 Introduction to the talisman. This is LibriVox Recording, or LibriVox Recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver. The talisman by Sir Walter Scott. Introduction to the talisman. The betrothed did not greatly please one or two friends, who thought that it did not well correspond to the general title of the Crusaders. They urged, therefore, that, without direct allusion to the manners of the Eastern tribes, and to the romantic conflicts of the period, the title of a tale of the Crusaders would resemble the Playbill, which is said to have announced the tragedy of Hamlet, the character of the Prince of Denmark being left out. On the other hand, I felt the difficulty of giving a vivid picture of a part of the world with which I was almost totally unacquainted, unless by early recollections of the Arabian Nights' entertainments. And not only did I labour under the incapacity of ignorance, in which, as far as regards to Eastern manners, I was as thickly wrapped as an Egyptian in his fog. But my contemporaries were, many of them, as much enlightened upon the subject as if they had been inhabitants of the favoured land of Goshen. The love of travelling had pervaded all ranks, and carried the subjects of Britain into all quarters of the world. Greece, so attracted by its remains of arts, by its struggles for freedom against a Muhammadan tyrant, by its very name, for every fountain has its classical legend. Palestine, endeared to the imagination by yet more sacred remembrances, had been of late surveyed by British eyes, and described by recent travellers. Had I, therefore, attempted the difficult task of substituting manners of my own invention, instead of the genuine costume of the East, almost every traveller I met, who had extended his route beyond what was anciently called the Grand Tour, had accrued a right, by ocular inspection, to chastise me for my presumption. Every member of the travellers' club, who could pretend to have thrown his shoe over Edom, was, by having done so, constituted my lawful critic and corrector. It occurred, therefore, that where the author of Anastasias, as well as he of Haj Baba, had described the manners and vices of the Eastern nations, not only with fidelity, but with the humour of Lissage, and the ludicrous power of fielding himself. One, who was a perfect stranger to the subject, must necessarily produce an unfavourable contrast. The poet Laureate also, in the charming tale of Thelba, had shown how extensive might be the researches of a person of acquirements and talent, by dint of investigation alone, into the ancient doctrines, history, and manners of the Eastern countries, in which we are probably to look for the cradle of mankind. More, in his lullarook, had successfully trod the same path, in which, too, Byron, joining ocular experience to extensive reading, had written some of his most attractive poems. In a word, the Eastern themes had been already so successfully handled by those who were acknowledged to be masters of their craft, that I was diffident of making the attempt. These were powerful objections, nor did they lose force when they became the subject of anxious reflection, although they did not finally prevail. The arguments on the other side were, that though I had no hope of rivaling the contemporaries whom I have mentioned, yet it occurred to me as possible to acquit myself of the task I was engaged, without entering into competition with them. The period relating more immediately to the Crusades, which I had last fixed upon, was at which the warlike character of Richard I. Wild and generous, a pattern of chivalry, with all its extravagant virtues, and its no less absurd errors, was opposed to that of Saladin, in which the Christian and English monarch showed all the cruelty and violence of an Eastern sultan, and Saladin, on the other hand, displayed the deep policy and prudence of a European sovereign, whilst each contended which should excel the other in the nice inequalities of bravery and generosity. This singular contrast afforded, as the author conceived, materials for a work of fiction possessing peculiar interest. One of the inferior characters introduced was the supposed relation of Richard Corde Leon, a violation of the truth of history, which gave offence to Mr. Mills, the author of the history of chivalry and the Crusades. Who was not, it may be presumed, aware that romantic fiction naturally includes the power of such invention, which is indeed one of the requisites of the art. Prince David of Scotland, who was actually in the host, and was the hero of some very romantic adventures on his way home, was also pressed into my service, and constitutes one of my dramatist persona. It is true I had already brought upon the field him of the Lionheart, but it was in a more private capacity than he was here to be exhibited in the talisman. Then as the disguised knight, now in the avowed character of a conquering monarch, so that I doubted not a name so dear to Englishmen, as that of King Richard I, might contribute to their amusement for more than once. I had access to all which antiquity believed, whether of reality or fable, on the subject of that magnificent warrior, who was the proudest boast of Europe and their chivalry, and with whose dreadful name the Saracens, according to a historian of their own country, will want to rebuke their startled horses. Do you think, said they, that King Richard is on the track that you stray so wildly from it? The most curious register of the history of King Richard is an ancient romance, translated originally from the Norman, and at first certainly having a pretence to be termed a work of chivalry, but latterly becoming stuffed with the most astonishing and monstrous fables. There is perhaps no metrical romance upon record where, along with curious and genuine history, are mingled more absurd and exaggerated incidents. We have placed in the appendix to this introduction the passage of the romance in which Richard figures as an ogre or literal cannibal. A principal incident in the story is that from which the title is derived. Of all people who ever lived, the Persians were perhaps most remarkable for their unshaken credulity in amulets, spells, peripats, and similar charms, framed it was said, under the influence of particular planets, and bestowing high medical powers, as well as the means of advancing men's fortunes in various manners. A story of this kind relating to a crusader of eminence is often told in the west of Scotland, and the relic alluded to is still inexistent, and even yet held in veneration. Sir Simon Lockhart of Lee and Gartsland made a considerable figure in the reigns of Robert the Bruce and of his son David. He was one of the chief of that band of Scottish chivalry who accompanied James, the good Lord Douglas, on his expedition to the Holy Land with the heart of King Robert Bruce. Douglas, impatient to get at the Saracens, ended into war with those of Spain and was killed there. Lockhart proceeded to the Holy Land with such Scottish knights as had escaped the fate of their leader, and assisted for some time in the wars against the Saracens. The following adventure is said by tradition to have befallen him. He made prisoner in battle an emir of considerable wealth and consequence. The aged mother of the captive came to the Christian camp to redeem her son from his state of captivity. Lockhart is said to have fixed the price at which his prisoner should ransom himself, and the lady, pulling out a large embroidered purse, proceeded to tell down the ransom, like a mother who pays little respect to gold in comparison of her son's liberty. In this operation a pebble inserted in a coin, some say of the lower empire, fell out of the purse, and the Saracen matron testified so much haste to recover it as gave the Scottish knight a high idea of its value when compared with gold or silver. I will not consent, he said, to grant your son's liberty unless it amulet be added to his ransom. The lady not only consented to this, but explained to Sir Simon Lockhart the mode in which the talisman was to be used, and the uses to which it might be put. The water in which it was dipped operated as a styptic, as a fibber-fuge, and possessed other properties as a medical talisman. Sir Simon Lockhart, after much experience of the wonders which it brought, brought it to his own country, and left it to his heirs. By whom, and by Clydesdale in general, it was, and is still, distinguished by the name of the Lee Penny, from the name of his native seat of Lee. The most remarkable part of its history, perhaps, was that it so especially escaped condemnation when the Church of Scotland chose to impeach many other cures which savoured of the miraculous as occasioned by sorcery, and censored the appeal to them. Except in only that the amulet, called the Lee Penny, to which it had pleaded God to annex certain healing values which the Church did not presume to condemn. It still, as has been said, exists, and its powers are sometimes resorted to. Of late they have been chiefly resurrected to cure of persons bitten by mad dogs, and as the illness in such cases frequently arises from imagination, there can be no reason for doubting that water which has been poured on the Lee Penny furnishes a congenial cure, such as the tradition concerning the talisman, which the author has taken the liberty to vary in applying it to his own purposes. Considerable liberties have also been taken with the truth of history, both with respect to Conrad of Montserrat's life as well as his death. That Conrad, however, was reckoned the enemy of Richard, is agreed both in history and romance. The general opinion of the terms upon which they stood may be guessed from the proposal of the Saracens, that the Marques of Montserrat should be invested with certain parts of Syria, which they were to yield to the Christians. Richard, according to the romance which bears his name, could no longer repress his fury. The Marques, he said, was a traitor who would rob the knights of Spitalers of sixty thousand pounds, the present of his father Henry. That he was a renegade whose treachery had occasioned the loss of Akhir. And he concluded by a solemn oath that he would cause him to be drawn to pieces by wild horses, if he should ever venture to pollute the Christian camp by his presence. Philip attempted to intercede in favour of the Marques. And, throwing down his glove, offered to become a pledge for his fidelity to the Christians. But his offer was rejected, and he was obliged to give way to Richard's impetuosity, history of chivalry. Conrad of Montserrat makes a considerable figure in those wars, and was at length put to death by one of the followers of the sheik, or old man of the mountain. Nor did Richard remain free of the suspicions of having instigated his death. It may be said in general that most of the incidents introduced in the following tale are fictitious, and that reality, where it exists, is only retained in the characters of the peace. Abbott's Ford, 1st July, 1832. Appendix to introduction. While warring in the Holy Land, Richard was seized with an agieu. The best leeches of the camp were unable to affect the cure of the king's disease, but the prayers of the army were more successful. He became convalescent, and the first symptom of his recovery was a violent longing for pork. But pork was not likely to be plentiful, in a country whose inhabitants had an abhorrence for swine's flesh, and though his men should be hanged, they may might in that country, for gold, they silver, they no money, no pork fined, take, they get. That King Richard might ought of eat. An old night with Richard bidding, when he heard of that tidying, that the king is once were such, to the steward he spake privilege. Our lord the king's ore is sick, I whisk after pork he longed is. Ye may none find to sell, no man be hardy him so to tell, if he did he might die. Now behooved to done as I shall