Page:Jewish Fairy Book (Gerald Friedlander).djvu/215

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THE MAGIC SWORD OF KENAZ
187

during the night, all the people came out to meet Kenaz and his horsemen. When they saw him they said: "Blessed be the Lord who hath made thee ruler over His people and hath shown that He can save by the hands of the few and defeat the many."

Kenaz said unto them: "Ask now your brethren here with me and let them tell you how greatly they helped to win the victory."

Then his horsemen cried aloud: "As the Lord liveth, we fought not, neither knew we anything of what Kenaz did, for we all fell asleep and we did not awake till we heard his trumpet blast at dawn this day. He then led us to the camp of the Amorites. We could hardly believe our eyes when we saw a wonderful sight. We seemed to be dreaming and we rubbed our eyes to make sure that we were really awake."

"What did ye see?" asked the people.

"We saw the ground covered with tens of thousands of slain Amorites."

When the people heard this wonderful tale they began to marvel how it all happened. At last they said: "Now know we indeed that when the mighty God wisheth to give victory He hath no need of a multitude but only of holiness and trust in Him. Alas! it was very wrong of some of us to have grumbled yesterday, speaking evil against Kenaz, saying that on the day of battle he would stay at home whilst he sent the people to be slain in battle. We have