Now this horseman
was the chief of the hundred horse, and his name was Kehrdash;
and what he saw in Kanmakan of the perfection of martial grace,
together with surpassing beauty and comeliness, reminded him of a
mistress of his, by name Fatin. Now this Fatin was one of the
fairest of women in face, for God had given her beauty and grace
and charms and noble qualities of all kinds, such as the tongue
fails to describe. Moreover, the cavaliers of the tribe feared
her prowess and the champions of the land stood in awe of her,
and she had sworn that she would not marry nor give any
possession of her, except he should conquer her, saying to her
father, "None shall approach me, except he master me in the field
and the stead of war." Kehrdash was one of her suitors, and when
the news reached him of the vow she had taken, he thought scorn
to fight with a girl, fearing reproach; and one of his friends
said to him, "Thou art accomplished in beauty and manly
qualities; so if thou contend with her, even though she be
stronger than thou, thou must needs overcome her, for when she
sees thy beauty and grace, she will be discomfited before thee,
seeing that women by nature incline unto men, as is not unknown
to thee." Nevertheless he refused and would not contend with her,
albeit indeed she loved him, for what she had heard of his beauty
and velour: and he ceased not to abstain from her thus, till he
met with Kanmakan, as hath been set down.
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