this Sherkan became famous in all quarters of the world,
and his father rejoiced in him; and his might waxed till he passed all
bounds, and magnified himself, taking by storm the citadels and
strong places.

[The Prince being sent to assist King Afridoun, of the
Greeks, against an enemy, is intrusted with an army of ten
thousand soldiers, and leaves Bagdad in military state.]

Then they loaded the beasts and beat the drums and blew the clarions and
unfurled the banners and the standards, whilst Sherkan mounted, with the
Vizier Dendan by his side, and the standards waving over them; and the
army set out and fared on with the [Greek] ambassadors in the van till
the day departed and the night came, when they halted and encamped for
the night. On the morrow, as soon as God brought in the day, they took
horse and continued their march, nor did they cease to press onward,
guided by the ambassadors, for the space of twenty days. On the
twenty-first day, at nightfall, they came to a wide and fertile valley
whose sides were thickly wooded and covered with grass, and there
Sherkan called a three-days' halt. So they dismounted and pitched their
tents, dispersing right and left in the valley, whilst the Vizier Dendan
and the ambassadors alighted in the midst.

As for Sherkan, when he had seen the tents pitched and the troops
dispersed on either side, and had commanded his officers and attendants
to camp beside the Vizier Dendan, he gave reins to his horse, being
minded to explore the valley, and himself to mount guard over the army,
having regard to his father's injunctions and to the fact that they had
reached the frontier of the Land of Roum and were now in the enemy's
country. So he rode on alone, along the valley, till a fourth part of
the night was past, when he grew weary and sleep overcame him so that he
could no longer spur his horse. Now he was used to sleep on horseback;
so when drowsiness got the better of him, he fell asleep, and the horse
paced on with him half the night and entered a forest: but Sherkan awoke
not till the steed smote the earth with his hoof. Then he started from
sleep and found himself among trees: and the moon arose and lighted the
two horizons. He was troubled at finding himself alone in this place,
and spoke the words which whoso says shall never be confounded--that is
to say, "There is no power and no virtue but in GOD, the most High, the
Supreme!" But as he rode on, in fear of t