One Thousand and One Nights, page 352
The first to open the chapter of battle was Jemrcan, who spurred his charger into the mid-field and played with sword and javelin, till the understanding were amazed; after which he cried out, saying, ‘Who is for jousting, who is for fighting? Let no sluggard nor weakling come out to me to-day! I am he who slew Courejan ben Julned; who will come forth to avenge him?’ When Julned heard the name of his son, he cried out to his men, saying, ‘O sons of whores, bring me yonder horseman who slew my son, that I may eat his flesh and drink his blood.’ So a hundred fighting men ran at Jemrcan; but he slew the most part of them and put their chief to flight; which when Julned saw, he cried out to his men, saying, ‘Charge upon him, all at once.’ So the two hosts drove at one another and met in the mid-field, like two seas clashing together. The Yemen sword and spear wrought havoc and breasts and bellies were cloven, whilst the two armies saw the angel of death face to face and the dust of the battle rose up to the confines of the sky. Ears were deaf and tongues mute and death came on from every side, whilst the valiant stood fast and the faint-heart turned to flee; and they ceased not from the battle till ended day, when the drums beat the retreat and the two hosts drew apart and returned, each to its tent.
Then Gherib sat down on the throne of his kingship and the place of his dominion, whilst his chief officers ranged themselves about him, and said, ‘I am sore troubled for the flight of the dog Agib and I know not whither he is gone. Except I overtake him and take my wreak of him, I shall die of despite.’ Whereupon Sehim came forward and kissing the earth before him, said, ‘O King, I will go to the army of the infidels and find out what is come of the perfidious dog Agib.’ ‘Go,’ answered Gherib, ‘and learn the truth regarding the hog.’ So Sehim disguised himself in the habit of the infidels and became as he were of them; then, making for the enemy’s camp, he found them all asleep, drunken with war and battle, and only the guards awake. Presently he came to the King’s pavilion, where he found Julned asleep and unattended; so he made him smell to powdered henbane, and he became as one dead. Then Sehim went out and took a mule and wrapping the King in the coverlet of his bed, laid him on her back; after which he threw a mat over him and led the mule to the Muslim camp.
When he came to Gherib’s pavilion and would have entered, the guards knew him not and forbade him entrance, saying, ‘Who art thou?’ He laughed and uncovered his face, and they knew him and admitted him. When Gherib saw him, he said, ‘What hast thou there, O Sehim?’ ‘O King,’ answered he, ‘this is Julned ben Kerker.’ Then he uncovered him, and Gherib knew him and said, ‘Arouse him, O Sehim.’ So he made him smell to vinegar and frankincense; and he cast the henbane from his nostrils and opening his eyes, found himself among the Muslims; whereupon, ‘What is this foul dream ?’ quoth he and closing his eyes again, would have slept; but Sehim dealt him a buffet, saying, ‘Open thine eyes, O accursed one!’ So he opened them and said, ‘Where am I?’ Quoth Sehim, ‘Thou art in the presence of Gherib ben Kundemir, King of Irak.’ When Julned heard this, he said, ‘O King, I am at thy mercy. Know that I am not at fault, but that he who made us come forth to fight thee was thy brother, who embroiled us with thee and fled.’ ‘Knowest thou whither he is gone?’ asked Gherib. ‘No, by the light-giving sun,’ replied Juined, ‘I know not.’
Then Gherib bade lay him in bonds and set guards over him, whilst each captain returned to his own tent, and amongst the rest Jemrcan, who said to his men, ‘O sons of my uncle, I purpose this night to do a deed wherewith I may whiten my face with King Gherib.’ ‘Do what pleases thee,’ answered they; ‘we hearken and obey thy commandment.’ Quoth he, ‘Arm yourselves and disperse about the infidels’ camp, muffling your steps, so that the very ants shall not be ware of you; and when you hear me magnfy God, do ye the like and cry out, saying, “God is Most Great!” and hold back and make for the gate of the city; and we seek aid from God the Most High.’ So the folk armed themselves cap-a-pie and waited till midnight, when they dispersed about the enemy’s camp and waited till Jemrcan smote his target with his sword and shouted, ‘God is Most Great!’ Whereupon they all cried out the like, till valley and mountain and hill and sands and ruins rang again with the noise. The infidels awoke in dismay and tell upon one another, and the sword went round amongst them; but the Muslims held aloof and made for the gate of the city, where they slew the warders and entering, made themselves masters of the town, with all that was therein of treasure and women and children.
