thousand horse and kill their chief, the Vizier Dendan, and
take their champion Sherkan. Nor would there be any reproach to
me in this, for I have read books and know the Arabic language
and have studied good breeding and polite letters. But I have no
need to vaunt my own prowess to thee, for thou hast tasted of my
quality and proved my strength and skill and pre-eminence in
wrestling; nor if Sherkan himself had been in thy place to-night
and it had been said to him, 'Leap this river,' could he have
done so. And I could wish well that the Messiah would throw him
into my hands here in this monastery, that I might go forth to
him in the habit of a man and pull him from his saddle and take
him prisoner and lay him in fetters." When Sherkan heard this,
pride and heat and warlike jealousy overcame him and he was
minded to discover himself and lay violent hands on her but her
beauty held him back from her, and he repeated the following
verse:
Their charms, whatever fault the fair commit, A thousand
intercessors bring for it.
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