avid said: "Ha, my lad, what do they
call you?"

"My name is Gorgis."

"Gorgis!" said David. "When I marry Chandud-Chanum you shall be
godfather! Now, Godfather Gorgis, who is in the house?"

"Matchmakers from the giants--Schibikan of Chorassan and Hamsa of Lori."

David said, "Take my horse and fasten him." And he took his horse and
tied him.

Then David asked: "What kind of a club have you? Show it me."

David took the club and threw it into the air with such force that it
is whirring till this very day. Then he said, "Godfather Gorgis, let us
go in and eat and drink."

They went in, and David sat down, for he was tired and hungry, and every
matchmaker, one after the other, handed David a cup of wine. David lost
patience and seized the wine-pitcher and emptied it in one draught,
saying, "Now say only what is well for you!"

The wine made David drunk, and when he let his head fall the matchmakers
drew their swords to strike him, but when he raised his head they
concealed their swords. They began this again when Godfather Gorgis
called out: "Think not that you are in Georgia! No, this is a dangerous
country." And when David heard him he said, "Now stand bravely at the
door!"

The matchmakers sprang up and as they ran each gave Gorgis a box on the
ear and escaped. David then turned to Gorgis and said: "Where can I see
Chandud-Chanum?"

"In the garden of the King," Gorgis answered. "To-day is Friday and she
will be there. Before her walk twenty slaves, and twenty walk behind
her. We will go to-day and see her there."

So Gorgis and David went thither and concealed themselves behind the
garden wall and waited. The slaves passed by one after another, and,
when Chandud-Chanum came, David put his arm around her neck and kissed
her three times. Chandud-Chanum said not a word. He kissed her again.
Chandud-Chanum seized him by the collar and threw him against the wall
so that the blood gushed from his nose.

David was angry and was going to mount his horse. "Godfather Gorgis," he
said, "lead out my horse. I will destroy the city and depart."

Gorgis began to plead: "I pray you, put it off till morning. It is dark
now. At daybreak arise and destroy the city and depart."

David lay in bed and could not sleep from anger. "Would it were dawn
that I might rise and destroy the city and get away from here," he
thought to himself.

Chandud-Chanum was still walking in the garden. A lame slave came to her
and said: "Th