Meanwhile, Gherib, hearing the noise and clamour of ‘God is Most Great!’ mounted with all his troops and sent Sehim on in advance. When the latter came near the field of battle, he saw that Jemrcan had fallen upon the infidels with the Benou Aamir by night and made them drink the cup of death. So he returned and told his brother, who called down blessings on Jemrcan. And the infidels ceased not to smite each other mightily with the sharp sword, till the day rose and lighted up the land, when Gherib cried out to his men, saying, ‘Charge, O ye noble, and win the favour of the All-knowing King!’ So the true believers fell upon the idolaters and plied them with the keen sword and the quivering spear, till they sought to take refuge in the city; but Jemrcan came forth Upon them with his tribesmen. So they hemmed them in, as between two mountain-ranges, and slew an innumerable host of them, and the rest fled into the deserts; nor did the Muslims give over pursuing them with the sword, till they had scattered them abroad in the plains and stony wastes. Then they returned to the city of Oman and Gherih entered the palace of the King and sitting down on the throne of his kingship, with his lords and officers on his either hand, sent for Julned. They brought him in haste and Gherib expounded to him Islam; but he refused to embrace the faith; wherefore Gherib let crucify him on the gate of the city, and they shot at him with arrows, till he was like unto a hedgehog. Then Gherib bestowed a dress of honour upon Jemrcan and said to him, ‘Thou shalt be lord and ruler over this city, and thine be it to loose and to bind therein, for it was thou didst conquer it with thy sword and thy men.’ And Jernrcan kissed the King’s feet and wished him abiding victory and glory and fair fortune. Moreover, Gherih opened Julned’s treasuries and saw what was therein and gave largesse to his captains and standard-bearers and fighting-men, yea, even to the women and children; and thus did he ten days long.
After this, one night he dreamt an ill dream and awoke, troubled and affrighted. So he aroused his brother Sehim and said to him, ‘I dreamt that we were in a wide valley, when there swooped down on us two birds of prey, with legs like lances, never in my life saw I greater than they, and we were in fear of them.’ ‘O King,’ answered Sehim, ‘this portends some great enemy; be on thy guard, therefore, against him.’ Gherib slept not the rest of the night and when the day broke, he called for his courser and mounted. Quoth Sehim, ‘Whither goest thou, my brother?’ and Gherib answered, saying, ‘I am heavy at heart this morning; so I mean to ride abroad ten days and lighten my breast.’ Said Sehim, ‘Take with thee a thousand men;’ but Gherib replied, ‘I will not go forth but with thee alone.’ So the two brothers mounted and seeking the open country, fared on from valley to valley and from meadow to meadow, till they came to a valley abounding in sweet-smelling flowers and streams and trees laden with all manner eatable fruits, two of each kind. On the branches were birds warbling their various songs; the mocking-bird trilled out her sweet notes and the turtle filled the place with her voice. There sang the nightingale, whose chant arouses the sleeper, and the merle with its note like the human voice and the cushat and the ring-dove, whilst the popinjay answered them with its fluent tongue.
The valley pleased them and they ate of its fruits and drank of its waters, after which they sat under the shadow of the trees, till drowsiness overcame them and they slept, glory be to Him who sleepeth not! As they lay asleep, two fierce Marids swooped down on them and taking each one on his shoulders, flew up with them into the air, till they were above the clouds. Presently, Gherib and Sehim awoke and found themselves betwixt heaven and earth; so they looked at those who bore them and saw that they were two Marids, each as big as a great palm-tree, with hair like horses’ tails and claws like lions’ claws; the head of the one was as that of a dog and that of the other as that of an ape. When they saw this, they exclaimed, ‘There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme!’