say, thou he worked not of that, take a Saracen young and fat, in haze let the thief be slain, opened in his skin off-laying, and soddened full hastily with powder and waspice-ery, and with saffron of good colour, when the king fills thereof savour, out of agieu if he bewent. He shall have hitherto good talent, when he has had good taste, and eaten well a good repast, and supp'd of the brewis, a supp, slept after and sweat a drop, through goddess help and my council, soon he shall be fresh and hail. The sooth to say, at word's few, slain and sodden was the heathen shrew. Before the king it was forthbrought, quote his men, Lord we have pork sort, eats and supps of this brewis suit, thorough grace of God it shall be your boot. Before King Richard, calf a night, he ate faster than he carved might. The king ate the flesh and knew the bones, and drank well after for the nonce. And when he had eaten enough, his folk hem turned away, and allow, he lay still and drew in his arm. His chamberlain him wrapped warm, he lay and slept and sweat astound, and became whole and sound. King Richard clad him and arose, and walked a booton in the clothes. An attack of the Saracens was repelled by Richard in person, the consequence of which is told in the following lines. When King Richard had rested a while, a night his arms gone unlace, him to comfort and solace, him was brought a sop in wine. The head of that likes wine. That eye of eight, the cookie bade, for feeble I am and faint and mad, of mine evil now I am fear, serve me therewith at my superee. Quote the cook, that head I may have. Then said the king, so God save me, but I see the head of that swine, for sooth thou shalt lessen thine. The cook saw none other might be. He fit the head and let him see. He fell on knees and made a cry. Lohear the head, my lord, mercy! The cook had certainly some reason to fear that his master would be struck with horror at the recollection of the dreadful banquet to which he owed his recovery. His fears were soon dissipated. The swat face, when the king seeeth, his black beard and white teeth. How his lips grinned wide. What devil is this? the king cried. And gained to laugh as he were wode. What is Saracen's flesh thus good? Thou never e'erst I not twist. By God's death and his upperist shall we never die for default, while we may in any assault. Slee Saracen's the flesh may take, and seeth in and roast in and do hem bake, gnawing her flesh to the bones. Now I have proved it once, for hunger ere I be woe, I and my fork shall eat moe. The besieged now offered to surrender, upon conditions of safety to the inhabitants, while all the public treasure, military machines and arms were delivered to the victors, together with the further ransom of one hundred thousand Byzants. After this capitulation, the following extraordinary scene took place. We shall give it in words of the humorous and amiable George Ellis, to collect around the editor of these romances. Though the garrison had faithfully performed the other articles of their contract, they were unable to restore the cross, which was not in their possession, and were therefore treated by the Christians with great cruelty. Daily reports of their sufferings were carried to the Saladin, and as many of them were persons of the highest distinction, that monarch, at the solicitation of their friends, dispatched an embassy to King Richard with magnificent presence, which he offered for the ransom of the captives. The ambassadors were persons the most respectable from their age, their rank and their eloquence. They delivered their message in terms of the utmost humility, and, without arraigning the justice of the conqueror in his severe treatment of their countrymen, only solicited a period to that severity, laying at his feet the treasures with which they were entrusted, and pledging themselves and their master for the payment of any further sums, which he might demand as the price of mercy. King Richard spoke with words mild, the goal to take God me shield. Among you partace every charge, I brought in ships and in barge, more gold and silver with me, than has you, Lord, and swilke three. To his treasure have I no need, but for my love are you bid, to meet with me that ye dwell, and afterward I shall you tell. Thorough counsel I shall you answer, what bow ye shall to your Lord bear. The invitation was gratefully accepted. Richard, in the meantime, gave secret orders to his marshal that he should repair the prison, select a certain number of the most distinguished captives, and, after carefully noting their names on a roll of parchment, caused their heads to be instantly struck off. That these heads should be delivered to the cook, with instructions to clear away the hair, and, after boiling them in a cauldron, to distribute them on several platters, one to each guest. Observing to fasten on the forehead of each, the piece of parchment expressing the name and family of the victim. And hot head bring me before, as I will well have paid with all. Eat thereof fast I shall, as it were a tender chick, to see how the others were like. This horrible ordeal was punctually executed. At noon the guests were summoned to wash by the music of the walls. The king took his seat by the principal officers of his court, at the high table, and the rest of the company were marshaled at a long table below him. On the cloth were placed portions of salt, at the usual distances, but neither bread, wine nor water. The ambassadors, rather surprised at the submission, but still free from apprehension, awaited in silence the arrival of the dinner, which was announced by the sound of pipes trumpets in taboos. And beheld with horror and dismay the unnatural banquet introduced by the steward and his officers. Yet their sentiments of disgust and abhorrence, and even their fears, were for a long time suspended by their curiosity. The eyes were fixed on the king, who, without the slightest change of countenance, swallowed the mortals as fast as they could be supplied by the night who carved them. Every man then poked other. They said, this is the devil's brother, that slays our man, and thus hems eats. Their attention was then involuntary fixed on the smirking heads before them. They traced in the swollen and distorted features the resemblance of a friend or near-relation, and received from the fatal scroll which accompanied each dish the sad assurance that the resemblance was not imaginary. They sat in torpid silence, anticipating their own fate in that of their countrymen, while their ferocious entertainer, with fury in his eyes, but with courtesy on his lips, insulted them by frequent invitations to merriment. At a length this first course was removed, and its place supplied by venison, cranes, and other dainties, accompanied by the richest wines. The king then apologized to them for what had passed, which he attributed to his ignorance of their taste, and assured them of his religious respect for their characters as ambassadors, and of his readiness to grant them a safe conduct for their return. This boon was all that they now wished to claim, and, King Richard spake to an old man, whence home to use Sudan, his melancholy that yet abate, and says that he came too late, too slowly was your time, my guest, ere ye came the flesh was dressed, that men should and serve with me. Thus at noon am I many. Say him it shall be not avail, that he for bar arse avatale. Bread, wine, fish, flesh, salmon and conger, of us none shall die with hunger, while we may wend into fight, and slay the Saracens downright. Wash the flesh and roast the head. With one Saracen it may well feed well a nine or a ten of my good Christian men. King Richard shall warrant, there is no flesh so nourishment unto an English man. Partridge, plover, heron, nayswain, cow, nayox, sheep, nayswine, as the head of a Saracen. There he is fat, and there too tender, and my men be lean and slender, while any Saracen quick be, liven to now in this Siree. For meat we will nothing care, about and fast we shall rare. And every day we shall eat, all as many as we may get. To England will be nought gone, to lay be eaten every one. Elsie's specimens of early English matricial romances. The reed may be curious to know, owing to what circumstances so extraordinary invention as that which imputes cannibalism to the king of England, should have found its way into his history. Mr. James, to whom we owe so much that is curious, seems to have traced the origin of this extraordinary rumour. With the army of the cross also was a multitude of men, the same all that declares, who made it a profession to be without money. They walked barefoot, carried no arms, and even proceeded the beasts of burden in their march, living upon roots and herbs, and presenting a spectacle both disgusting and pitable. A Norman, who, according to all accounts, was of noble birth, but who, having lost his horse, continued to follow as a foot-solder, took the strange resolution of putting himself at the head of this race of Agobons, who willingly received him as their king. Amongst the Saracens, these men became well-known under the name of Tharfuz, which Ghebert translates Trudentees, and were beheld with great horror from the general persuasion that they fed on the dead bodies of their enemies. A report which was occasionally justified, and which the king of the Tharfuz took care to encourage. This respectable monarch was frequently in the habit of stopping his followers one by one in a narrow defile, and of causing them to be searched carefully, lest the possession of the least sum of money should render them unworthy of the name of his subjects. If even two sows were found upon any one, he was instantly expelled the society of his tribe, the king bidding him contemptuously by arms and fight. This troupe, so far from being cumbersome to the army, was infinitely serviceable, carrying burdens, bringing in forage, provisions and tribute, working the machines and the sieges, and above all spreading consternation among the Turks, who feared death from the lances of the knights, less than the further consummation they heard of under the teeth of the Tharfuz. James's History of Chivalry It is easy to concede that an ignorant minstrel, finding the taste and ferocity of the Tharfuz, commemorated in the historical accounts of the Holy Wars, has ascribed their practices and propensities to the monarch of England, whose ferocity was considered as an object of exaggeration as legitimate as his valour. Herbert'sford 1st July 1832 End of the introduction Chapter 1 of The Talisman This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit therivox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 1 They too retired to the wilderness, but was with arms. Paradise regained. The burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its highest point in the horizon, when a night of the Red Cross, who had left his distant northern home and joined the host of the Crusades in Palestine, was pacing slowly along the sandy deserts which lie in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, or, as it is called, the Lake Asphaltites, where the waves of the Jordan pour themselves into an inland sea, from which there is no discharge of waters. The warlike pilgrim had toiled among cliffs and precipices during the earlier part of the morning. More lately, issuing from those rocky and dangerous defiles, he had entered upon that great plain, where the accursed city provoked, in ancient days, the direct and dreadful vengeance of the omnipotent. The toil, the thirst, the dangers of the way were forgotten, as the traveller recalled the fearful catastrophe which had converted into an arid and dismal wilderness, the fair and fertile valley of Sadim, once well watered, even as the garden of the Lord, now a parched and blighted waste, condemned to eternal sterility. Crossing himself, as he viewed the dark mass of rolling waters, in colour as in duality, unlike those of any