Tales of the Caliph | Page 5

And first, say by
what death does it please you that this vile pirate and traitor shall die?"
The captain, who from conversations he had held with the Caliph
during their journey since the wreck had become convinced of the true
position and rank of his captive, stood silent with bowed head awaiting
his sentence.
King Selim having led Haroun Alraschid up the steps of the throne and

seated him upon it, would himself have stood upon the steps, but the
Caliph bade him come up and be seated by his side.
Then, looking towards the captain of the pirates, who had already been
seized by the king's officers, he said, "Although this man has
committed that which is very worthy of death, yet because God, the
most Merciful, has spared him in the tempest and the wreck, I also will
spare him this once; therefore give him a hundred pieces of gold that he
may not be tempted by poverty further to do wrong, and let him go."
When this magnanimous sentence had been pronounced, the pirate
captain laid his hand upon his beard and, bowing his head, said to the
Caliph, "O Commander of the Faithful, and you, King Selim, if from
this time forth I rob any more, I shall deserve mercy from neither God
nor man."
Then said King Selim: "Since the Commander of the Faithful has
pardoned thee, and that thou mayest not further be tempted, I enrol thee,
as thou art a brave man, among the officers of my guard."
Therefore they invested him with the robes of his office and gave him a
hundred pieces of gold as the Caliph had commanded, and thenceforth
he became one of the bravest and most trustworthy officers of King
Selim.
On the next day the Caliph inquired of the king respecting the three
men who had remained behind at the village festival. But Selim
informed him that they had a law in that country prohibiting any
stranger from dwelling with the people of the land until the king had
granted his permission. Therefore, when the men had been found by the
officials of government living at that village without having first
obtained leave and authority so to do, they would be led immediately to
execution.
"Then," said the Caliph, "by this wholesome law your people are
protected from the evil influence of villains, and in this case we are rid
of three men who were not only thieves and pirates, but lazy, worthless,
and mutinous fellows, who refused to obey and follow even their own

captain. The action of your law has but forestalled what would have
been my own sentence upon them."
The Caliph remained a whole month with King Selim, accompanying
him on grand hunting expeditions, and being entertained with all the
magnificent and varied pleasures the royal court could devise.
At the end of that period he had intended to have set out on his return to
Bagdad. But just at that moment a messenger arrived from a
neighbouring king with a very insolent message for Selim and a
declaration of war. This king, whose name was Gorkol, had asked the
daughter of Selim in marriage for his son. But King Selim, being a
good Moslim, had refused to give his daughter in marriage to the son of
a heathen, and one, moreover, who was reported to be proficient in the
vilest arts of magic. Hence the declaration of war. The Caliph, being
naturally of a very fierce and hasty temper, resented hotly this insult to
his host. He therefore announced his intention to accompany the latter,
who gathered together an army to chastise the insolent heathen.
The military display as the Caliph and the king left the capital was most
imposing. The army consisted of twenty thousand men, half of whom
were infantry and half cavalry. There were also elephants and camels
with stores, and a great multitude of camp-followers.
For five days they marched through Selim's dominions, and on the sixth
day entered the territory of King Gorkol. The frontier was marked by a
range of hills, and the passage of so large a force over these was a
toilsome and tedious operation. The Caliph and king had each a large
tent for his own use, and a small army of officers and attendants to wait
on him.
On the night of the seventh day, after a very exhausting march over
difficult ground, the army encamped in a spacious valley into which
they had descended just as night was approaching.
Whether the enemy managed to get at them unobserved, being stealthy
and knowing every feature of the country, or whether the sentinels,
being weary, slept at their post, is uncertain, but suddenly before

daybreak the great army was awakened by shouts and blows to