Now the reason of this was that a certain king of the kings of the Jinn, Muraash by name, had a son called Saaic, who loved a damsel of the Jinn, named Nejmeh; and the twain used to foregather in the valley, in the guise of birds. Gherib and Sehim saw them thus and deeming them birds, shot at them with arrows and wounded Saaic, whose blood flowed. Nejmeh mourned over him, then, fearing lest the like should befall herself, caught up her lover and flew with him to his father’s palace, where she cast him down at the gate. The warders bore him in and laid him before the King, who, sucing the arrow sticking in his side, exclaimed, ‘Alas, son! Who hath done with thee this thing, that I may lay waste his abiding-place and hasten his destruction, though he were the greatest of the kings of the Jinn?’ Thereupon Saaic opened his eyes and said, ‘O my father, it was a mortal that slew me in the Valley of Springs.’ Hardly had he made an end of these words, when his soul departed; whereupon his father buffeted his face, till the blood streamed from his mouth, and cried out to two Marids, saying: ‘Go to the Valley of Springs and bring me all who are therein.’ So they betook themselves to the valley in question, where they found Gherib and Sehim asleep and snatching them up, carried thme to their King, whom they saw seated on the throne of his kingship, as he were a huge mountain, with four heads on his body, the first that of a lion, the second that of an elephant, the third that of a panther and the fourth that of a lynx. The Marids set them down before Muraash and said to him, ‘These are they whom we found in the Valley of Springs.’
Muraash looked at them with wrathful eyes and puffed and snorted and blew sparks from his nostrils, so that all who stood by feared him. Then said he, ‘O dogs of mankind, ye have slain my son and kindled fire in my heart.’ ‘Who is thy son,’ asked Gherib, ‘and who hath seen him?’ Quoth Muraash, ‘Were ye not in the Valley of Springs and did ye not see my son there, in the guise of a bird, and did ye not shoot at him with arrows, that he died?’ ‘I know not who slew him,’ replied Garib; ‘and by the virtue of the Great God, the One, the Immemorial, who knoweth all things, and of Abraham the Friend, we saw no bird, neither slew we bird nor beast!’
Now Muraash worshipped the Fire, not the All-powerful King; so, when he heard Gherib swear by God and His greatness and by Abraham the Friend, he knew that he was a Muslim and cried out to his people, saying, ‘Bring me my mistress.’ Accordingly they brought a brasier of gold and setting it before him, kindled therein fire and cast on drugs, whereupon there arose therefrom green and blue and yellow flames and the King and all who were present prostrated themselves before the brasier, whilst Gherib and Sehim ceased not to magnify God and attest His greatness and omnipotence. Presently, Muraash raised his head and seeing the two princes standing, said to them, ‘O dogs, why do ye not prostrate yourselves?’ ‘Out on thee, O accursed one!’ replied Gherib. ‘Prostration befits not, save to the Worshipful King, who bringeth forth all creatures into being from nothingness and maketh water to well from the barren rock, Him who inclineth the heart of the father unto his new-born child and who may not be described as sitting or standing, the God of Noah and Salih and Houd and Abraham the Friend, who created Paradise and Hell-fire and trees and fruit, for He is God, the One, the All-powerful.’
When Muraash heard this, his eyes started from his head and he cried out to his guards, saying, ‘Bind these two dogs and sacrifice them to my mistress.’ So they bound them and were about to cast them into the fire, when, behold, one of the merlons of the parapet fell down upon the brasier and broke it and did out the fire, which became ashes flying in the air. Then said Gherib, ‘God is Most Great! He giveth aid and victory and forsaketh those who deny Him and worship the Fire, not the Almighty King!’ Quoth Muraash, ‘Thou art a sorcerer and hast bewitched my mistress, so that this thing hath befallen her.’ ‘O madman,’ answered Gherib, ‘if the fire had soul or movement, it would ward off from itself that which doth it hurt.’ When Muraash heard this, he roared and bellowed and reviled the Fire, saying, ‘By my faith, I will not kill you save by the fire!’
Then he cast them into prison and calling a hundred Marids, bade them bring much firewood and set fire thereto. So they brought great plenty of wood and made a huge fire, which flamed up mightily till the morning, when Muraash mounted an elephant, bearing on its back a throne of gold set with jewels, and the tribes of the Jinn gathered about him, in their various kinds. Then they brought in Gherib and Sehim, who, seeing the flaming of the fire, sought help of the One God, the All-conquering Creator of night and day, Him who is mickle of might, whom no sight comprehendeth, but who comprehendeth all sights, for He is the Subtle, the All-knowing; and they ceased not to solicit Him, till, behold, a cloud arose from West to East and pouring down showers of rain, like the swollen sea, quenched the fire.
