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my brother Sherkan, even if I die in this place. Then he
summoned couriers and gave them letters and charged them to do
the soldiers errands to their families and let them know that
they were safe and in good heart, but that they were encamped
before Constantinople, resolved either to destroy it or perish,
and that, though they should abide there months and years, they
would not depart thence till they had taken the city. Moreover,
he bade Dendan write to his sister Nuzhet ez Zeman, acquainting
her with what had befallen them and with their situation and
commending his child to her care, since that, when he went out to
war, his wife was near her delivery and must needs by that time
have been brought to bed; and if she had given birth to a son, he
charged the messengers to hasten their return and bring him the
news. Then he gave them money and they set out at once, and all
the people came out to take leave of them and entrust them with
the money and the messages they wished to send to their families.
After they had departed, Zoulmekan turned to the Vizier and
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commanded him to push forward with the army against the city
walls. So the troops advanced, but found none on the walls,
whereat they marvelled and Zoulmekan was troubled.
To return to Dhat ed Dewahi. As soon as she had slain Sherkan,
she hastened to the walls of Constantinople and called out in the
Greek tongue to the guards, to throw her down a rope. Quoth they,
Who art thou? and she said, I am the princess Dhat ed Dewahi.
They knew her and threw her down a rope, to which she tied
herself, and they drew her up into the city. Then she went in to
King Afridoun and said to him, What is this I hear from the
Muslims? They say that my son King Herdoub is slain. He
answered, It is true; and when she heard this, she shrieked out
and wept so grievously, that she made Afridoun and all who were
present weep also. Then she told the King how she had slain
Sherkan and thirty of his servants, whereat he rejoiced and
thanked her and kissed her hands and exhorted her to resignation
for the loss of her son. By the Messiah, said she, I will not
rest content with killing one of the Muslim dogs in revenge for
my son, a king of the kings of the age! But I will assuredly make
shift to kill the Sultan Zoulmekan and the Vizier Dendan and the
Chamberlain and Rustem and Behram and ten thousand cavaliers of
the army of Islam to boot; for it shall never be that my son s
head be paid with the blood-wit of Sherkan s head only. Then
said she to Afridoun, It is my wish that mourning be made for my
son Herdoub and that the girdle be cut and the crosses broken.
Do what thou wilt, replied Afridoun; I will not gainsay thee
in aught. And if thou prolong thy mourning, it were a little
thing; for though the Muslims beleaguer us years and years, they
will never compass their will of us nor get aught of us but
trouble and weariness. Then she took ink-horn and paper and
wrote the following letter: Shewaha Dhat ed Dewahi to the host
of the Muslims. Know that I entered your country and duped your
nobles and slew your king Omar ben Ennuman in the midst of his
palace. Moreover, I slew, in the battle of the mountain pass and
of the grotto, many of your men, and the last I killed were
Sherkan and his servants. And if fortune favour me and Satan obey
me, I will assuredly kill your Sultan and the Vizier Dendan, for
I am she who came to you in the disguise of a recluse and ye were
the dupes of my tricks and devices. Wherefore, if you be minded
to be in safety, depart at once; and if you covet your own
destruction, abide where you are; for though ye abide here years
and years, ye shall not come by your desire of us; and so peace
be on you. Then she devoted three days to mourning for her son
King Herdoub, and on the fourth day, she called a knight and bade
him make the letter fast to an arrow and shoot it into the Muslim
camp; after which she entered the church and gave herself up to
weeping and lamentation for the loss of her son, saying to him
who took the kingship after him, Nothing will serve me but I
must kill Zoulmekan and all the princes of Islam.
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Meanwhile, the Muslims passed three days in concern and anxiety,
and on the fourth day, they saw a knight on the wall, holding a
bow and about to shoot an arrow to which was fastened a letter.
So they waited till he had shot, and the King bade the Vizier
Dendan take the letter and read it. He did so, and when Zoulmekan
heard its purport, his eyes filled with tears and he shrieked for
anguish at the old woman s perfidy, and Dendan said, By Allah,
my heart shrank from her! How could this traitress impose upon
us twice? exclaimed Zoulmekan. By Allah, I will not depart
hence till I fill her kaze with molten lead and set her in a
cage, as men do birds, then bind her with her hair and crucify
her at the gate of Constantinople. Then he addressed himself
again to the leaguer of the city, promising his men that, if it
should be taken, he would divide its treasures equally among
them. After this, he bethought him of his brother and wept sore;
and his tears ceased not to flow, till his body was wasted with
grief, as it were a bodkin. But the Vizier Dendan came in to him
and said, Take comfort and be consoled; thy brother died not but
because his hour was come, and there is no profit in this
mourning. How well says the poet:
That which is not to be shall by no means be brought To pass, and
that which is to be shall come, unsought,
Even at the time ordained: but he that knoweth not The truth is
still deceived and finds his hopes grown nought.
Wherefore do thou leave this weeping and lamentation and
strengthen thy heart to bear arms. O Vizier, replied
Zoulmekan, my heart is heavy for the death of my brother and
father and our absence from our native land, and my mind is
concerned for my subjects. Thereupon the Vizier and the
bystanders wept; but they ceased not from the leaguer of
Constantinople, till, after awhile, news arrived from Baghdad, by
one of the Amirs, that the Sultan s wife had given birth to a son
and that the princess Nuzhet ez Zeman had named him Kanmakan.
Moreover, his sister wrote to him that the boy bid fair to be a
prodigy and that she had commanded the priests and preachers to
pray for them from the pulpits; also, that they were all well and
had been blessed with abundant rains and that his comrade the
stoker was in the enjoyment of all prosperity, with slaves and
servants to attend upon him; but that he was still ignorant of
what had befallen him. Zoulmekan rejoiced greatly at this news
and said to the Vizier Dendan, Now is my hope fulfilled and my
back strengthened, in that I have been vouchsafed a son.
Wherefore I am minded to leave mourning and let make recitations
of the Koran over my brother s tomb and do almsdeeds on his
account. Quoth the Vizier, It is well. Then he caused tents to
be pitched over his brother s tomb and they gathered together
such of the troops as could repeat the Koran. Some fell to
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reciting the Koran, whilst others chanted the litanies of the
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