other lake, the traveller shuddered, as he remembered that, beneath these sluggish waves, lay the once proud cities of the plain, whose grave was dug by the thunder of the heavens, or the eruption of subterraneous fire, and whose remains were hid, even by that sea which holds no living fish in its bosom, bears no skiff on its surface, and, as if its own dreadful bed were the only fit receptacle for its sullen waters, sends not, like other lakes, a tribute to the ocean. The whole land around, as in the days of Moses, was brimstone and salt. It is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass goeth thereon. The land, as well as the lake, might be termed dead, as producing nothing having resemblance to vegetation, and even the very air was entirely devoid of its ordinary winged inhabitants, deterred probably by the odour of bitumen and sulfur, which the burning sun excelled from the waters of the lake in steaming clouds, frequently assuming the appearance of waterspouts. Masses of the slimy and sulfurous subsins called naphther, which floated idly on the sluggish and sullen waves, supplied those rolling clouds with new vapours, and afforded awful testimony to the truth of the mosaic history. Upon this scene of desolation, the sun shone with almost intolerable splendour, and all living nature seemed to have hidden itself from the rays, except in the solitary figure, which moved through the flitting sand at a foot's pace, and appeared the sole breathing thing on the wide surface of the plain. The dress of the rider and the accoutrements of his horse were peculiarly unfit for the travel in such a country. A coat of linked mail with long sleeves, plated gauntlets, and a steel breastplate, had not been esteemed a sufficient weight of armour. There were also his triangular shield suspended round his neck, and his barred helmet of steel, over which he had a hood and collar of mail, which was drawn around the warrior's shoulders and throat, and filled up the vacancy between the hubric and the headpiece. His lower limbs were sheathed, like his body, in flexible mail, securing the legs and thighs, while the feet rested in plated shoes, which corresponded with the gauntlets. A long, broad, straight-shaped double-edged falchion, with a handle formed like a cross, corresponded with the stout poignard on the other side. The knight also bore, secured to his saddle, with one end resting on his stirrup, the long steel-headed lance, his own proper weapon, which, as he rode, projected backwards and displayed its little penicill, to dally with the faint breeze, or drop in the dead calm. To this cumbrous equipment must be added a circuit of embroidered cloth, much frayed and worn, which was thus far useful that it excluded the burning rays of the sun from the armour, which they would otherwise have rendered intolerable to the wearer. The circuit bore in several places the arms of the owner, although much defaced. These seemed to be a couchant leopard, with the motto, I sleep, wake me not. An outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost effaced the painting. The flat top of his cumbreous cylindrical helmet was unadorned with any crest. In retaining their own unwieldy defensive armour, the northern crusaders seemed to set a defiance at the nature of the climate and country to which they had come to war. The accoutrements of the horse were scarcely less massive and unwieldy than those of the rider. The animal had a heavy saddle, plated with steel, uniting in front with a species of breastplate, and behind with defensive armour made to cover the lines. There was a steel axe, or hammer, called a mace of arms, and which hung to the saddle-bow. The reins were secured by chainwork, and the front stall of the bridle was a steel plate, with apertures for the eyes and nostrils, having in the midst a short, sharp pike, projecting from the forehead of the horse like the horn of the fabulous unicorn. Bert habited made the endurance of this load of panoply a second nature, both to the knight and his gallant charger. Numbers indeed of the western warriors who hurried to Palestine died ere they became manure to the burning climate. But there were others to whom that climate became innocent and even friendly. And among this fortunate number was the solitary horseman, who now traversed the border of the Dead Sea. Nature, which cast his limbs in the mould of uncommon strength, fitted to where his linked hubric with as much ease as if the meshes had been formed of cobwebs, heading down to him with a constitution as strong as his limbs, and which bade defiance to almost all changes of climate, as well as to fatigue and privations of every kind. His disposition seemed, in some degree, to partake of the qualities of his bodily frame. And as the one possessed great strength and endurance, united with the power of violent exertion, the other, under a calm and undisturbed semblance, had much of the fiery and enthusiastic love of glory, which constituted the principal attribute of the renowned Norman line, and had rendered them sovereigns in every corner of Europe, where they had drawn their adventurous swords. It was not, however, to all the race that fortune proposed such tempting rewards, and to those obtained by the solitary night, during two years' campaign in Palestine, had been only temporal fame. And, as he was taught to believe, spiritual privileges. Meantime his slender stock of money had melted away, the rather that he did not pursue any of the ordinary modes by which the followers of the crusade condescended to recruit the diminished resources at the expense of the people of Palestine. He exacted no gifts from the wretched natives for sparing their possessions when engaged in warfare with the Saracens, and he had not availed himself of any opportunity of enriching himself by the ransom of prisoners of consequence. The small train which had followed him from his native country had been gradually diminished, as the means of maintaining them disappeared, and his only remaining squire was at present on a sick bed and unable to attend his master, who travelled as we have seen, singly and alone. This was of little consequence to the crusader, who was accustomed to consider his good sword as his safest escort, and devout thoughts as his best companion. Nature had, however, her demands for refreshment and repose even on the iron frame and patient disposition of the night of the sleeping leopard. And at noon, when the dead sea lay at some distance on his right, he joyfully hailed the sight of two or three palm trees, which arose beside the well which was assigned for his midday station. His good horse, too, which had plodded forward with the steady endurance of his master, now lifted his head, expanded his nostrils, and quickened his pace, as if he snuffed afar off the living waters, which marked the place of repose and refreshment. But labour and danger would doom to intervene ere the horse or horseman reached the desired spot, as the night of the crusant leopard continued to fix his eyes attentively on the yet distant cluster of palm trees. It seemed to him as if some object was moving among them. The distant form separated itself from the trees, which partly hid its motions, and advanced towards the night, with a speed which soon showed a mounted horseman, whom his turban, long spear, and green kaftan floating in the wind, on his nearer approach showed to be a Saracen cavalier. In the desert, saith an eastern proverb, no man meets a friend. The crusader was totally indifferent whether the infidel, who now appeared on his gallant barb as if born on the wings of an eagle, came as friend or foe. Perhaps as a vowed champion of the cross he might rather have preferred the latter. He disengaged his lance from his saddle, seized it with the right hand, placed it in rest with its point half elevated, gathered up the reins in the left, walked his horse's metal with the spur, and prepared to encounter the stranger with the calm self-confidence belonging to the victor in many contests. The Saracen came on as the speedy gallop of an Arab horseman, managing his steed more by his limbs than the infliction of his body, than by any use of the reins, which hung loose in his left hand. So that he was able to wield the light roundbuckler of the skin of the rhinoceros, ornamented with silver loops which he bore on his arm, swinging it as if he meant to oppose its slender circle to the formidable thrust of the western lance. His own spear was not couched or levelled, like that of his antagonist, but grasped by the middle with his right hand, and brandished at arm's length above his head. As the cavalier approached his enemy at full career, he seemed to expect that the knight of the leopard should put his horse to the gallop to encounter him. But the Christian knight, well acquainted with the customs of Eastern warriors, did not mean to exhaust his good horse by any unnecessary exertion, and on the contrary made a dead halt. Confident that if the enemy advanced to the actual shock, his own weight and that of his powerful charger would give him sufficient advantage without the additional momentum of rapid motion. Equally sensible and apprehensive of such a probable result, the Saracen cavalier, when he had approached towards the Christian, within twice the length of his lance, wheeled his steed to the left with inimitable dexterity, and rode twice around his antagonist, who, turning without quitting his ground, and presenting his front constantly to his enemy, frustrated his attempts to attack him on an unguarded point, so that the Saracen, wheeling his horse, was feigned to retreat to the distance of a hundred yards. A second time, like a hawk attacking a heron, the heathen renewed the charge, and a second time was feigned to retreat without coming close to a struggle. A third time he approached in the same manner when the Christian knight desirous to terminate this illusory warfare in which he might at length have been worn out by the activity of his foemen, suddenly seized the mace which hung at his saddle-bow, and with a strong hand and unerring aim, hurled it against the head of the emir. For such, and not less, his enemy appeared. The Saracen was just aware of the formidable missile in time to interpose his light-buckler betwixt the mace and his head. But the violence of the blow forced the buckler down on his turban, and though that defence also contributed to dead in its violence, the Saracen was beaten from his horse. ere the Christian could avail himself of this mishap, his nimble foemen sprang from the ground, and, calling on his steed, which instantly returned to his side, he leapt into his seat without touching the stirrup, and regained all the advantage of which the knight of the leopard hoped to deprive him. But the latter had, in the meanwhile, recovered his mace, and the eastern cavalier, who remembered the strength and dexterity with which his antagonist had aimed it, seemed to keep cautiously out of reach of that weapon, of which he had so lately felt the force, while he showed a purpose of waging a distant warfare with missile weapons of his own. Planting his long spear in the sand at a distance from the scene of combat, he strung with great address a short bow which he carried at his back, and, putting his horse to the gallop, once more described two or three circles of a wider extent than formerly, in the course of which he discharged six arrows at the Christian with such an erring skill that the goodness of his harness alone saved him from being wounded in as many places. The seventh sharth apparently found a less perfect part of the armour, and the Christian dropped heavily from his horse. But what was the surprise of the Saracen, when, dismounting to examine the condition of his prostrate enemy, he found himself suddenly within the grasp of the European, who had had recourse to this artifice to bring his enemy within his reach. Even in this deadly grapple