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poured it out on the fields. Of me they said: 'Thanks to God who has planted aloe-trees!'
603. "We went back (to P'hridon's). The triumph exhibited by the citizens was heard; suppliants there laid hold on[1] the heart of beholders. All uttered praise to me and Nuradin, in a panegyric[2]; they said to us: 'Through the strength of your (right) arms their blood still flows!'
604. "The soldiers acclaimed P'hridon as king and me as king of kings, themselves as subjects[3] and me as sovereign of them all. I was gloomy, they could never find me culling roses; they knew not my story, there it was not lightly spoken of.
XVII
P'HRIDON TELLS TARIEL TIDINGS OF NESTAN-DAREDJAN
605. "One day the king and I went forth to the chase; we climbed upon a cape jutting out into the sea. P'hridon said to me: "I will tell thee how, when we were out riding for sport, I once saw a wonderful thing from this cape.'
606. "I bade him speak, and P'hridon told me even this tale: 'One day I wished to hunt, I mounted this steed of mine. It seemed as if there were a duck in the sea, a falcon[4] on the land; I stood here and watched the flight of the hawk[5] thitherward.
607. "'Now and then as I climbed uphill I gazed out to sea. I perceived a small thing far away on the sea, going so swiftly that nothing of its kind could equal it; I could not make it out; in my mind I marvelled at these two things.
608. "'I said to myself: "What is it? To what can I liken it? Is it bird or beast?" It was a boat tented over with many-folded stuff; a steersman guided it. I fixed
