Tales of the Caliph | Page 6

find the
foe was upon them. In the darkness and the excitement of the moment
all was confusion. Different parties of the royal troops starting
hurriedly to arms, wildly attacked each other. The strife being furious
and hand-to-hand was terrific and deadly; and when daylight appeared
the enemy, pressing boldly forward to the centre of the camp, overcame
all the resistance of which the thinned and disorganized army was
capable, and captured both the king and the Caliph.
The two princes were carried with every mark of indignity into the
presence of the heathen monarch, who, insulting them with references
to their defeat, demanded of them that they should abandon the Moslem
faith and worship the idols of the gods of his people, who had, he said,
given his troops the victory.
But the Caliph answered that although Allah, whose name be praised,
had permitted them to be worsted in the confusion of a night attack, yet
they still trusted in him, and they would never vary in the least degree
from the glorious words of the Prophet: "Allah is God, and there is no
God but Allah."
Hearing this, King Gorkol ordered them to be confined separately in
two dungeons of his castle, there to remain until a great festival of the
gods which was approaching should arrive, when he would sacrifice
them both to the gods whom they had dared to despise. Locked in the
gloomy vaults, and seeing no one but the jailer who once a day brought
them the scanty and hard fare necessary to keep them alive till the day
of vengeance should come, their position seemed altogether desperate
and their fate assured.
But in the case of King Selim he had, unknown to his captors and
concealed in the folds of his turban, a ruby of great size and of
immense value. With this he hoped to be able to bribe his jailer and
effect his escape. And in fact so well did he manage that before a week
was passed he was travelling homewards in the disguise of a merchant,
accompanied by the jailer, who dared not remain in his own country in
possession of the ruby because, according to the custom prevailing in
that kingdom, all precious stones must be surrendered to the king under

penalty of death by torture. He therefore fled with Selim, disguised as
his slave.
The king had made great efforts to induce the jailer to effect the release
of the Caliph at the same time as himself, but as Haroun Alraschid was
in charge of another jailer, it could not be managed. Selim was obliged
therefore, to his great grief, to leave the Caliph to his fate; but he
hurried back to his own dominions with the utmost speed, determined
to at once return with another army to avenge the death of the Caliph,
whose life he could not hope to arrive in time to save.
The Caliph, having about him neither jewels nor money, had no means
of propitiating his jailer or abating the rigour and severity of the
treatment to which he was subjected. Once a day only, early in the
morning, the jailer appeared, and, without opening the great heavy door
of the dungeon, he opened one panel only, and through that opening
handed to his prisoner the two small loaves, or rather, flat cakes, and
the flask of water which must supply his wants till the following
morning.
Five days had thus passed, and there seemed no possibility of the
Caliph escaping the painful and humiliating death to which he was
destined by the heathen king. The festival to be held in honour of the
gods of the country was approaching, and two days hence the people,
who were already becoming greatly excited, both by religious fury and
also by drinking great quantities of a strong and fiery spirit which they
distilled, were to be gratified by the sight of the sacrifice by horrible
tortures of their unfortunate prisoners.
Just before daybreak on the sixth day, the same morning on which
Selim and his jailer were effecting their escape, the Caliph awoke, and
thoughts of the frightful situation in which he found himself prevented
him from again falling asleep. In great distress of mind he prayed
earnestly to God that strength might be given him to enable him to
sustain with firmness and fortitude the pains he might be called upon to
endure. After which prayer he felt calmer and more composed.
Presently, being very hungry, he tried in the dim light to find a small
piece of bread which he had not yet eaten. He had placed it on a narrow

ledge near to the place where he slept, but in the darkness he pushed it
with his hand before he had grasped it,