When I
saw my comrades slain, I said in myself, 'If I fight with him, I
shall not be able to withstand him, and if I flee, I shall become
a byword among the Arabs.' However, the youth gave me no time to
think, but ran at me and laying hold of me, dragged me from my
saddle. I swooned away and he raised his sword to cut off my
head; but I clung to his skirts and he lifted me in his hand, as
I were a sparrow [in the clutches of a hawk]. When the maiden saw
this, she rejoiced in her brother's prowess and coming up to him,
kissed him between the eyes. Then he delivered me to her, saying,
'Take him and entreat him well, for he is come under our rule.'
So she took hold of the collars of my coat-of-arms and led me
away by them as one would lead a dog. Then she did off her
brother's armour and clad him in a robe, after which she brought
him a stool of ivory, on which he sat down, and said to him, 'May
God whiten thine honour and make thee to be as a provision
against the shifts of fortune!' And he answered her with the
following verses:
My sister said, (who saw my lustrous forehead blaze Midmost the
war, as shine the sun's meridian rays)
"God bless thee for a brave, to whom, when he falls on, The
desert lions bow in terror and amaze!"
"Question the men of war," I answered her, "of me, Whenas the
champions flee before my flashing gaze.
I am the world-renowned for fortune and for might, Whose prowess
I uplift to what a height of praise!
O Hemmad, thou hast roused a lion, who shall show Thee death that
comes as swift as vipers in the ways.
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