saddle-cloth is of purple and its saddle of pure gold: these are my distinguishing characteristics and these are my boastings. Aided by the prophets, surrounded by the holy, the Lord of creation is my armament, and His angels my triumph, and His omnipotent power my reliance. And He is the beholder of your affairs as well as the affairs of me and my people. We believe in no lord but Him, and no king besides Him: and He is our sufficiency and excellent Protector.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED

BEFORE

THE DEPARTURE OF THE MESSENGER FROM
YUSH'A THE KING.

WHEN the children of Isrâîl heard this address and this reply, bowing down, they prostrated themselves before God, and spake, saying: 66 How adorable is He who has guided thee! How adorable is He who has enlightened thy heart! How adorable is He who has illuminated the light of thy intellect! How adorable is He who has sanctified thy spirit! How adorable is He who has ennobled thy soul! How adorable is He! Thou hast consoled our souls and hast strengthened our hearts; Thou has nerved our loins, Thou hast lifted up our heads, Thou hast exalted our renown, Thou hast spread abroad our glory, yea our friends do exalt, for Thou hast destroyed our enemies and hast annihilated their host. And now we are swift and zealous subjects in Thy presence, ready to go unto the horizon of the seas and to the abyss of darkness and unto the burnings of fire. And this is the approval and opinion we express to our master the king, and let him carry it out by transmitting this letter; for in it lies

the destruction of our enemies and their ruin, and the breaking up of their hearts and their purposes, through the power of God and His omnipotent might." And the king gave immediate directions that they should make known to him the list of the enumeration of those who had been chosen from the army, and that they make proclamation for them to mount at once. And scarce an hour passed before three hundred thousand men had mounted, every one of whom was renowned for manly qualities and skill, chosen men they were, the like of whom or better rank and file than theirs had ever been seen. And the offi cers returned and said unto him: "O our master and our lord, there have assembled for thee three hundred thousand chosen men, and if thou wert to command that there should be chosen as many more as they, we would be prompt to do the same, for in our lists there are other three hundred thousand men, but they are separated from us, and the mustering of them will be accomplished in the course of a week." And Yûsh'â the king answered them, saying: "If He would destroy our enemies with six hundred thousand men, He is able to destroy them with three hundred thousand men." And he commanded that the messenger should be brought, for he knew that he was possessed of sagacity; and he re-read the letter to the multitude in his presence. Thereupon he said unto him: "Look at and behold what I have collected unto me me in one single hour, with regard to whom I do not need to bother myself about their provisions, or look after their condition, and in three days there will gather unto me a number equal to them, through the power of God and His omnipotent might; so now make known to thy companions what thou hast witnessed of the affairs of GodMighty and Powerful-even the power of His

people. And lo! I am about to march right on the tracks of my letter, with the help of God and his power and strength."

CHAPTER XXXI.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE RETURN OF THE MESSENGER, AND WHAT HE DID WHEN HE REACHED THEM (I. E. THE ENEMIES).

WHEN the messenger had heard the king, and his speech, and the reading of the letter and its words, and perceived the discipline of the army and its staunch condition, he took the letter and immediately started out on his journey, with head down-cast and heart rent asunder and color changed and eyes weeping. And when he arrived at the army of the enemy, he found them assembled together in el-Qaimun. And when he beheld them he wept with great weeping and cried with a loud voice, and said to them: "O woe unto me for you, and sad am I for your sakes. Whither are ye marching? Is it unto the sea of darkness ?1 Unto him who does not listen to a word of yours, nor sends back peace to you? Unto those before whom ye are as scattered dust? With them ye have no stability or durability or permanency; every affair of theirs is in earnest, no jesting or secret backbiting exists among them. Therefore give attention unto the reply to the letter, that ye may know that God is over all things, powerful, ere I explain unto you what I have witnessed, and inform you of what I have beheld; for if I should continue for one year explaining and expounding about Him, I should not make known His substance or make known any of His attributes."

1 Note 63,

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE ACCOUNT OF THE READING OF THE LETTER,

AND WHAT THE ENEMY DID WHEN IT WAS READ.

He then took the letter and read it unto the company of the kings. Now the inscription written upon it was:

"To the company of reprobates, rebels, libertines, infidels; the calumniating, rebellious, polluted and cowardly people; the filthy, selfdisgraced, whose destruction is near at hand, and whose ruin is just impending:

"From the excellent, the faithful, the associates of purity, light, glory, firmness and victory, and possessed of authority and influence, the celebrated, far-famed, set-apart, chosen, protected by God, assisted unto victory by His power, sheltered under His mercy and compassion; and He is their sufficiency, and upon Him is their reliance.”

Upon the reading of this inscription they wept until their eyes flowed blood, then they opened the letter, and a man read it in a plaintive voice, while they began beating their faces and wailing over themselves to greatest excess. until they had finished its reading. And the letter was not completed before their inwards were attenuated, and their heads bent down, and their hearts broken, and their tears poured out and their intellects bewildered; and they were neither able to arise from their places nor rest in quiet in them, for dementia and perturbation had seized them. Then they cried out while weeping, and said: "Woe unto us and unto our children, we have destroyed ourselves, we

have brought about the violation of our women, we have waked up the sleeping lioness, we have stirred up the crouching lion, we have let loose the elephant that was tied, we have roused the bull that was tethered." And now their tongues jabbered on in their mouths, stuttering exceedingly as if tongue-tied, and they neither understood what they said, nor what was said to them; yea, they were deaf, they were dumfounded, they were stunned, they were bewildered, the hair of their heads stood on end and they tore their garments. Then there came unto them the sheikh of the magicians, and with him was the mother of Shaubak, the son of Hamâm, who was skilled in magic and who worshipped the great luminary and the seven stars, and along with her was a crowd of the magicians and wizards and conjurers, and these calmed them, saying unto them: "O ye who turn back! ye have wrecked your army before ye have seen the have killed yourand enemy, ye selves before your time; not thus should the leaders of the army do among the flock, ye have unnerved the men with fear, ye have slaughtered them without a sword being used. Sit ye down with us and listen with reason unto what we say, and bring hither the messenger whom ye sent, and consider what he shall describe unto you." So they brought the messenger, and he began to describe the king (Yûsh'a), and the feeling of awe that he carried away from him, and he described the army tribe by tribe, and the Divine ordinances which he had witnessed, and the grand condition of affairs which he had beheld. Then the messenger said to them: "O assembled men, accept my counsel, and do not yield yourselves unto any other; for I have seen what ye have not seen, therefore know what shall overtake you by surprise, for after three days