1.
Before David went to war,
He was looked upon as an orphan;
No one cared for him or paid attention to him.
After he went to battle and returned,
He became an important man.
Whoever saw his soulful eyes, his rosy cheeks,
His handsome nose and mouth,
Fell in love with him.
One day while Tzenov Hovan was asleep,
His wife secretly baked a cake, fried a chicken,
Took some honey, butter, and seven-year-old wine,
Put on her finest garments,
Applied kohl to her eyes and arranged her locks,
Put on her pretty shoes,
Lit a candle, took the food,
And went to David's chamber.
David had locked his door and gone to sleep.
She called: —David, get up, open the door.
David asked: —Who are you?
—Your Uncle Hovan's wife, she said.
David opened the door.
Hovan's wife went in and sat down.
[291]—David, she said, I have been longing for you.
I could not prepare nice things for you,
This is what I had ready to bring to you.
She uncovered the tray, set it before him
With a jug of wine and a cup.
David thought to himself:
—I have no mother, she is mothering me.
He thanked her and said:
—You have been a mother to me,
You have thought of me and have come to see me today.
Hovan's wife said: —David, I would die for you,
There never has been one, there never will be one
As brave as you in all Sassoun.
David ate the food, drank the wine—
The seven-year-old pomegranate wine.
He drank heavily, and,
In a happy mood, said: —Let me drink,
My uncle's wife is honoring me today.
David kept drinking, became intoxicated.
Put his head on the cushion, and fell asleep.
He could not say another word.
Hovan's wife kissed David on his cheeks and forehead.
Seeing that David was asleep
And oblivious to everything,
She went home while Hovan was still asleep.
For a whole week she kept going to David.
One day she thought to herself:
—Why do I take the seven-year-old wine to him?
He drinks it and falls asleep;
What pleasure do I get out of him?
The next day she took one-year-old wine—less wine—
Went to David's chamber,
Placed the food and wine before him [and sat down].
David ate the food and drank the wine.
This time the wine did not go to his head;
[292] He did not fall asleep.
Hovan's wife sat on David's lap,
Put her arm around his neck
And tried to hug and kiss him.
David became angry; he did not let her kiss him;
He said: —You are like a mother to me;
Get up and sit there, so that we can talk.
She asked: —David, why do you put me
In your mother's place?
I am a stranger, married to your uncle.
David said: —My mother and my uncle's wife are as one,
She takes the place of my mother,
And as my mother, she is like the sunlight for me.
Hovan's wife said:
—David, you do not understand, I am not related to you.
Your uncle had me all this time,
Now I don't want him any more, I want you!
David then thought to himself:
—If I hit her now and kill her,
My uncle will accuse me that I killed his wife.
If I don't kill her, she will keep on pestering me.
—Wife of my uncle, David said,
Leave me now. I wish to sleep;
I will talk to you tomorrow.
He fooled her, sent her away.
Early next morning David went to the fountain,
Washed his hands and face,
Sat there and pondered.
He saw the old widow coming.
—Old One, come here, he said;
He beckoned to her. She came.
David told her all
That Hovan's wife had said and done.
—You are as a mother to me, Old One, he said,
[293] That is why I am telling you.
The old widow said: —David, I don't blame the woman,
You were a boy once,
Now you have reached the age of twenty;
You are unmarried,
Whoever sees you, goes out of her mind
And desires to be taken by you.
—What shall I do then, Old One? asked David.
—Go get a wife, so that women will not annoy you.
A year went by ...
One day Tzenov Hovan said:
—David, you saved us from Melik,
I am going to get a wife for you.
Hovan went and asked for the hand of Ch'm'shkig Sultan.
She was a very beautiful pahlevan, still unmarried.
David and Ch'm'shkig Sultan exchanged rings.
2.
After his victory over Melik,
David's fame reached Gaboudgogh, [to the ears of]
The King of Gaboudgogh, Vacho-Marcho,
And his daughter, Khantout Khanum.
