Chapter V (2)

“Tell Zoheir and Malik of me, tell Ibla of me in unvarnished language, that I seized the camels flaunting over the plains, and that I felled down the armies on the day of terrors; say that I was marching away with the property and the beauteous camels, when the stern faced horsemen of Sakim forced them from me. My steed hurled me on the battle field, and betrayed me, and subjected me to the thrusts of every shield-armed hero. Then I retired as a hostage, in chains: and I have merited them; and I moved along in them, like one overwhelmed with confusion. Had it not been for the assault of the lion among them, and their cry to me—Aid us, O Antar! when I met him, fettered as I was—they never would have acknowledged that I was the slayer of armies. When the furious beast flew at me, I feared not. My sword cleaved the body of the lion, and I forced it out through his thighs in an instant, and I wiped it on his skin. They have cast me into a sea of deaths, anxious for my destruction, but I tumbled him down like one precipitated from a mountain’s height.”

We have told King Monzar, said the attendant as he entered Antar’s prison; he now demands you, in order to hear your proposal. Antar got up and went with them into the presence of the King, who ordered the fetters to be taken off from his feet, and the cords to be cut that bound his hands. Then he sighed, and thus spoke.

“May God forgive me that my soul is hardened, for my uncle beguiled me and exposed me to perils, and in his vile artifices has cast me into an abyss of fire, whose flames encompass me. I am become tortured of heart, fettered, my fingers and hands bound round my neck. Few are there like me in the day of the wood-entangled spears, when heroes contend in the fierce charge: O King of the world, thy sea is expansive as the glittering sword among men and dæmons. When the warriors charge—then expose me to them and try my assault—my battle among them. Be thou victorious, with Antar’s aid, and convert, my lord, thy fears into security. Protect but my rear with a thousand lion heroes, and thou shalt view the wonders of my sword and my spear. Thou shalt see a lion driving away the horsemen with a scimitar that surpasses the lightning’s flash in brilliancy. Grant me the dower for my beloved Ibla, of the thousand camels, that have excited me to this enterprize. O Ibla, fear not the foe on my account, when they crowd about me, and the war horses charge: for death is but my own form—my own qualities, and there is no prosperity but what is attached to my bridle. I am the youth that fells the horsemen in my strength—a youth whose equal exists not on earth. O breezes! I implore ye by the pillars at Mecca, by Zemzem—by the sacred plains and Mesdelifa,—when ye pass the land of Sheerebah, waft my salutation to Zoheir and his royal sons, and say to the sorrowing Shiboob, hast thou forgotten my faith—renounced my vows? for thou art my foster brother, my stay, my support when my friends betray me and persecute me—O Shiboob, haste then, my brother, haste that thou mayst see what I have suffered, and what has befallen me—that thou mayst see a battle that will make thee forget the past, and that thou mayst see, O Shiboob, the boundless height of my glory; For my ambition soars above the Pleiades, and my fortunate star sparkles with brilliant rays.”

The King was exceedingly surprised at Antar’s bursts of poetry and strength of mind; and he was convinced of victory with his sword and spear. O Absian, said he, what is this I have heard of you to day, when you heard the shouts and the attack of the enemy? Truly, my lord, replied Antar, my gall was nearly bursting when I heard that you had been obliged to fly from these cauldrons of dogs; this disgrace can never be erased from the Arabs. What can men do, said Monzar, when double their numbers attack them? and they are overwhelmed by those who do not fear their carnage? Man, said Antar, must patiently resist, and drink of the cup of death as he drinks the purest water, and not fly or run away. I am now in your power, and I demand of you the marriage dower of Ibla, my uncle’s daughter; restore me my sword, my cuirass, my arms, and my horse, and give me a thousand men to defend my rear; and you shall see what my courage and force will effect against your foes.