the Saracen were saved by his agility and presence of mind. He unleashed the sword-belt in which the knight of the leopard had fixed his hold, and thus eluding his fatal grasp, mounted his horse, which seemed to watch his motions with the intelligence of a human being, and again rode off. But in the last encounter the Saracen had lost his sword and his quiver of arrows, both of which were attached to the girdle which he was obliged to abandon. He had also lost his turban in the struggle. These disadvantages seemed to incline the Muslim to a truce. He approached the Christian with his right hand extended, but no longer in a menacing attitude. There is a truce betwixt our nations. He said, in the Lingu Franca, commonly used for the purpose of communication with the crusaders, wherefore should there be war betwixt thee and me? Let there be peace betwixt us. I am well contented. Answered he of the Cruciant Leopard. But what security dost thou offer that thou wilt observe the truce? The word of a follower of the prophet was never broken. Answered the Amir. It is thou brave Nazarene, for whom I should demand security. Did I not know that trees in seldom dwells with courage? The crusader felt that the confidence of the Muslim made him ashamed of his own doubts. By the cross of my sword, he said, laying his hand on the weapon as he spoke, I will be a true companion to thee, Saracen, while our fortune wills that we remain in company together. By Mohammed, prophet of God, and by Allah, God of the prophet, replied his late foeman, there is not treachery in my heart towards thee, and now when dwee to yonder fountain, for the hour of rest is at hand, and the stream had hardly touched my lip when I was called to battle by thy approach. The night of the Cruciant Leopard yielded a ready and courteous assent, and the late foes, without an angry look or gesture of doubt, rode side by side to the little cluster of palm trees. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of the Talisman This is Librivox Recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. Chapter 2 Times of danger have always, and in peculiar degree, their seasons of goodwill and security. And this was particularly so in the ancient feudal ages, in which, as the manners of the period had assigned war to be the chief and most worthy occupation of mankind, the intervals of peace, or rather of truce, were highly relished by those warriors to whom they were seldom granted, and endeared by the very circumstances which rendered them transitory. It is not worth while preserving any permanent enmity against a foe whom a champion has fought with today, and may again stand in bloody opposition to one the next morning. The time and situation afforded so much room for the abolition of violent passions, that men, unless when peculiarly opposed to each other, or provoked by the recollection of private and individual wrongs, cheerfully enjoyed in each other's society the brief intervals of pacific intercourse which a warlike life admitted. The distinction of religions, nay, the fanatical zeal which animated the followers of the cross and of the crescent against each other, was much softened by a feeling so natural to generous combatants, and especially cherished by the spirit of chivalry. This last strong impulse had extended itself gradually from the Christians to their mortal enemies the Saracens, both of Spain and of Palestine. The letter were, indeed, no longer the fanatical savages who had burst from the centre of Arabian deserts with the sabre in one hand and the Quran in the other to inflict death or the faith of Muhammad, or, at the best, slavery and tribute, upon all who dared to oppose the belief of the Prophet of Mecca. These alternatives, indeed, had been offered to the unwarlike Greeks and Syrians, but in contending with the Western Christians, animated by a zeal as fiery as their own, and possessed of as unconquerable courage, address and success in arms, the Saracens gradually caught a part of their manners, and especially of those chivalrous observances which were so well calculated to charm the minds of a proud and conquering people. They had their tournaments and games of chivalry, they had even their nights, or some rank analogous, and, above all, the Saracens observed their plighted faith with an accuracy which might sometimes put to shame those who owned a better religion. Their truces, whether national or betwixt individuals, were faithfully observed. Unlasted was that war, in itself perhaps the greatest of evils, yet gave occasion for display of good faith, generosity, clemency, and even kindly affections, which less frequently occur in more tranquil periods, whether passions of men, experiencing wrongs, or entertaining quarrels which cannot be brought to instant decision, are apt to smolder for a length of time in the bosoms of those who are so unhappy as to be their prey. It was under the influence of these milder feelings, which soften the horrors of warfare, that the Christian and Saracen, who had so lately done their best for each other's mutual destruction, rode to slow pace towards the fountain of palm trees, to which the night of the cruciant leopard had been tending, when interrupted in mid-passage by his fleet and dangerous adversary. Each was wrapped for some time in his own reflections, and took breath after an encounter, which had threatened to be fatal to one or both. And their good horses seemed no less to enjoy the interval of repose. That of the Saracen, however, though he had been forced into much the more violent and extended sphere of motion, appear to have suffered less from fatigue than the charger of the European night. The sweat hung still clammy on the limbs of the latter, when those of the noble Arab were completely dried by the interval of tranquil exercise, all saving the foam flakes which were still visible on his bridal and housings. The loose soil on which he trod so much augmented the distress of the Christian's horse, heavily loaded by his own armour and the weight of his rider, put the latter jumped from his saddle, and led his charger along the deep dust in the loamy soil, which was burnt in the sun into a substance more impalpable than the finest sand, and thus gave the faithful horse refreshment at the expense of his own additional toil. For, iron sheathed as he was, he sunk over the male shoes at every step which he placed on a surface so light and unresisting. You are right," said the Saracen, and it was the first word that either had spoken since their truce was concluded. Your strong horse deserves your care. But what do you do in the desert with an animal which sinks over the fetch-lock at every step, as if you would plant each foot deep as the root of a date-tree? Thou speakest rightly, Saracen," said the Christian Knight, not delighted at the tone with which the infidel criticised his favourite steed. Rightly, according to thy knowledge and observation, but my good horse Hathir now borne me in mine own land, over as wide a lake as thou seeest yonder spread out behind us, yet not wet one hair above his hoof. The Saracen looked at him with as much surprise as his manners permitted him to testify, which was only expressed by a slight approach to a disdainful smile, that hardly curled perceptibly the broad, thick moustache which enveloped his upper lip. It is justly spoken," he said, instantly composing himself to his usual serene gravity, list to a frank and hierophable. Thou art not courteous, Miss Believer," replied the Crusader, to doubt the word of a dub knight, and were it not that thou speakest in ignorance and not in malice, our truce had its ending ere it as well begun. Think as thou I tell thee an untruth when I say that I, one of five hundred horsemen armed in complete mail, have ridden, I and ridden for miles, upon water as solid as the crystal, and ten times less brittle. What words thou tell me," answered the Muslim, yonder in land sea thou dost point out is peculiar in this. That, by the especial curse of God, it suffers nothing to sink in its waves, but wafts them away, and cast them on its margin. But neither the Dead Sea, nor any of the seven oceans which invari in the earth, will endure on their surface the pressure of a horse's foot, more than the Red Sea endure to sustain the advance of Pharaoh and his host. You speak truth after your knowledge, Saracen," said the Christian Knight, and yet, trust me, I fable not according to mine. Heat in this climate converts the soil into something almost as unstable as water, and in my land cold often converts the water itself into a substance as hard as rock. Let us speak of this no longer, for the thoughts of the calm, clear, blue refulgence of a winter's lake, glimmering to stars and moon-beam, aggravate the horrors of this fiery desert. Wormy thinks the very air which we breathe is like the vapor of its fiery furnace, seven times heated. The Saracen looked on him with some attention, as if to discover in what sense he was to understand words which, to him, must have appeared either to contain something of mystery, or of imposition. At length he seemed determined in what manner to receive the language of his new companion. You are, he said, of a nation that loves to laugh, and you make sport with yourselves and with others by telling what is impossible, and reporting what never chanced. Thou art one of the Knights of France who hold it for glee and pastime to gab, as they term it, of exploits that are beyond human power. Open bracket. Gabba, this French word signified a sort of sport much used among the French chivalry, which consisted in firing with each other, who make in the most romantic gaskinades. The verb and the meaning are retained in Scottish. Close brackets. I were wrong to challenge for the time, the privilege of thy speech, since boasting is more natural to thee than truth. I am not of their land, neither of their fashion. Said the Knight. Which is, as thou well sayest, to gab of that which they dare not undertake, or undertaking cannot perfect. But in this I have imitated their folly, Bray Saracen, that in talking to thee of what thou canst not comprehend. I have, even in speaking, my simple truth, fully incurred the character of a bracket in thy eyes. So pray you, let my words pass. They had now arrived at the knot of palm trees, and the fountain which welled out from beneath their shade in sparkling profusion. We have spoken of a moment of truth in the midst of a war, and this, a spot of beauty in the midst of a sterile desert, will scarce less dear to the imagination. It was a scene which, perhaps, would elsewhere have deserved little notice. But as a single speck in a boundless horizon, which promised the refreshment of shade in living water, these blessings, held cheap where they are common, rendered the fountain in its neighbourhood a little paradise. Some generous or charitable hand, ere yet the evil days of Palestine began, had walled in and art'd over the fountain, to preserve it from being absorbed in the earth, or choked by the flitting clouds of dust, with which the last breath of wind covered the desert. The art was now broken and partly ruinous, but is still so far projected over and covered in the fountain, that it excluded the sun in a great measure from its waters. Which, hardly touched by a straggling beam, while all around was blazing, lay in a steady repose, alike delightful to the eye and to the imagination. Stealing from under the arch, they were first received in a marble basin, much defaced indeed, but still cheering the eye, by showing that the place was anciently considered as a station, that the hand of man had been there, and that man's accommodation had been in some measure attended to. The thirsty and weary traveller was reminded by these signs, that others had suffered similar difficulties, reposed in the same spot, and doubtless, found their way in safety to a more fertile country. Again this scarce visible current