United States or Singapore ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
They returned hastily to Ahubal's pavilion, and related to him what they had seen. Ahubal's heart rankled at their account, and his visage fell, to hear how much his brother had outdone him in magnificence. "Get me a tent more splendid than the Sultan's," said he to the enchanters, "or disband your armies, and leave me to my fate."
The great distress of the enchanters, and their unexpected deaths, alarmed the rest of that wicked race; and Ahaback and Desra, seeing that no one enchanter had succeeded against the Sultan, resolved to join their forces; and while one led a powerful army to Ahubal's assistance from the east, the other raised the storms of war and rebellion on the western confines of the Sultan's empire.
I therefore besought my lord to grant me the chief command for forty days, and neglected to take such advantages over Ahubal's troops as the captains of thy armies advised. "This I did, knowing that any victory would be vain and fruitless, if the enchanters were not involved in the ruin; and that, while they were safe, a second army would spring up as soon as the first was destroyed.
A friend of Ahubal's had proposed that Prince to succeed my royal master, and orders were given to proclaim him when I arrived in the divan. "Being acquainted with the resolutions of the Viziers and Emirs, I proclaimed aloud that my royal master Misnar was alive, and that he had destroyed the enchantress Ulin, who had espoused the cause of Ahubal.
The Sultan, though much averse to such pageantry, was yet persuaded by his Vizier to sleep in his new pavilion; and the glorious appearance which it made brought thousands to view the magnificent abode of their Sultan. The account of this splendid tent soon reached Ahubal's army, and every one extolled the glorious pavilion: so that Ahubal's tent seemed as nothing in comparison with the Sultan's.
"My lord," answered Horam, "I have heard that the southern provinces are erecting a pavilion for your rebel brother Ahubal, which in splendour and magnificence is to surpass all the glories of thy palace at Delhi; and being convinced that thy subjects are led more by show and appearance than by duty and honour, I feared that Ahubal's glorious pavilion might draw the neighbouring cities into his encampment, and thereby strengthen his army, and weaken the resources of my Prince.
Word Of The Day