f Islam." "By Allah,"
exclaimed Sherkan, "if a Cadi should swear me, though he were Cadi of
the Cadis, he would not impose on me the like of this oath!" Then he
took the oath she required, and tied his horse to a tree, sunken in the
sea of reverie, and saying in himself, "Glory to Him who fashioned her!"
Then he girt himself, and made ready for wrestling, and said to her,
"Cross the stream to me." Quoth she, "It is not for me to come to thee;
if thou wilt, do thou cross over to me." "I cannot do that," replied he;
and she said, "O boy! I will come to thee." So she gathered her skirts,
and making a spring landed on the other side of the river by him;
whereupon he drew near to her, wondering at her beauty and grace, and
saw a form that the hand of Omnipotence had turned with the leaves of
Jinn, and which had been fostered by divine solicitude, a form on which
the zephyrs of fair fortune had blown, and over whose creation favorable
planets had presided. Then she called out to him saying, "O Muslim, come
and wrestle before the daybreak!" and tucked up her sleeves, showing a
fore-arm like fresh curd; the whole place was lighted up by its
whiteness and Sherkan was dazzled by it. Then he bent forward and
clapped his hands, and she did the like, and they took hold and gripped
each other. He laid his hands on her slender waist ... and fell a
trembling like the Persian reed in the hurricane. So she lifted him up,
and throwing him to the ground sat down on his breast. Then she said to
him, "O Muslim, it is lawful among you to kill Christians: what sayest
thou to my killing thee?" "O my lady," replied he, "as for killing me,
it is unlawful; for our Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!) hath
forbidden the slaying of women and children and old men and monks."
"Since this was revealed unto your prophet," rejoined she, "it behooves
us to be even with him therein; so rise: I give thee thy life, for
beneficence is not lost upon men." Then she got up, and he rose and
brushed the earth from his head, and she said to him, "Be not abashed;
but indeed one who enters the land of the Greeks in quest of booty and
to succor kings against kings, how comes it that there is no strength in
him to defend himself against a woman?" "It was not lack of strength in
me," replied he, "nor was it thy strength that overthrew me, but thy
beauty; so if thou wilt, grant me another bout, it will be of thy
favor." She laughed and said, "I grant thee this: but these