By the virtue of the Kaaba, said Monzar, O Absian, if you perform what you state, and destroy this army—all my property, my he and she camels are all at your disposal. Not one of us shall remain behind the tent wall, but we will exert our utmost energies against the foe, and we will strike with our swords, and thrust with our spears. And he ordered his horse and his arms and his cuirass to be restored. And early on the morrow, a loud shout arose from amongst the Persians, eager to plunder the property and capture the women and the children; but the Arabs went forth against them, and at their head was Antar, the hero of conquest; and he cried out—Your hopes have failed, you cauldron of dogs, you shall this day see Antar perform what nations shall record. Then he cried, O by thy eyes, O Ibla, and thus repeated:

“On the day of battle exquisite is the carnage.—Come forth then against me, ye men of abomination—in me ye shall meet a Knight whose blow strikes life dead. I am the Antar of horsemen in the contest, that makes armies and warriors drink of ignominy, a draught from his hand with the polished sword that glides through the neck, in the battle field. Soon will I plunge into the war dust till I encounter Khosrewan, and make him drink of the cup of death; I will make him taste from my sword a draught, after which he shall never taste of pure water. Ye shall see the horse scattered o’er the wastes—the Himyarite chiefs shall be bound on their saddles. I am the lion, foremost in war, and mine arm is the horror of warriors. Mine is honour and good fortune and glory, and my star is high above the brilliant Arcturus.”

He then received the attack of the horse as the parched up ground the first of the rain; and his thrusts were the thrusts that blinded vision, and equalled fate and destiny. He overthrew heroes and destroyed warriors, and in an hour blood was flowing and streaming, and bowels were ripped open. When the Persians observed these dreadful deeds they advanced from all quarters. The voice, of Antar was like the thunder’s peal, and his thrusts more rapid than the flash of the lightning; and the Arab warriors, encouraged at his steadiness, felt convinced of victory after defeat; but as soon as the Persians saw these descending misfortunes, their hearts regretted what had passed, and the land and the region appeared too confined for them. The whole country was blackened in their eyes, their avidity was frustrated in the capture of the sons and daughters.

Affairs continued in this position till mid-day, and they toiled in the battle fiercer than a blaze of fire. And when the heat oppressed the warriors, the Persians gave way, and sought refuge in their tents, and gave a loose to their despair. Many were the horses deprived of their riders. Their chief, Khosrewan, stood under the standards, and the delay seemed tedious, for he was expecting that his companions would return with the captives and the spoil; when, lo! they indeed returned, but in flight. O my lord, they cried in reply to his questions, the Arabs have vanquished us—we have seen a prodigy among them—and if you do not come down upon that chosen horseman, not a head or tail of us will survive; for he fails not where he aims; he succeeds in whatever he undertakes; and if he attacks a whole troop, he disperses it; if he assaults a horseman, he overthrows him, and his voice is like a crash of thunder; the moment a man hears it a universal ague seizes him; and he is like a lion when he assaults, and he drives away the warriors before him like a flock of sheep.

As Khosrewan heard this he was greatly enraged, and fire flashed from his eyes. Whence comes this horseman, he exclaimed, to this country? and to what Arabs is he related? Then starting from beneath the standards he sought the place of slaughter, and the scene of attack. In his hand he bore a long mace with which he assailed the troops; he dived through the dust, and the heroes trembled at his mace, as the dust rolled over his horse.

Now Monzar was directing his sons to move beyond the precincts of Hirah, when the form of victory and triumph appeared to him in the odour of that black lion. He sat down in his tent, and seated Antar by him, for he was dearer to him than all his family and relations; he congratulated him, and gave him to eat, and there was no end to his attentions and kindness; and as he engaged to him every favour, he said, if I knew your heart would be gratified by remaining with me, I would send a messenger to your King, and would offer him my friendship, and I would direct him to take Ibla from her father and send her to us, whether he will or not. But I fear you will not allow me to do, what your heart would not sanction.

I cannot possibly remain here, replied Antar; every day appears a thousand years to me; but I swear by all your munificence towards me, were even my heart to burst with the fierceness of my love and passion, I will not quit this country till I have accomplished your wishes in destroying your foul enemies: to-morrow, by the grace of God, I will rout their army. To-morrow I will go out to the field of battle; I will challenge Khosrewan; and I will invite him to terminate the affair, and if he engages me, I will make him drink of the cup of death; and afterwards I will put to flight these troops of horse over the plains and the deserts. When they had finished eating and drinking, and their conversation about the battle and the contest, they retired to rest and sleep. As soon as the morning dawned with a smile, the horsemen rushed on anxious for the fight and the conflict; and as Khosrewan was preparing to proceed to the field, lo! from the Arab army there came forth a man between the two ranks, and stood conspicuous amidst the two armies, and both parties gazed at him. He was like a strong battlement, quite immersed in steel; in his hand was a sparkling blade, and he had a long spear slung over him, and under him was a steed of the colour of gold, indefatigable in labour, as an Arab poet has described.

