Indeed, an evil day it was, the day thou mettest them, And after
many a fight, thy spear is shivered, woe is me!
No rider, now that thou art dead, in horses shall delight Nor
evermore shall woman bear a male to match with thee.
Hemmad this day hath played thee false and foully done to death;
Unto his oath and plighted faith a traitor base is he.
He deemeth thus to have his will and compass his desire; But
Satan lieth to his dupes in all he doth decree.
When she had ended, she turned to me and said, 'O man of accursed
lineage, wherefore didst thou play my brother false and slay him,
whenas he purposed to send thee back to thy country with gifts
and victual and it was his intent also to marry thee to me at the
first of the month?' Then she drew a sword she had with her, and
planting it in the ground, with the point set to her breast,
threw herself thereon and pressed upon it, till the blade issued
from her back and she fell to the ground, dead. I mourned for her
and wept and repented when repentance availed me nothing. Then I
went in haste to the tent and taking whatever was light of
carriage and great of worth, went my way: but in my haste and
fear, I took no heed of my (dead) comrades, nor did I bury the
maiden and the youth. This, then, is my story, and it is still
more extraordinary than that of the serving-maid I kidnapped in
Jerusalem.
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