which escaped from the basin, served to nourish the few trees which surrounded the fountain, and where it sunk into the ground and disappeared, its refreshing presence was acknowledged, by a carpet of velvet fordure. In this delightful spot the two warriors halted, and each after his own fashion, proceeded to relieve his horse from saddle, bit and rain, and permitted the animals to drink at the basin. Here they refreshed themselves from the fountain-head, which arose under the vault. Then they suffered the steeds to go loose, confident that their interest, as well as their domesticated habits, would prevent their strain from the pure water and fresh grass. Christian and Saracen next sat down together on the turf, and produced each the smaller lounge of the store which they carried for their own refreshment. Yet, ere they severally proceeded to their scanty meal, they eyed each other with that curiosity, which the close and doubtful conflict in which they had been so lately engaged, was calculated to inspire. Each was desirous to measure the strength, and form some estimate of the character of an adversary so formidable, and each was compelled to acknowledge that, had he fallen in the conflict, it had been by a noble hand. The champions formed a striking contrast to each other in person and features, and might have formed no inaccurate representatives of their different nations. The Frank seemed a powerful man, built after the ancient Gothic cast of form, with light brown hair, which, on the removal of his helmet, was seen to curl thick and profusely over his head. His features had acquired, from the hot climate, a hue much darker than those parts of his neck which were less frequently exposed to view, or than was warranted by his full and well-opened blue eye, the colour of his hair, and of the mustaches which thickly shaded his upper lip, while his chin was carefully divested of beard after the Norman fashion. His nose was greasian and well-formed, his mouth rather large in proportion, filled with well-set, strong and beautifully white teeth, his head small and sat upon the neck with much grace. His age could not exceed thirty. But of the effects of toil and climate were allowed for, he might be three or four years under that period. His form was tall, powerful, and athletic, like that of a man whose strength might, in later life, become unwieldy, but which was hither or united with lightness and activity. His hands, when he withdrew the mailed gloves, were long, fair and well-proportioned, the wrist bones peculiarly large and strong, and the arms remarkably well-shaped and brawny. A military hardy-hood and careless frankness of expression characterised his language and his motions, and his voice had the tone of one more custom to command than to obey, and who was in the habit of expressing his sentiments aloud and boldly, whenever he was called upon to announce them. The Saracen Amir formed a marked and striking contrast with the Western Crusader. His statue was indeed above the middle size, but he was at least three inches shorter than the European, whose size approached the gigantic. His slender limbs and long, spare hands and arms, though well-proportioned to his person, and suited to the style of his countenance, did not at first aspect promise the display of vigor and elasticity, which the Amir had lately exhibited. But on looking more closely, his limbs were exposed to view, seemed divested of all that was fleshy or cumbersome, so that nothing being left but bone, brawn and sinew, it was a frame fitted for exertion and fatigue, far beyond that of a bulky champion, whose strength and size are counterbalanced by weight, and who is exhausted by his own exertions. The countenance of the Saracen naturally bore a general national resemblance to the Eastern tribe from whom he descended, and was as unlike as possible to the exaggerated terms in which the minstrels of the day were want to represent the infidel champions, and the fabulous description which a sister art still presents as the Saracen's head upon signposts. His features were small, well-formed and delicate, though deeply and browned by the Eastern sun, and terminated by a flowing and curled black beard, which seemed trimmed with peculiar care. The nose was straight and regular, the eyes keen, deep-set, black and glowing, and his teeth equaled in beauty the ivory of his deserts. The person and portions of the Saracen, in short, stretched on the turf near to his powerful antagonist, might have been compared to his sheenie and crescent-formed sabre, with its narrow and light but bright and keen Damascus blade, contrasted with the long and ponderous Gothic war-sword, which was flung and buckled on the same sod. The amir was in the very flower of his age, and might perhaps have been termed eminently beautiful. But with the narrowness of his forehead, and something of too much thinness and sharpness of feature, or at least what might have seemed such in a European estimate of beauty. The manners of the Eastern Wario were grave, graceful and decorous, indicating, however, in some particulars, the habitual restraint, which men of warm and choleric tempers often set as a guard upon their native impetuosity of disposition, and at the same time a sense of his own dignity, which seemed to impose a certain formality or behaviour in him who entertained it. This haughty feeling of superiority was perhaps equally entertained by his new European acquaintance, but the effect was different. And the same feeling which dictated to the Christian knight, a bold, blunt and somewhat careless bearing, as one too conspicuous of his own importance to be anxious about the opinions of others, appeared to prescribe to the Saracen a style of courtesy more studiously and formally observant to ceremony. Both were courtious. But the courtesy of the Christian seemed to flow from a good human sense of what was due to others, that of the Muslim, from a high feeling of what was to be expected from himself. The provision which each had made for his refreshment was simple, but the meal of the Saracen was abstemious. A handful of dates and a morsel of course barely bred suffice to relieve the hunger of the latter, whose education had habituated them to the fare of the desert. Although, since their Syrian conquests, the Arabian simplicity of life frequently gave place to the most unbounded profusion of luxury. A few drafts from the lovely fountain by which they reposed completed his meal. That of the Christian, though coarse, was more genial. Dried hog's flesh, the abomination of the Muslim, was the chief part of his repast, and his drink, derived from a leavened bottle, contained something better than pure element. He fared with more display of appetite and drank with more appearance or satisfaction than the Saracen judged it becoming to show the performance of a mere bodily function. And doubtless, the secret contempt which each entertained for the other, as the follower of a false religion, was considerably increased by the marked difference of their diet and manners. But each had found the way to his opponent's arm, and the mutual respect which the bold struggle had created was sufficient to subdue other and inferior considerations. Yet the Saracen could not help remarking the circumstances, which displeased him in the Christian's conduct and manners. And, after he had witnessed for some time in silence, the keen appetite which projected the night's banquet, long after his own was concluded, he thus addressed him. Valiant Nazarene, is it fitting that one who can fight like a man should feed like a dog or a wolf? Even a misbelieving Jew would shudder at the food which you seemed to eat with as much relish as if it were fruit from the trees of paradise. Valiant Saracen, answered the Christian, looking up with some surprise at the accusation thus unexpectedly brought, know thou that I exercised my Christian freedom in using that which is forbidden to the Jews, being as they esteem themselves under the bondage of the old law of Moses. We, Saracen, be it known to thee, have a better warrant for what we do. Ave Maria, be we thankful. And, as if in defiance of his companion's scruples, he concluded a short Latin grace, with a long draft from the leaven bottle. That, too, you call a part of your liberty. Said the Saracen, and as he feeds like the brutes, so you degrade yourself to the bestial condition by drinking a poisonous liqueur which even they refuse. No, foolish Saracen, replied the Christian without hesitation, that thou blasphemest the gifts of God, even with the blasphemy of thy fatherish male. The juice of the grape is given to him that will use it wisely, as that which cheers the heart of man after toil refreshes him in sickness and comforts him in sorrow. He who so enjoyed it may thank God for his wine-cup as for his daily bread, and he who abuses the gift of heaven is not a greater fool in his intoxication than thou in thine abstinence. The keen eye of the Saracen kindled at the sarcasm, and his hand sought the hilt of his poignard. It was but a momentary thought, however, and died away in the reconciliation of the powerful champion with whom he had to deal, and the desperate grapple, the impression of which still throbbed in his limbs and veins. And he contended himself with pursuing this contest in colloquy as more convenient for the time. Thy words, he said, O Nazarene, might create anger, did not thy ignorance raise compassion? Seize thou not, O thou more blind than any who asks arms at the door of the mosque, that the liberty thou dost boast of is restrained even in that which is dearest to man's happiness and to his household. And that thy law, if thou dost practise it, binds thee in marriage to one single mate. Be she sick or healthy, be she fruitful or barren, bring she comfort and joy or clamour and strife, to thy table and to thy bed. This Nazarene I do indeed call slavery. Whereas to the faithful hath the prophet assigned upon earth the patriarchal privileges of Abraham, our father, and of Solomon the wisest of mankind, having given us here a succession of beauty at our pleasure, and beyond the grave the black-eyed horrors of paradise. Now, by his name that I most reverence in heaven, said the Christian, and by her to my most worship on earth, thou art but blinded in a bewildered infidel. That diamond-signet which thou wearest on thy finger, thou holdest it doubtless as of inestimable value. Thou sawer and Baghdad cannot show the like, replied the Saracen. But what avails it to our purpose? Much, replied the Frank, as thou shalt thyself confess. Take my war-axe and dash the stone into twenty shivers. Would each fragment be as valuable as the original gem, or would they, all collected, bear the tenth part of its estimation? That is a child's question. Answered the Saracen, the fragments of such a stone would not equal the entire jewel in the degree of hundreds to one. Saracen, replied the Christian warrior, the love which a true knight binds on one only, fair and faithful, is the gem entire. The affection thou flingest among thy enslaved wives and half-wedded slaves is worthless comparatively, as the sparkling shivers of the broken diamond. Now, by the holy Kabbar, said the Amir, thou art a madman who hugs his chain of iron as if it were of gold. Look more closely. This ring of mine would lose half its beauty, where it did not the signet encircled and encased with these lesser brilliance, which grace it and set it off. The central diamond is man, firm and entire, his value depending on himself alone. And this circle of lesser jewels are women, borrowing his luster, which he deals out to them as best suits his pleasure or his convenience. Take the central stone from the signet, and the diamond itself remains as valuable as ever, while the lesser gems are comparatively of little value. And this is the true reading of thy parable. For what sayeth the poet Monsau? It is the favour of man which giveth