“Praise a yellow steed of the colour of gold, for he is of the horses noblest in pedigree; his rider shall outstrip every warrior in the beauty of his shape and paces. He may be in the evening at Tekmet, and in the morning at Aleppo.”

And he gallopped over the plain to and fro, and he disclosed a countenance like that of a Ghoul; the warriors and heroes marked him: and lo! it was the illustrious chieftain and intrepid warrior, Aboolfawaris, Antar the son of Shedad; and he came forth to put an end to the Persian contest and to slay their general; and thus return to his family and country with wealth and riches. He dashed into the centre of the army; he disdained the common herd, and would not condescend to challenge them. He burst on the right, and discomfited it; and slew threescore and ten—he rushed on to the left, and forced it in confusion on the right; he returned again to the centre, seeking carnage and bloodshed. He was mounted on a mare, for his horse Abjer, wounded the day before, was still unfit for the day of encounter. And when he was in the centre, between the two armies—he thus spoke.

“Relieve my pains—ease my sorrows. Sally forth, aye, every lion warrior. Taste a draught at the edge of my sword, more bitter than the cups of Absynth. When death appears in the crowded ranks, then challenge me to the meeting of armies. Ye Persians, I heed ye not, I heed ye not. Where is he who wishes to fight me, and wants to make me drink the liquor of death. Bring him forth, let him see what he will meet from my spear under the shades of the war-dust. I swear, O Ibla, he shall eat of death. By thy teeth, luscious to the kiss, and by thine eyes, and all the pangs of their enchantment, and their beauty, were thy nightly visionary form not to appear to me, never should I taste of sleep. O thou my hope! O may the western breeze tell thee of my ardent wish to return home. May it waft thee my salutation, when the sparkling dawn bursts the veil of night. May God moisten thy nights, and bedew thee with his rain-charged clouds. May peace dwell with thee as long as the western and northern breeze shall blow.”

When Antar had finished—behold Khosrewan—he appeared on the plain, and he was mounted on a long tailed steed, marked with the new moon on his forehead, and on his body was a strong coat of mail well knit together, the workmanship of David; and armed with an imperial casque and a glittering sword; and under his thighs were four small darts, each like a blazing flame. And when he came forth on the field of battle he roared aloud, and contemptuously of the Arabs. Antar assailed him: high arose the dust about them, so that they were hid from the sight. They exhibited most extraordinary prowess; they separated, they clung to each other, now they sported, now they were in earnest; they gave and took, they were close, they were apart, until it was mid-day, and both had severely toiled. But whenever Khosrewan attempted to assail Antar and strike him with his mace, he ever found him vigilant and on his guard, and aware of his intent. So he darted away from him in order to gallop over the field, and would exhibit all his manœuvres and stratagems; but Antar kept him employed, and wearied him, and prevented his executing his designs, so that the chieftain’s wrath became intense. He snatched up one of his darts, and shook it and hurled it at him—it flew from his hand like the blinding lightning, or descending fate. Antar stood firm, and when it came near him, he met it, and dexterously turning it off by his shield, it bounded away, and fell upon the ground far off. Khosrewan snatched out a second dart and levelled if at him; but Antar sprang out of its way, and it passed harmless. He aimed a third; but Antar rendered it fruitless by his dexterity and his persevering activity. He hurled the fourth, but it shared the same fate as the others.

When Khosrewan saw how Antar had parried the darts, his indignation was extreme. Again he took up his mace, and he roared even as a lion roars—then stretching himself out with it, he hurled it, backing it with a howl that made the plains and the air rebellow. Antar threw away his spear and met the mace and caught it with his right hand in the air; then, aiming it at Khosrewan, he cried out, take that, thou son of a two thousand horned cuckold! I am the lover of Ibla, and am alone—the Phœnix of the world. Khosrewan saw him grasp the mace in the air, and was horrified, for his strength and force were exhausted. He retreated, and attempted to fly from his antagonist, for he was now convinced of his destruction. He moved round his shield between his shoulders; but he felt that his fate was nigh at hand, for the mace fell upon his shield more forcible than the stone of a sling; furiously it rattled on the Persian chief, and hurled him off his saddle to the distance of twelve cubits, and broke his ribs and snapped his spine.