Khantout was fair and very brave like David;
The fame of her beauty was spread throughout the world.
King Shabouh had heard of her beauty;
He had sent emissaries to ask for her hand.
Forty other brave men,
Relying on their record of brave deeds,
Had come to ask for Khantout's hand.
They were feasting and drinking with the hope
That she would choose one among them.
[294] But Khantout had heard of David's fame.
She said to herself:
—For me it will be David, only David;
Who are those men
Of whom I should choose one to marry?
One day, while sitting at her window,
Khantout saw three bards strolling on the street.
She called to them: —Bards, will you come up?
[When they went to her,] She asked them:
—What do you earn in a day?
They said: —Khanum, we are bards,
We cannot tell you how much,
Some days we earn more, some days we earn less;
Some days we earn one piece of silver,
Some days we earn two pieces of silver.
Khantout said: —Bards, go to Sassoun [for me].
I will give each of you one silver piece a day.
The bards were overjoyed.
They took leave and started for Sassoun.
Khantout asked: —Where are you going?
The bards said: —Khantout Khanum,
Did you not tell us to go to Sassoun and come back?
—God's wrath on your household, said Khantout,
I am sending you to Sassoun on a mission,
You are not going and coming without doing anything.
—What do you want us to do, Khanum? they asked.
—Bards, she said, you will go to Sassoun,
Ask for David's house; go inside and sit;
Sing my praise to David,
So that he will come and marry me.
If he likes me, very well;
If he does not, he can go where he pleases,
[295] I will have no need of him.
The bards took leave, started on their mission,
Arrived at the city of Sassoun.
They asked some boys who were playing on the streets:
—Where is David's house?
The boys said to them:
—Come, we will take you there.
As they came closer, the boys saw that
The bards were carrying planks under their arms,
And the planks had keys.
They touched the sazes and asked the bards:
—What are these planks?
As one of the boys touched the strings of a saz,
A sound came out.
—Ah, shouted the boys, and fell upon the bards
To take the sazes away from their hands.
They were saying to each other:
—Boys, sound comes out of these planks,
Let us see what they really are.
Kerry Toros saw what the boys were doing.
He came and scolded them:
—You crazy Sassounite lads,
These men are bards and those planks are sazes.
Sweet sounds come out of those sazes.
You have never seen such things before;
Come, I will take you to our house,
They will play, sing,
And we will listen to them.
Kerry Toros took the bards to his house,
Gave them food. And after they ate their food,
He said to them: —Now play a bit for us,
We will pay you what we can;
Then you can go back to your homes.
The bards said: —We have come to sing to David
[296] The praise of Khantout Khanum.
Kerry Toros said: —I am David,
Let me hear you sing her -praise.
The bards took their sazes,
Tightened and tuned the strings
And sang the praise of Khantout Khanum.
When they finished their singing,
Kerry Toros asked:
—Bards, where is this maiden Khantout?
They said: —In Gaboudgogh;
She is the daughter of Vacho-Marcho.
[Hearing this,] Kerry Toros said to the boys:
—Beat those minstrels!
They have come to make a fool [of David]
And break the heart of our yearling.
He knew that Khantout had sent
Those bards to sing her praise to David,
So that he would go and marry her.
The boys beat the bards
And broke their sazes to pieces.
The bards ran away . . .
3.
They stopped at the head of a bridge
At the lower end of the city,
And talked among themselves;
—Could it be that we were beaten
Because we did not do what Khantout said?
—No, brother, we did as Khantout said.
—Are they crazy then?
—Why did they beat us?
As they were talking,
David was returning home,
Carrying the game he had shot at Avak Sar.
[297] It was dusk. Stopping at the bridgehead,
He was listening to what the bards were saying.
David went to them and asked:
—Bards, what is this you are saying?
They said: —We went to Sassoun and
Sang to David the praise of Khantout.
David turned the crazy Sassounite lads on us.