beauty and comeliness to women, as the stream glitters longer when the sun seeth to shine. Saracen, replied the Crusader, thou speakest like one who never saw a woman worthy the affection of a soldier. Believe me, because thou look upon those of Europe, to whom, after heaven, we of the Nordic knighthood valfality and devotion, thou wouldst loathe for ever the poor central slaves who form thy harem. The beauty of our fair ones gives point to our spears and edge to our swords. Their words are our law, and as soon when a lamp shed lustre when unkindled, as a knight distinguished himself by feats of arms, having no mistress of his affection. I have heard of this frenzy among the warriors of the West," said the Amir, and have ever accounted at one of the accompanying symptoms of that insanity which brings you hither to obtain possession of an empty sepulcher. But yet, me thinks, so highly of the Franks whom I have met with extolled the beauty of their women, I could well be contented to behold with mine own eyes those charms which can transform such brave warriors into the tools of their pleasure. Very Saracen said the knight, if I were not on a pilgrimage to the holy sepulcher, it should be my pride to conduct you, on assurance of safety, to the camp of Richard of England, than whom none knows better how to do honour to a noble foe. And though I be poor and unattended, yet of my interest is secure for thee, or only such as thou seemest, not safety only, but respect and esteem. There should as thou see several of the fairest beauties of France and Britain, form a small circle, the brilliancy of which exceeds ten thousand fold the lustre of mines of diamonds such as thine. Now, by the cornerstone of the cabare, said the Saracen, accept thy invitation as freely as it is given. If thou wilt postpone thy present intent, and credit me brave Nazarene, it were better for thyself to turn back thy horse's head towards the camp of thy people, for to travel towards Jerusalem without a passport is but a willful casting away of thy life. I have a pass. Answer the knight, producing a parchment, under Saladin's hand and signet. The Saracen bent his head to the dust, as he recognised the seal and handwriting of the renowned soul-dan of Egypt and Syria, and having kissed the paper with profound respect, he pressed it to his forehead, then returned it to the Christian, saying, Rash Frank, thou hast sinned against thine own blood and mine, for not shown this to me when we met. You came with a levelled spear, said the knight. Had a troop of Saracen so assailed me, it might have stood with my honour to have shown the soul-dan's pass, but never to one man. And yet one man, said the Saracen haughtily, was enough to interrupt your journey. True, brave Muslim, replied the Christian, but there are few such as thou art. Such falcons fly not in flocks, or if they do, they pounce not in numbers upon one. Thou dostest but justice, said the Saracen, evidently gratified by the compliment, as he'd been touched by the implied scorn of the European's previous boast. From us thou shouldest have had no wrong. But while it was for me that I failed to slay thee, with the safeguard of the king of kings upon thy person, certain it were that the court or the sabre had justly avenged such guilt, I am glad to hear that its influence shall be availing to me, said the knight, for I have heard that the road is connected with rubber tribes, who regard nothing in comparison of an opportunity of plunder. The truth has been told to thee, brave Christian, said the Saracen, but I swear to thee, by the turban of the prophet, that should as thou must carry in any hunt to such villains, I will myself undertake thy revenge with five thousand horse. I will slay every man of them, and send their women to such distant captivity, that the name of their tribe shall never again be heard within five hundred miles of Damascus. I will so assault the foundations of their village, and there shall never life thing dwell there, even from that time forward. I had rather the trouble which you designed for yourself were in revenge of some other more important person than of me, noble Amir, replied the knight, that my vow is recorded in heaven, for good or for evil, and I must be indebted to you for pointing me out of the way to the place for this evening. That, said the Saracen, must be under the black covering of my father's tent. This night, answered the Christian, I must pass in prayer and patience with the holy man, Theodoric of Vingadi, who dwells amongst these worlds, and spends his life in the service of God. I will at least so use safe thither, said the Saracen. That, a pleasant convoy for me, said the Christian, yet might endanger the future security of the good father, for the cruel hand of your people has been read with the blood of the servants of the Lord, and therefore do we come hither in plate and mail, with sword and lance, to open the road to the holy sepulcher, and protect the chosen saints and anchorites, who yet dwell in this land of promise and of miracle. Nazarene, said the Muslim, in this the Greeks and Syrians have much belied us, seeing we do but after the word of Abu-Bakr Al-Waqail, the successor of the prophet, and after him the first commander of true believers. Go forth, he said, Yazid Ben-Sofian, when he sent that renowned general to take Syria from the infidels. Quit yourself like men in battle, but slay neither the aged, the infirm, the women or the children. Waste not the land, neither destroy corn and fruit trees. They are the gifts of Allah. Keep faith when you have made any covenant, even if it be to your own harm. If you find holy men laboring with their hands, and serving God in the desert, hurt them not, neither destroy their dwellings. But when you find them with shaven crowns, they are of the synagogue of Satan. Smite with the sabre, slay, seize not till they become believers or tributaries. As the caliph, companion of the prophet, hath told us, so have we done, and those whom our justice has smitten are but the priests of Satan. Burnt unto the good men who, without stirring up nation against nation, worships sincerely in the faith of Vissar Ben-Mariam, we are a shadow and a shield, and such being he whom you seek, even though the light of the prophet has not reached him, from me he will have only love, favour, and regard. This anchorite, whom I would now visit, said the warlike pilgrim, is, I have heard, no priest. But were he of that anointed in sacred order, I would prove with my good glance against Pinem and Infidel. Let us not defy each other, brother," interrupted the Saracen. We shall find, either of us, the people of Muslim, on whom to exercise both sword and lance. This theodoric is protected both by Turk and Arab, and, though one as strange conditions at intervals, yet on the whole he bears himself so well as the follower of his own prophet that he merits the protection of him who was sent. Now, by our Lady Saracen, exclaimed the Christian, it thou darest name in the same breath the camel-driver of Mecca with an electrical shock of passion thrilled through the form of the Amir. But it was only momentary, and the calmness of his reply had both dignity and reason in it, and he said, slander not him who thou knowest not, the rather that we venerate the founder of thy religion, while we condemn the doctrine which your priests have spun from it. I will myself guide thee to the cavern of the Hermit, which, me thinks without my help, is a hard matter to reach. And on the way let us leave to mullahs and to monks to dispute about the divinity of our faith, and speak on themes which belong to youthful warriors, upon battles, upon beautiful women, upon sharp swords, and upon bright armour. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Part 1 of the Talisman This is the LibriFox recording, all LibriFox recordings are in the public domain. For more information on to volunteer, please visit LibriFox.org Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 3 Part 1 The warriors arose from their place of brief rest and simple refreshment, and cautiously aided each other while they carefully replaced and adjusted, the harness from which they had relieved for the time their trusty steeds. Each seemed familiar with an employment which, at that time, was a part of necessary and, indeed, of indispensable duty. Each also seemed to possess, as far as the difference between the animal and the rational species admitted, the confidence and attention of the horse, which was the constant companion of his travels and his warfare. With the Saracen, this familiar intimacy was a part of his early habits. With the Saracen, this familiar intimacy was a part of his early habits. Four, in the tents of the Eastern military tribes, the horse of the soldier ranks next to and almost equal in importance with his wife and his family. And with the European warrior, circumstances and, indeed, necessity, rendered his warhorse scarcely less than his brother in arms. The steeds, therefore, suffered themselves quietly to be taken from their food and liberty, and naved and sniffed fondly around their masters, while they were adjusting their accoutrements for further travel and additional toil. And each warrior, as he prosecuted his own task or assisted with courtesy his companion, looked with observant curiosity at the equipments of his fellow traveller, and noted particularly what struck him as peculiar in the fashion in which he arranged his riding accoutrements. Here they remounted to resume their journey. The Christian knight again moistened his lips, and dipped his hands in the living fountain, and said to his pagan associate of the journey, I would I knew the name of this delicious fountain, that I might hold in it my grateful remembrance, for never did water slake more deliciously a more oppressive thirst than I have this day experienced. It is called in the Arabic language, answered the Saracen, by a name which signifies the diamond of the desert. And well it is so named, replied the Christian. My native valley have a thousand springs, but not to one of them shall I attach hereafter such precious recollation as to this solitary fountain, which bestows its liquid treasures where they are not only delightful, but nearly indispensable. You say truth, said the Saracen, for the curse is still on yonder sea of death, and neither man has the strength of its waves, nor of the river which feeds without filling it, until his inhospitable desert be passed. They mounted and pursued their journey across the sandy waste. The ardour of noon was now passed, and a light breeze somewhat alleviated the terrors of the desert. Though not without bearing on its wings an impoverable dust, which the Saracen little heeded, though his heavily armoured companion felt it as such an annoyance, the tea hung his iron cask at his saddle-bow, and substituted the light-riding cap, termed in the language of the time a mortier, from its resemblance in shape to an ordinary mortar. They rode together for some time in silence. The Saracen performed in the part of director and guide of the journey, which he did by observing minute marks and bearings in the distant rocks, to a ridge of which they were gradually approaching. For a little time he seemed absorbed in the task, as a pilot when navigating a vessel through a difficult channel. But they had not proceeded half a league when he seemed secure of his route, and disposed, with even more frankness than was usual to his nation, to enter into conversation. You have asked the name, he said, of a mute fountain, which hath the semblance but not the reality of a living thing. Let me be pardoned to ask the name of the companion with whom I have this day encountered, both in danger and repose, and which I cannot fancy unknown even here among the deserts of Palestine. It is not yet worth publishing," said the Christian. Now, however, that among the soldiers of the cross I am called