Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

KHALED AND DJAIDA 25
tions, and Djaida felt happy to be with Khaled. " Meanwhile,"
she said, " I shall not permit you to leave our tents until
after our marriage." She immediately left him in haste and
betook herself to her own dwelling.
Khaled proceeded to rejoin the slaves whom he had left a
little way off, and ordered them to carry to the tents the beasts
he had slain. Trembling with fright at the view of what
Khaled had done, they extolled him with admiration above all
other champions of the land.
The feasts meanwhile went on, and all who came were welcomed
with magnificence. The maidens sounded their cymbals
; the slaves waved their swords in the air, and the young
girls sang from morn till evening. It was in the midst of such
rejoicings that Djaida and Khaled were married. Amima, the
daughter of Moawich, held the reins of the young bride's
camel, and men and women alike extolled the glory of Djaida.