They broke our sazes to pieces, beat us,
And drove us out of the city.
Our sazes were our only means of livelihood.
David said: —Bards, I am the David [you wanted to meet].
It was my Kerry [who drove you away].
Take this money, go get your sazes repaired,
Have them strung with golden strings,
Then come and sing to me the praise of Khantout.
The bards went, had their sazes repaired,
And went to David's chamber.
Then each bard in his turn
Sang the praise of Khantout Khanum.
The first bard with a white beard
Took up his saz, tuned it,
And began to sing the praise of Khantout:
[Chanting:]
—I sing to David the praise of Khantout Khanum,
She is tall and slender as a reed in a pond.
I sing to David the praise of Khantout Khanum,
Her heart is as big as the arena of Kourkig Jelaly.
I sing to David the praise of Khantout Khanum,
Her mouth is like a fountain of honey.
I sing to David the praise of Khantout Khanum,
Her teeth are like a necklace of pearls.
I sing to David the praise of Khantout Khanum,
Her eyes are like bowls of sparkling wine.
I sing to David the praise of Khantout Khanum.
[298] Then the bard with a brown beard
Took up his saz, tuned it,
And sang the praise of Khantout Khanum:
—I look upon Khantout Khanum;
Her hands and feet are drawn with a quill,
Ah, hala duco, they are drawn with a quill.
I look upon her fingernails, tapered and polished,
Ah, hala duco, they are tapered and polished.
I look upon her hair in forty braids,
Ah, hala duco, forty braids.
I look upon her figure comely like the city tower,
Ah, hala duco, like the city tower.
I look upon her cheeks glowing like pomegranate wine,
Ah, hala duco, like pomegranate wine
I look upon the breasts [hidden] in her bosom,
As sweet as Aleppo confections.
Ah, hala duco, as sweet as confections.
Then the third man, the youngest minstrel,
Took up his saz, tuned it,
And sang the praise of Khantout Khanum:
How shall I extoll her stature?
It is forty-kaz high, luco, and a bit more.
How shall I extoll her eyelashes?
They are like crane's wings, luco, and a bit more.
How shall I extoll her broad heart?
It is forty-kaz wide, luco, and a bit more.
How shall I extoll her fair skin?
It is as white as the snow one-day-old.
It is white, luco.
[299] How shall I extoll her skin soft and tender?
It is as soft and tender as a ball of carded cotton.
It is soft and tender, luco.
After hearing the praise of Khantout Khanum
That the three minstrels sang,
David took up his saz, tuned it, and sang:
—I welcome you minstrels,
My heart till now was as pure as milk,
You curdled it, you congealed it.
My heart was as impregnable as the fortress of Sassoun,
With a pick you razed its foundation.
My heart was as limpid as an autumn stream,
You rendered it turbid like a spring flood.
With your songs of praise you consumed me.
Now, go back and win Khantout for me.
When David finished his song,
He put down his saz and asked:
—Minstrels, where is this Khantout Khanum
Whose praise you sang to me?
—In Gaboudgogh, they said,
She is the daughter of Vacho-Marcho.
—Minstrels, said David, go tell her
To wait for six days,
I will be her guest on the seventh day.
My noontime meal I will take at Jashvan,
For the mid-afternoon meal I will be at Bandoumah,
And for my supper I will be with the lovely Khanum.
He gave them a few pieces of silver,
And bade them farewell.
The minstrels struck their chords, 'thump, thump,'
And took to the road.
David went home and said to his aunt:
—Wash my clothes, I am going on a journey.
And to his uncle he said:
[300] —I will not marry Ch'm'shkig Sultan,
I will go and fetch Khantout Khanum.
His uncle said:
—David, forty pahlevans have been waiting
At her door for seven years,
You will go and wait in front of her window;
If she beckons you, enter [her palace],
If she does not, come back.
The minstrels arrived at Gaboudgogh.