When the King saw this, he was affrighted, he and his troops, and entered the palace, where he turned to his Vizier and grandees and said to them, ‘How say ye of these two men?’ ‘O King,’ answered they, ‘were they not in the right, this thing had not befallen the fire; wherefore we say that they speak sooth.’ ‘Indeed,’ rejoined Muraash, ‘the truth hath been shown forth to me, ay, and the manifest way, and I am certified that the worship of the fire is false; for, were it [god and] mistress, it had warded off from itself the rain that quenched it and the stone that broke its brasier and beat it into ashes. Wherefore I believe in Him Who created the fire and the light and the shade and the heat. And ye, what say ye?’ ‘O King,’ answered they, ‘we also hear and follow and obey.’
So the King called for Gherib and Sehim and embraced them and kissed them between the eyes; whereupon the bystanders all crowded to kiss their hands and heads. Then Muraash sat down on the throne of his kingship and seating Gherib on his right and Sehim on his left hand, said to them, ‘O mortals, what shall we say, that we may become Muslims?’ ‘Say,’ answered Gherib, “‘ There is no god but God, and Abraham is the Friend of God!”’ So the King and his folk professed Islam with heart and tongue, and Gherib abode with them awhile, teaching them the ritual of prayer. But presently he called to mind his people and sighed, whereupon quoth Muraash, ‘Verily, trouble is past and gone and joy and gladness are come.’ ‘O King,’ said Gherib, ‘I have many enemies and I fear for my people from them.’ Then he related to him his history from first to last, and Muraash said, ‘O King of men, I will send one who shall bring thee news of thy people, for I will not let thee go till I have had my fill of gazing on thy face.’ Then he called two stout Marids, by name Kailjan and Courjan, and bade them repair to Yemen and bring him news of Gherib’s army. They replied, ‘We hear and obey,’ and departed.
Meanwhile, when the captains of the Muslims arose in the morning and rode to Gherib’s palace, to do their service to him, the servants told them that the King had ridden forth with his brother at point of day. So they made for the valleys and mountains and followed the track of the princes, till they came to the Valley of Springs, where they found their arms cast down and their horses grazing and said, ‘By the glory of Abraham the Friend, the King is missing from this place!’ Then they dispersed and sought in the valley and the mountains three days, but found no trace of them; whereupon they raised lamentations and despatched couriers to all the cities and strengths and fortresses, to seek news of their King. Accordingly, the couriers dispersed hither and thither and sought everywhere for Gherib, but found no trace of him.
Now, when the news came to Agib by his spies that his brother was missing, he rejoiced and going in to King Yaarub ben Kehtan, sought aid of him. He granted him the help he sought and gave him two hundred thousand Amalekites, with whom he set out for Yemen and sat down before the city of Oman. Jemrcan and Saadan sallied forth and gave him battle, and there were slain of the Muslims much people, wherefore the true believers retired into the city and shut the gates and manned the walls. At this juncture the two Marids arrived and seeing the Muslims beleaguered, waited till the night, when they fell upon the infidels and plied them with sharp swords of the swords of the Jinn, each twelve cubits long, if a man smote therewith a rock, he would cleave it in sunder. They attacked the idolaters, shouting, ‘God is Most Great! He giveth aid and victory and forsaketh those who deny the faith of Abraham the Friend!’ whilst fire issued from their mouths and nostrils, and they made great slaughter amongst them. Thereupon the infidels ran out of their tents and seeing these strange things, were confounded and their flesh shuddered and their reason fled. So they snatched up their arms and fell on each other, whilst the Marids shore off their heads, as a reaper cuts grain, crying, ‘God is Most Great! We are the henchmen of King Gherib, the friend of Muraash, King of the Jinn!’ The sword ceased not to go round amongst them till the night was half spent, when the misbelievers, imagining that the mountains were all Afrits, loaded their tents and treasure and baggage upon camels and made off; and the first to fly was Agib. The Marids ceased not from the pursuit, till they had driven them far away into the hills and deserts; and but fifty thousand infidels of two hundred thousand escaped with their lives and made for their own land, wounded and discomfited.
Meanwhile, the Muslims gathered together, marvelling at this that had betided the infidels and fearing the tribes-men of the Jinn; but presently the latter returned and said to them, ‘O host of the Muslims, your lord King Gherib and his brother Sehim salute you; they are the guests of Muraash, King of the Jinn, and will be with you anon.’ When Gherib’s men knew that he was safe and well, they rejoiced greatly and said to the Marids, ‘May God rejoice you with good news, O noble spirits!’ So Courjan and Kailjan returned to Muraash and Gherib and acquainted them with that which had happened, whereat Gherib’s heart was set at ease and he said, ‘May God abundantly requite you!’
