THE SWEET-SCENTED NAME
the dweller on the other side of the river Mairure and had battle with him.
We could not tolerate the blasphemous stories and the enmity which was being worked up against the oldest and wisest of the village. So Zakkir was taken and put to the torture in order that we might know what had in truth befallen him.
But Zakkir did not endure much torment, he confessed, and we listened to him in dread. These were his words:
"The night was calm, and there was no moon when I approached the thicket that stretches a three days' journey beyond the river Mairure. My dagger was sharp and ready, my arrows poisoned, for I had firmly resolved to follow up and kill the monster. Suddenly, as near from me as a maiden stands looking at the youth she loves, as near as a little child throws a stone at the first attempt, I heard the roaring break forth. Moved by the power of the habit I fell down on my face on the earth and waited. I heard the heavy approach and the crackling of dry branches under feet. I waited. But a cold lizard slid along my leg as I lay and reminded me of the Emperor's menagerie and the story of the beast in the palace. I already felt his hot and fiery breath upon
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