Khantout Khanum, sitting at her window,
Saw them coming. She asked:
—Minstrels, did you go to Sassoun?
—Yes, Khanum, we did, they said.
The wrath of God upon them,
Those Sassounites are foolhardy.
We went to David's house to sing your praise;
They fell upon us, beat us, broke our sazes;
We fled to the lower end of the city.
God grant long life to David,
He had our sazes mended. David said to us:
—Go, tell Khantout to wait for six days,
I will be her guest on the seventh day.
My noontime meal I will take at Jashvan,
For the mid-afternoon meal I will be at Bandoumah,
And for my supper I will be with the lovely Khanum.
Khantout counted up the earnings of the minstrels;
She paid them for the number of days they were away.
The minstrels then left, went to their homes.
4.
As he had told the minstrels,
Six days later, David went to his chamber,
[301] Took his garments out of the clothes-chest, put them on,
And girdled himself with the Lightning Sword;
Then he led Kourkig Jelaly out of his stall,
Bridled and saddled him, and rode away.
From Sassoun to Jashvan it is seven days' journey;
From Jashvan to the bridge of Bandoumah
It is another seven days' journey.
David rode on, he reached Jashvan in the forenoon;
At midday he was at the bridge of Bandoumah
Where he saw men from Kordzoth
Ploughing the field with seven ploughs.
They were about to eat their midday meal.
David greeted them: —Good luck, ploughmen!
—Lord's bounty to you! they said in return,
Welcome, brother wayfarer;
Come, rest a while, and share our meal with us.
—No, said David, I must ride on,
Let the boys have the food;
If I eat the food, nothing will be left for them.
The ploughman said:
—The world is sustained by the fruit of the plough.
David rode to the rim of the field,
Dismounted Kourkig Jelaly, unbridled him,
And left him there.
He went and sat down,
Leaning against the wheel of the ox cart.
The ploughmen had a large pot of pilaff
That they set before him.
Two loaves of bread made one morsel for David;
With five morsel-scoops he finished the pot of pilaff.
They had set before him
Their ration of food and water
That was to last the seven ploughmen for seven days;
David ate and drank everything,
[302] Leaving not even a crumb.
As he started to leave,
The ploughmen said to each other:
—What are we going to do now? We are hungry—
That wayfarer ate our seven days' ration of food.
We have six more days to work,
There is no one to bring us food. What are we to do?
If we send for food, they will say to us,
'You have been out only for half a day,
You could not finish your rations.
If we tell them we had a guest, they will not believe us;
If we tell them the buffalo ate it,
They will not believe that either.
Hearing this, David asked:
—Which field are you going to plough now?
—That field, there, they replied.
David said to them: —You sit here for a while,
I will plough in one hour
What you will plough in six days.
Saying this, David stood up,
Tied the seven ploughs together,
Hitched them to Kourkig Jelaly,
And rode back and forth
Ten times, the stretch of the field,
Until the entire field was black
[From the upturned earth].
The ploughmen said to David:
—You did not do that, it was your horse that did it.
David dismounted then,
Took the hitching chains and started ploughing;
He kept ploughing until he had finished the field.
The ploughmen gaped in astonishment.
The head ploughman asked: —Wayfarer,
Could you be the David of Sassoun people talk about?
David said: —I am that David of Sassoun.
[303] They said:
—David, in all the world there has never been one
As brave as you,
And there never will be one as brave as you.
Wherever you go,
May your feet never stumble over a stone.
May God spare you days of ill-fortune.
David left the ploughmen,
Bridled the horse and rode on.
—Gaboudgogh, where are you? ... I am coming.
On his way, David had to pass
By the window of Ch'm'shkig Sultan.
Seeing him, she came out, stopped him, and said:
—David, come in, you will be my guest today.
—No, said David, do not hold me back.
—I know, she said, you are going after Khantout,
But she is not worth the tip of my little finger.
Ch'm'shkig Sultan beguiled David. He went in.
They ate, drank, and went to bed.