Every warrior was intensely agitated at this surprizing deed; and when the Persians saw it they were bewildered; they rushed upon Antar, agonized as they were at this calamity, and exposed their lives to certain death. The Arabs received them with undaunted courage at the points of their spears; and their spirit was exhilarated by the acts of Antar. The two armies assailed, and the earth was pounded under the trampling of the horses. The horsemen and the clans encountered, clouds of dust thickened over their heads. And their fury increased, till they were like the waves of the boisterous ocean. Spears penetrated through hearts and waists, heads were flying off, blood was boiling, cowards were scared, the courageous full of fire; the King of Death circled round the cup of mortality; and the commands of the Most High were executed upon them.[5]

Antar, the ferocious lion, felt his heart assuaged in the midst of slaughter, and in the concussion of heroes and warriors. He exhibited terrors amidst the concourse of heroes, and scattered whole armies over the plains and the mountains. King Monzar cried out aloud to his troops, and they exposed themselves to the enemy: roused afresh was the flame of war; it fiercely raged, and its sparks flashed; the dust blackened the whole land, so that both earth and heaven were veiled. The ground tottered under the hoofs of the noble steeds, until the sweat even moistened their entrails. Blood flowed from the throats of the chiefs. Antar strewed the brave on the earth, and souls complained of their sufferings to him who knows the secrets of the world. Heads were hewn from the branches of their bodies; and the Persians saw in the deeds of Antar that day, what terrified them, and magnified their horror. They fell back in flight upon the plains in agony at their dispersion and discomfiture, and complaining of what had befallen their nobles and their chiefs. The Arabs in their rear drove them on to their fate, and truly their desires and wishes were accomplished. As they exulted in the realization of their hopes and expectations, they crowded round Antar to thank and praise him, and he stood before them like one immersed in a sea of blood. Then as he recollected the horrors he had suffered, these verses boiled in his heart, and he thus exclaimed:—

“Ask, O Absian maid, my spear and my sword what they did on the day of the battle of the Persians. I steeped them, whilst the spear gored through the horse, in the blood of the foe mixed with bitter Absynth. I dispersed the army that bellowed out their thunders, and beneath it flashed the lightning of their swords, mounted as I was on a noble Arab charger, that flies when the sword blades crash in the fight; he neighs for joy whilst the spears are directed at him, that vibrate like speckled serpents. I urged him into the sea of deaths; he snorted, and plunged into the tempestuously roaring waves. How many horsemen, O Ibla, at the edge of my faulchion have torn their hands with their teeth in repentance! but I felled them down on the battle plain, that the wild beasts and eagles and hovering vultures might drink of their blood. I must love the tribe of Abs, were they even to shed my blood unrevenged,—such is my love for thee, thou daughter of noble chiefs! I will endure the burthen of grievances, and sorrows, and captivity, and shew that I am a warrior and the son of a warrior May the peace of God be with thee, O Ibla—soon will I come to thee with my trophies!”

Antar having finished these verses, the chiefs and the warriors were astonished at his eloquence, and they repaired with the spoil and plunder to the presence of King Monzar, who started up to meet Antar, kissed him between the eyes, and could only congratulate him on his safety, for he was confounded at such instances of his bravery. Horseman of the day, he cried, protector of Abs and Adnan! all that the Persians have left this day be thine, O Knight of the time and age! for thou hast earned it by thy sword and thy spear. Thou hast brought peace and comfort to the Arabs. Let this plunder be a grant from me to thee, together with the Asafeer camels; and moreover, out of mine own will I bestow immense wealth on thee; but I cannot permit thee to wed the daughter of thy uncle any where but here with me in this land, and I will fulfil all thy wishes and thy desires; for I am resolved to send letters to the tribes, and to assemble the hordes from the waters and the springs, and make ready for war against the just King.

O my lord, expel that thought from your mind, cried Antar, for by the life of the eyes of Ibla, to me the strongest of oaths, I alone will stand thee in stead of the whole race of Arabs—never will I cease from the blows of my Indian sword till I have not left in your presence one of your enemies alive, not a cuckold of them. Moreover, ’tis my intention to put you in possession of the throne of Nushirvan. Monzar expressed his thanks, for he knew he could perform what he promised, from what he had observed of his intrepidity in the black rolling dust.

Thus they entered Hirah, and rejoiced in their victory and triumph; and Antar went to the habitation that was prepared for him. Monzar retired to rest; but he was greatly disquieted, and feared Chosroe and his stratagems.