Kenneth. Kenneth of the Couching Leopard. At home I have other titles, but they would sound harsh in an eastern ear. Brave Saracen, let me ask the tribes of Arabia, claims your descent, and by what name you are known? Sir Kenneth, said the Muslim, I joy that your name is such as my lips can easily utter. For me, I am no Arab, yet derive my descent from a line neither less wild nor less warlike. No, Sir Knight of the Leopard, the Timesharkov, the line of the mountain, and that Kurdistan from which I derive my descent holds no family more noble than that of Seljuk. I have heard," answered the Christian, that your great Saldan claims his blood from the same source. Thanks to the prophet that hath so far honoured our mountains his descent from their bosom, him whose word is victory," answered the pinyin, I am but as a worm before the king of Egypt and Syria, and yet in my own land something my name may avail. Stranger, with how many men by my faith, said Sir Kenneth, with aid of friends and kinsmen, I was hardly pinched to furnish forth ten well-appointed lances, with maybe some fifty more men, archers and violets included. Some have deserted my unlucky penne, some have fallen in battle, several have died of disease, and one trusty armor-bearer, for whose life I am now doing my pilgrimage, lies in the bed of sickness. Christian, said Cherkoff, here I have five arrows in my quiver, each feathered from the wing of an eagle. When I send one of them to my tents a thousand warriors mounted on horseback, when I send another an equal force will arise. For the five I can command five thousand men, and if I send my bow ten thousand mounted riders will shake the desert, and with thy fifty followers thou hast come to invade a land in which I am one of the meanest. Now by the rude Saracen retorted the western warrior, thou shouldest know ere thy vault is thyself, that one still glove can crush a whole handful of hornets. I, but first it must enclose them within its grasp, said the Saracen, with a smile which might have endangered their new alliance, had he not changed the subject by adding, and his bravery so much esteemed among the Christian princes, that thou, thus void of means and of men, canst offer, as love didst of late, to be my protector and security in the camp of thy brethren. No, Saracen, said the Christian, such is thy style that the name of a knight and the blood of a gentleman entitle him to a place on the same rank with the sovereigns, even of the first degree, in so far as regards all but regal authority and dominion. Where Richard of England himself to wound the honour of a knight as poor as I am, he could not, by the laws of chivalry, deny him the combat, may things I should like to look upon so strange as seen, said the Amir. In which a leaven belt and a pair of spurs put the poorest on a level with the most powerful, you must add free blood and a fearless heart, said the Christian, then perhaps you will not have spoken of the dignity of knighthood and mix you as boldly among the females of your chiefs and leaders. Asked Saracen, God forbid, said the knight of the leopard, that the poorest knight in Christendom should not be free, in all honourable service, to devote his hand and sword, the fame of his actions and the fixed devotion of his heart to the fairest princess who ever wore coronet on her brow. But a little while since, said the Saracen, and you described love as the highest treasure of the heart. Thine have undoubtedly been high and nobly bestowed. Stranger! answered the Christian, blushing deeply as he spoke. We tell not rashly where it is we have bestowed our choices treasures. It is enough for thee to know that, as thou sayest, my love is highly and nobly bestowed, most highly, most nobly. But if thou wouldst hear of love and broken lances, venture thyself, as thou sayest, to the camp of the crusaders, and thou wilt find excuse for thine ears and if thy wilt, for thy hands too. The eastern warrior, rising himself in his stirrups, and shaken aloft his lance, replied, Hardly I fear shall I find one with a crossed shoulder who will exchange with me the cast of the gerid. I will not promise for that. Replied the knight. Though there be in the camp some certain Spaniards, who have right good skill in your eastern game of hurling the javelin. Dogs and sons of dogs ejaculated the Saracen. What of these Spaniards to do to come hither to combat the true believers, who, in their own land, are their lords and taskmasters? With them I would mix in no warlike pastime. Let not the knights of Leon or Asturias hear you speak thus of them, for they know not what to do. Let not the knights of Leon or Asturias hear you speak thus of them, said the knight of the leopard. But, added he, smiling at the recollection of the morning's combat, if, instead of a reed, you are inclined to stand the cast of a battleaxe, there are enough of western warriors who would gratify your longing. By the beard of my father, sir, with an approach to laughter, the game is too rough for mere sport. I will never shun them in battle, but my head, pressing his hand to his brow, will not for a while permit me to seek them in sport. I would that you saw the acts of King Richard, answered the western warrior, to which, that which hangs at my saddle-bow, weighs but has a feather. We hear much of that island's sovereign, said the Saracen, art thou one of his subjects? One of his followers I am, at the expedition, answered the knight, and honoured in the service, but not borne his subject, although a native in the island in which he reigns. How mean you, said the eastern soldier, have you then two kings in one poor island? As thou sayest, said the Scott, for such was Sir Kenneth by birth. It is even so, and yet, although the inhabitants of that island are engaged in frequent war, the country can, as thou sayest, furnish forth such a body of men at arms as may go far to shake the unholy hold which your master hath laid on the cities of Zion. By the beard of Saladar Nazarene, but that it is a thoughtless and boyish folly, I could laugh at the simplicity of your great sultan, who comes here the road to make conquests of desert and rocks, and dispute the possession of them with tenfold numbers at command, while he leaves a part of his narrow islet in which he was born a sovereign to the dominion of another scepter than his. Surely, Sir Kenneth, you and the other good men of your country should have submitted yourselves to the dominion of this King Richard, ere you left your native land, divided against itself to set forth in this expedition. Hasty and fierce was Kenneth's answer. No, by the bright light of heaven, the King of England had not set forth to the crusade till he was sovereign of Scotland, the crescent might for me, and all true-hearted Scots, glimmer for ever on the walls of Zion. Thus far he had proceeded, wherein recollecting himself, he muttered, Mayor Culper, Mayor Culper, what have I, a soldier of the cross to do with recollection of war betwixt Christian nations? The rapid expression of feeling, corrected by the dictates of duty, did not escalate the Muslim, who, if he did not entirely understand all which he conveyed, saw enough to convince him with the assurance that Christians, as well as Muslim-ma, had private feelings of personal peak and national quarrels which were not entirely reconcilable. But the Saracens were a race, polished perhaps, to the utmost extent which their religion permitted, and particularly capable of entertaining high ideas of unity and politeness. And such sentiments prevented his taking any notice of the inconsistency of Sir Kenneth's feelings in the opposite character of a Scots and a Crusader. Meanwhile, as they advanced, the scene began to change around them. They were now turning to the eastward, and had reached the range of steep and barren hills which binds in that quarter the naked plain, and varies the surface of the country without changing its sterile character. Sharp, rocky eminences began to rise around them, and, in a short time, deep dull clivities and descents, both formidable in height and difficult from the narrowness of the path, offered to the travellers obstacles of a different kind, from those with which they had recently contended. Dark caverns and chasms amongst the rocks, those grottoes so often alluded to in the scripture, yawned fearfully on either side as they proceeded, and their Scottish night was informed by the Amir that these were often the refuge of beasts of prey, or of men still more ferocious, who, driven to desperation by the constant war, and the oppression exercised by the soldiery, as well of the cross as of the Crescent, had become robbers, and spared neither rank nor religion, neither sex nor age in their depredations. The Scottish night listened with indifference to the accounts of ravages committed by wild beasts or wicked men, secure as he felt himself in his own valour and personal strength. That he was struck with mysterious dread when he recollected that he was now in the awful wildness of the forty days fast, and the scene of the actual personal temptation, wherewith the evil principal was permitted to assail the son of man, he withdrew his attention gradually from the light and worldly conversation of the infidel warrior beside him, and, however acceptable his gay and gallant bravery would have rendered him as a companion elsewhere. So Kenneth felt as if, in these wildernesses the waste and dry place in which the foul spirits would want to wander when expelled the mortals whose forms they possessed, a barefooted friar would have been a better associate than the gay but unbelieving pineam. These feelings embarrassed him, the rather that the Saracen spirits appear to rise with the journey, and because the father he penetrated into the gloomy recesses of the mountains, the lighter became his conversation. And when he found that unanswered, the louder grew his song. So Kenneth knew enough of the eastern languages to be assured that he chanted sonnets of love, containing all the glowing praises of beauty and beauty. In which the oriental poets are so fond of luxuriating, and which, therefore, were peculiarly unfit for a serious or devotional strain of thought, the feeling best becoming the wilderness of the temptation. With inconsistency enough, the Saracen also sung laze in praise of wine, the liquid ruby of the Persian poets, and his gaiety at length became so unsuitable to the crowd that he could not even have the gaiety at length become so unsuitable to the Christian's night's contrary train of sentiments, as, but for the promise of amnesty which they had exchanged, would most likely have made so Kenneth take measures to change his note. As it was, the Crusader felt as if he had by his side some gay licentious fiend who endeavoured to ensnare his soul and endanger his immortal salvation by inspiring loose thoughts of earthly pleasure, thus polluting his devotion at a time when his faith as a Christian and his vow as a pilgrim called on him for a serious and peninsual state of mind. He was thus greatly perplexed and undecided how to act, and it was in a tone of hasty displeasure that, at length breaking silence, he interrupted the lay of the celebrated wood-picky in which he prefers the mole on his mischievous bosom and some a kind. Saracen, said the Crusader sternly, blinded as thou art and plunged amidst the errors of a false law, thou shouldest yet comprehend that there are some places more holy than others, and that there are some scenes also in which the evil one hath more than ordinary powers ever sinful mortals. I will not tell thee for what awful reasons this place, these rocks, these caverns with their gloomy arches leading as it were to the central abyss are held in the especial haunt of Satan and his angels. It is enough that I have been long warned to beware of this place by wise and holy men, to whom the qualities of the unholy region are well known. Wherefore, Saracen, for