In the morning David regretted what he had done.
—What did I do . . . ? he said to himself,
No man of my race should have been fooled.
Why did I let a woman beguile me?
He mounted his horse and rode away.
Ch'm'shkig Sultan called after him: —You wait!
You came to me, deceived me, left me . . .
And she became David's enemy.
5.
Six days passed.
In early morning [on the seventh day]
Khantout Khanum came, sat at the window,
[304] And watched the road for David.
Suddenly she saw
Sparks flashing between heaven and earth;
A horseman, hardly visible,
Was dashing through space.
She said: —That horseman could be no one but David.
Khantout said to the gate-keeper:
—Korkiz, there comes a horseman;
Close the gate before he gets in.
Korkiz rushed to close the gate.
She had not finished her word,
When David reached the door,
Dashed through and rode on to her window.
Khantout was very pleased when she saw David.
Overjoyed, she threw an apple to him;
David caught the apple while on his horse.
He, too, was pleased
[That she threw the apple to him.]
David looked at Khantout and saw that
The minstrels had not sung half the praise
They should have sung.
Riding on, he saw a man standing behind the gate
With a mace in his hand.
David thought to himself:
—Since the day of my birth, I have not saluted a man;
If I salute him now, the thought of it
Will cause me pain, will torture me19 and destroy me;
If I do not salute him,
That pahlevan will kill me.
He saluted him with misgiving and entered.
Korkiz acknowledged his salute.
David said:
—Since the day I was born,
I had not saluted any man;
Today I saw Korkiz
[305] And saluted him with misgiving, luco, with misgiving.
Korkiz said:
—I have been a gate-keeper for forty years,
Yet I have not acknowledged the greeting of any man.
I saw David today,
And with misgiving acknowledged his greeting.
David asked him:
—Korkiz, what is that ball in your hand?
David snatched the mace and hurled it into the sky.
The mace is still going . . .
Korkiz asked: —David, why have you come here?
David said: —I have come for Khantout Khanum;
How can I see her?
Korkiz said:
—Every Friday she comes to the royal garden
With her forty serving maids.
Today it is Friday, we will go there, you will see her.
Then Korkiz asked:
—When you marry Khantout Khanum,
Will you have me as your groomsman?
David said: —I will;
We will then be godson David, groomsman Korkiz.
David then rode into the garden of Khantout Khanum.
He let his horse free
To graze on the basil plants and roses,
While he lay down beside the pool of immortality.
At midday, when the sun was high,
Khantout Khanum came with her forty serving maids;
She saw that David had let his horse loose
To graze on the basil plants and roses in the garden,
While he had fallen asleep beside the pool.
Khantout then said:
—What an unthoughtful man David is!
[306] Go, tell him, if he is that kind of a man,
He must get up and go away.
Give him some food to eat,
Then tell him Khantout Khanum said
He must go away.
They brought food to David. He ate it.
The servants told him then: —Our Khantout Khanum said,
David must get up and go away.
Who gave him permission to come to the garden
And let his horse loose
To graze on basil plants and roses and trample them;
Is this his father's pasture land?
The snake on its belly, the bird on its wings
Have not been able to get into this garden,
How does he dare enter here
And let his horse loose to graze?
He must get up and go away.
Woe to him, if he does not;
The pahlevans will fall on him and
Leave his ear as the largest piece of his body.
David said: —Why did you not tell me this
Before I ate your food?
You told me after I finished eating.
Now that I have eaten your food, I will not go away;
Let them do to me whatever they can.
The servants went and told Khantout Khanum:
—This is what David said.
When the servants went away,
David asked Khantout's stable man:
—Where can I put my horse?
The stable man said:
—The horses of the forty pahlevans
Are kept in the stable,
You can take your horse there, too.
[307] David then opened the stable door,
Took the bit out of Kourkig's mouth,
Left him among the horses and said:
—If you overpower these horses,
I will overpower their masters.
