A literary history of Persia

192 THE ARAB INVASIONthe vengeance exacted by the singer from the tribe of Hudhaylfor the murder of his uncle, with a description of whosevirtues itopens :"Verily in the ramne below Sal'a lies a murdered man whose bloodis not suffered to rest unavenged.He left and bequeathed the burden [of vengeance] to me, andblithely did I take tip the burden for him.And in quest of the blood-revenge, on my part, is a sister's son, aswordsman whose harness is not loosened,A stealthy tracker who sweats venom, tracking like the rustlingviper, spitting poison.Grievous and crushing were the tidings that reached us, waxinggreat till the greatest seemed small beside them !Fate hath robbed us (and she was ever faithless) of one hard ofapproach whose client was never abased !A sun-beam in the winter-weather, until, when the Dog-star blazed,he was a coolness and a shadow ;Lean of the sides, but not from want, open-handed,disdainful ;wise andJourneying with prudence, so that, when he halted, prudencehalted where he halted ;The rushing rain of therain-cloud when he would confer benefits,and, when he sprang to the fray, a conquering lion ;Long-bearded in the tribe, swarthy, ample-skirted; and, when onthe war-path, a slim hycena-wolf.And he had two tastes, honey and colocynth, of which two tastesevery one had tasted.He would ride through the 'Terror' the [i.e., Desert] alone, nonebearing him company save his notched sword-blade of Yemen.A band of brave fellows travelling through the noon-day glare andthen on through the night, until, when the morning mists weredispelled, they alighted;Each keen warrior girt with a keen blade, flashing like the lightningwhen unsheathed.So we exacted from them the blood-revenge, and of the twofactions there escaped not save the fewest.They were sipping bteaths of sleep, and when they dozed I smotethem with consternation and they were scattered.