bear thy foolish and ill-timed levity, and turn thy thoughts to things more suited to the spot, although, alas for thee, thy best prayers are betters blasphemy and sin. The Saracen listened with some surprise and then replied, with good humour and gaiety, only so far repressed as courtesy required. Good sir Kenneth, we think you deal unequally by your companion, all rail ceremonies but indifferently taught amongst your western tribes. I took no offence when I saw you gorge, hogs flesh and drink wine, and permitted you to enjoy a treat which you called your Christian liberty, only pitying in my heart your full pastimes. Wherefore, then, should thou take scandal, because I cheer to the best of my power, a gloomy road with a cheerful verse? What sayeth the poet? Song is like the Jews of heaven on the bosom of the desert. It calls the path of the traveller. Friend Saracen, said the Christian, I blame not the love of minstrelsy and of gay science, albeit we yield unto it even too much room in our thoughts when they should be bent on better things. Surely some are better fitting than lace of love or of wine-cups when men walk in this valley of the shadow of death, full of fiends and demons, whom the prayers of holy men have driven forth from the horns of humanity to wonder amidst scenes as occurs to themselves. Speak not thus of the geni, Christian answered the Saracen, for no, thou speakest to one whose line and nation draw their origin from the immortal race and blaspheme. I well thought, answered the Crusader, that your blinded race had their descent from the foul fiend, without whose aid you would never have been able to maintain this blessed land of Palestine against so many valiant soldiers of God. I speak not thus of thee, in particular Saracen, but generally of thy people and religion. Strange it is to me, however, not that you should have the descent from the evil one, but that you should boast of it. From whom should the bravest boast of descending, save him from him that is bravest? said the Saracen. From whom should the proudest trace their lines so well as from the dark spirit, which would rather fall headlong by force, than mend the knee by his wills? Eblis may be hated, stranger, but he must be feared. And such as Eblis are his descendants of Kurdistan. Tales of magic and of necromancy were the learning of the period and Sir Kenneth heard his companion's confession of diabolical descent without any disbelief and without much wonder. Yet not without a secret shudder at finding himself in this fearful place in the company of one who avouched himself to belong to such a lineage. Naturally insusceptible, however, of fear he crossed himself and stoutly demanded of the Saracen an account of the pedigree with which he had boasted. The latter readily complied. No, bro, stranger! Said he, that when the cruel Zahuk, one of the descendants of Gameschid, held the throne of Persia, he formed a league with the powers of darkness amidst the secret vaults of Vishtakar. Vaults which the hands of the elementary spirits had hewn out of the living rock long before Adam himself had an existence. Here he fed, with daily oblations of human blood, two devouring serpents, which had become, according to the poets, a part of himself, and to sustain whom he levied attacks of daily human sacrifices, till the exhausted patients of his subjects caused some to rise up the scimitar of resistance, like the valiant blacksmith and the victorious ferredown, by whom the tyrant was at length defroined, and imprisoned for ever in the dismal caverns of the mountains of Demivand. But, ere the deliverance had taken place, and whilst the power of the blood-thirsty tyrant was at its height, the band of ravening slaves whom he had sent forth to purvey victims for his daily sacrifice brought to the vaults of the palace of Vishtakar seven sisters so beautiful that they seemed seven horrors. The seven maidens were the daughters of a sage, who, with no treasures, saved those beauties in his own wisdom. The last was not sufficient to foresee this misfortune. The former seemed ineffectual to prevent it. The elder exceeded not a twentieth year, the youngest had scarce to taint her thirteenth, and so like were they to each other that they could not have been distinguished but for the difference of height, in which they gradually rose in easy gradation above each other, like the ascent which leads to the gates of Paradise. So lovely were these seven sisters when they stood in the darksome vault, disrobed of all clothing save a sima of white silk, that their charms moved the hearts of those who were not mortal. Thunder muttered, the earth shook, the wall of the vault was rent, and at the chasm entered one dress like a hunter with bow and shaft, and followed by six others his brethren. They were tall men, and, though dark, yet comely to behold, but their eyes had more the glare of those of the dead than of the light, which lives under the eyelids of the living. Zeneb said the leader of the band, and as he spoke he took the eldest sister by the hand, and his voice was soft, low and melancholy. I am Kothrobe, king of the subterranean world, and supreme chief of Ginnestown. I and my brethren are of those who, created out of the pure elementary fire, disdained even at the command of omnipotence, to do homage to a clot of earth because it was called man. Thou mayest have heard of us as cruel, unrelenting and persecuting. It is false. We are by nature kind and generous, only vent for when insulted, only cruel when affronted. We are true to those who trust us. And we have heard the invocations of thy father, the sage Mithrasp, who wisely worships not to learn the origin of good, but that which is called the source of evil. You and your sisters are on the eve of death, but let each give to us one hair from your fair tresses in token of fealty, and we will carry you many miles from hence to a place of safety, where you may bid defiance to Zau hook and his ministers. The fear of instant death, sayeth the poet, is like the rod of the prophet Haron, which devoured all other rods when transformed into snakes before the king of Pharaoh. And the daughters of the Persian sage were less apt than others to be afraid of the addresses of a spirit. They gave the tribute which Kothrobe demanded, and in an instant the sisters were transported to an enchanted castle on the mountains of Tagrat, in Kurdistan, and were never seen again by mortal eye. But in the process of time seven youths, distinguished in the war and in the chase, appeared in the environs of the capital of the demons. They were darker, taller, fiercer, and more resolute than any of the scattered inhabitants of the valleys of Kurdistan. And they took to themselves wives and became fathers of the seven tribes of the Kurdmen, whose valor is known throughout the universe. The Christian knight heard with wonder the wild tale of which Kurdistan still possesses the traces. And after a moment's thought replied, thoroughly so knight, you have spoken well. Your genealogy may be dreaded and hated, but it cannot be contend. Neither do I any longer wonder your obstancy in a false faith. Since doubtless it is part of the fiendish disposition which hath descended from your ancestors, those infernal huntsmen, as you've described them, to love falsehood rather than truth. And I no longer marvel that your spirits become high and exalted, and vent themselves in verse and in tunes, when you approach to the places encumbered by the haunting of evil spirits, which must excite in you that joyous feeling which others experience when approaching the land of the human ancestry. By my father's beard I think thou hast the right. Said the Saracen, rather amused and offended by the freedom with which the Christian had uttered his reflections. For, though the prophet, blessed be his name, have sown the seed of a better faith than our ancestors learned in the ghostly halls of Tugrut, yet we are not willing, like other Muslim ma, to pass hasty doom on the lofty and powerful elementary spirits from whom we claim our origin. These jenni, according to our belief and hope, are not altogether reprobate, but are still in the way of probation, and may hereafter be punished or rewarded. Leave with this to the Mullahs and the Imams, enough that with us the reverence for these spirits is not altogether effaced by what we have learned from the Qur'an, and that many of us still sing in memorial of our father's more ancient faith such verses as these. So saying he proceeded to chant verses very ancient in the language and structure which some have thought derive their source from the worshippers of Ariman's the evil principal. Hariman whom Iraq still holds origin of woe and ill when, bending at thy shrine we view the world with troubled eye where see we neath the extended sky an empire marching thine. If the benign of power can yield a fountain in the desert field where weary pilgrims drink thine are the waves that lash the rock thine the tornadoes deadly shock where countless navy sink or if you bid to the soil dispense balsams to cheer the sink in sense how few can they deliver from lingering pains or pang intense red fever spotted pestilence the arrows of thy quiver chief in man's bosom sits thy sway and frequent while in words we pray before another throne what air a species form be there the secret meaning of the prayer is Ariman thine own. Say has thou feeling sense and form thunder thy voice thy garment's storm as Eastern Mage I say with sentient soul of hate and wrath and wings to sweep thy deadly path and fangs to tear thy prey or art thou mixed in nature's source an ever operating force converting good to ill an evil principal innate contending with our better fate so victorious still how are it be disputed vain on all without the holdest thy reign nor less on all within each mortal passions fierce career love hate ambition joy and fear thou go distant to sin when ere a sunny gleam appears to brighten up our veil of tears thou art not distant far mid such brief solace of our lives thou wettest our very banquet knives to tools of death and war thus from the moment of our birth long as we linger on the earth thou ruleest the fate of men thine other pangs of lies last hour and who dare answer is thy power dark spirit ended then open bracket the worthy and learned clergyman by whom this speeches of him has been translated desires that for a fear of misconception we should warn the reader to recollect that it is composed by a heathen to whom the real causes of moral and physical evil are unknown and to view their predominance in the system of the universe as almost view that appalling fact who have not the benefit of the Christian revelation on our own part we beg to add that we understand the style of the translator is more paraphrasic than can be approved by those who are acquainted with the singular curious original the translator seems to have despaired of rendering into English verse the flights of oriental poetry and possibly like many learned and ingenious men finding it impossible to discover the sense of the original close brackets these verses may perhaps have been they're not a natural effusion of some half enlightened philosopher who in the fabled deity Ariman's saw but the prevalence of moral and physical evil but in the ears of Sir Kenneth the Leopard they had a different effect and some as they were by one who had just boasted himself a descendant of demons sounded very like an address of worship to the archfiend himself he weighed within himself weather on hearing such blasphemy in the very desert where Satan had stood rebuked for demanding homage taking an abrupt leave of the Saracen was sufficient to testify his abhorrence or whether he was not rather constrained by his vow as a crusader to defy the infidel to combat on the spot and leave him food for the beasts of the wilderness when his attention was caught by an unexpected apparition End of chapter 3 part 1