Kourkig Jelaly snorted,
He took the feed of the forty horses to his bin,
Piled it, pressed it against the wall,
And ate it all up.
The hostlers went and told Khantout Khanum:
—Kourkig Jelaly showed his prowess,
Let us see what his master will do.
6.
When Khantout threw an apple to David,
The forty pahlevans who had been waiting for seven years
Were enraged. They said:
—We have been here for seven years,
And she has not given us any sign of recognition,
But no sooner than turnip-eating David of Sassoun came,
Without even greeting him, she threw an apple to him
While [he was still] on his horse.
David went to see the forty pahlevans,
Who were making merry, drinking wine—
Compared with David, they looked like boys.
When they saw him, they trembled with fear
And said to each other:
—We will get him drunk and kill him.
If we do not, he will blast our hopes.
No woman like Khantout
Will overlook David and choose one of us.
They seated David amongst themselves
And brought seven-year-old pomegranate wine to drink.
Each pahlevan offered him a cup of wine,
Saying: —Welcome, David,
[308] Drink to Khantout Khanum's health.
David said to them: —Show me the keg of wine,
I will go, take a drink, then have some food
To clear the dust from my throat.
Wine in cups will not even wet a man's mouth.
I am not a sparrow to be served with water.
Is a camel given water with a spoon?
They brought him another cup,
It was as big as a tub!
David started to drink the wine with that cup,
Became jolly and drunk,
Unbalanced and off his guard,
Flushed and bare-headed.
As he was drunk, David would droop his head,
Then would raise it and sit straight.
When the pahlevans saw this,
They drew their swords, moved on to kill him.
Watching David from the gate, Korkiz shouted:
—Godson David, godson David,
A fly is buzzing over you, move your head!
The pahlevans hid their swords.
But David was not seeing or hearing anything.
When Khantout Khanum, watching David,
Saw that he was [still] drooping his head,
She went and took a large bag of hazel nuts
To the yerdik [skylight].
Each time David drooped his head
And the warriors drew their swords
[309] To strike off David's head,
Khantout dropped a handful of nuts through the yerdik.
The nuts hit the tray, made such a rattle that
The noise would startle David. He would raise his head;
And the pahlevans, trembling with fear,
Would put down their swords.
Khantout kept dropping the nuts on the tray
Until the bag was empty.
David came out of his stupor. He said to the servant:
—Take this spread away [and sweep the crumbs],
It is a sin to step on bread.
As the servant started to take the spread away,
The pahlevans said: —Let the spread stay,
Go, bring more food, so that we can eat, too.
This they said so that they could hide their swords
Under the spread.
David said: —Take away the spread!
He picked it up, handed it over, and said:
—At the end of a meal the spread is picked up;24
After the spread is picked up, no meal is served.
Then David saw an unsheathed sword
In front of each pahlevan.
He asked:
—What are those in front of you?
—Our swords, they said.
Give them to me, let me see them, said David.
They gathered all the swords and gave them to him.
David looked at them and said:
—These would make good picks for girls
To dig up artichokes in the spring.
He took the swords
And broke them across his knee
As if they were a handful of matchsticks.
He bent the broken blades, and said:
[310] —Korkiz, put these in my saddle bags,
They are made of good steel-iron,
My horse will need shoes and nails,
I will have them made from these pieces—
There will be enough to last a year.
When the pahlevans saw what David did,
They got up and ran out of the room.
David then called: —Groomsman Korkiz, let us go in,
The house is for us, the yard is for the chickens.
7.
Khantout Khanum preferred David
To the pahlevans [who were there to woo her].
She said: —Ask David to come up;
Serve food to the forty pahlevans outside.
David went to Khantout's chamber;
When he saw Khantout,
He could not resist the temptation—
Being young and rash,
He embraced her ardently,
Threw his arm around her neck, kissed her forehead;
He was not satisfied.
Again he kissed her cheeks,
Even that left him unsatisfied;
Then he reached for her breast, trying to kiss it,
When with her fist Khantout struck
Such a hard blow to his nose that
Blood gushed out of his mouth and nose,
Like a stream of water. She said:
—You are your father's pride,
I am my father's pride;
I let you kiss my forehead
[311] For the journey you undertook to come to me;
I let you kiss my cheeks
For your youthfulness. That was your right.
But by what right did you try to kiss my breast?
David was angered. He left Khantout,
Went to Korkiz and said:
—Korkiz, get my horse out.
Korkiz took out Kourkig Jelaly.
David mounted his horse and rode off.
Khantout Khanum ran after him,
Wept and begged him [to turn back].
David paid no attention.
Khantout Khanum kept on;
She dropped her slippers, ran barefooted,
Cutting her toes and feet;
She kept running barefooted,
Tearing, slashing her feet;
Her soles, blistered, began to bleed,
The ground was being drenched with blood
At every step she took.
David kept riding and listening to Khantout,
She was calling and calling:
—David, stop! David!
Wait for me!
Look behind, see my plight, then ride on.
David looked behind and saw Khantout Khanum
Running after him barefooted—
Khantout, who, to this day,
Had never taken a step barefooted,
Now was running in the field with bleeding feet.
Khantout kept calling:
—Do not carry my suffering on your conscience.
Turn, let us go back.
David, dnashen [home-builder], how quickly you took offense!
[312] David said: —I undertook this journey from Sassoun
Because of you.
When I kissed your cheeks once,
You struck me with your fist;
I should get angry.
Khantout said: —I vow, I will follow you barefooted
As long as I live.
David relented. Turned back.
He and Khantout returned to her home.
8.
Shabouh, the King of Ajem [Persians]
Wrote to the Bab of Franks:
—I hear that a man, named David,
Coming from Sassoun,
Wants to take by force
The beautiful maiden Khantout of Gaboudgogh.
Bab of Franks summoned his vizier,
Deputies, and said to them:
—Read the letter from the Shah
And tell me what he has written.
They read the letter, learned what he had written.
Bab of Franks then wrote to David:
—David, we have learned that
You are a very powerful man.
We challenge you to come out and fight.
If you do not,
Our army will invade, devastate your land,
Plunder and carry away everything.
[313] They brought the letter,
Handed it to Khantout's servant,
Who handed it to Khantout.
She read the letter and asked:
—Who brought this letter?
—Two men, the servant said.
—Take the two men to our dining hall,
Khantout said, entertain them well.
The servant did as he was told.
Later on, at daybreak, Khantout wrote a letter:
—We have done no harm to you,
We have not even heard your name,
Nor have we any knowledge of you.
If you come to fight, do not come alone,
You cannot defeat David;
Bring another king to help you fight David.
Khantout sealed the letter,
Handed it to her servant, and said:
—Give this letter to those two men,
Give each a good change of clothes, ten pieces of gold,
And two horses to ride and go away.
The servant did as he was told.
The two men blessed Khantout,
Bowed to her, and said:
—We came by foot, we return on horseback.
Khantout did not tell David
What was written in the letter.
The two men took the letter,
Carried it to Bab of Franks, their king.
The king summoned his vizier, deputies;
They read the letter and were amazed.
—What a powerful man David must be! they said,
Let us send word
To the six kings,
[314] Who are the enemies of Khantout's father.
They sent word to the six kings;
They also sent a letter to David,
Saying: —David, we are on our way.
They brought the letter to David,
He gave it to Khantout.
Khantout read the letter and said to David:
—This is the second letter we received.
They had written once before.
It is a king, Bab of Franks,
Who has written to you.
He is challenging you to a fight.
I did not tell you about the letter
That came before, said Khantout.
I wrote to him without your knowledge,
'If you are coming, come with another king,
You cannot fight David alone.'
I wrote this to frighten him,
So that he would not come and fight you;
But as you see, he is not frightened.
He is coming with his army determined to fight.