you shall slay them. As to the aged, whether male or female, never spare them. Infidelity is strongly rooted in their dry bones.
"Be just and fair in dividing the spoil, and let none deprive his comrade of his due. Do not forget to lay aside the first and best share for God, for His angels will have fought equally with you. Always take good care of your sick and wounded, for you are all brothers under that holy flag."
The Sheikh spoke on, long and vigorously, standing erect on his temporary pulpit, like the embodied spirit of Islam, like a living emblem of fanaticism and persecution. His voice was firm and strong, and his speech had a piercing eloquence. A pupil of the Koran—where the holy war ("jahad") in all its bloody colors is described with such poetic rapture—a pupil of the Koran alone could thus have animated a wild multitude to cut the throats of men.
When he had finished, he turned again to the audience:—
"And God requires a vow; let every man make his vow."
Then each took up a stone and threw it on the ground in front of the Sheikh, where the stones formed a large hill-like pile, as a monument of the terrible compact, and the air meanwhile thundered with the mighty shout from thousands of throats : "And let our 'talakhs'[1] be cast away like these stones if we do not remain faithful to our vows." The Sheikh gave his blessing once more; descended from his pulpit; and, with slow, majestic step, entered the tent.
Then the drum was heard again. Every man hurried to his horse; the tents were struck; and in a few hours the whole army was ready to march. It moved forward when the Sheikh mounted his steed and, the red flag in his hand, led the way. His face was now covered with a veil to protect it from the unholy gaze of the infidels. More than ten thousand Kurds followed this terrible old man. Camels carrying small mountain guns brought up the rear.
Thus began Sheikh Jelaleddin's invasion of Turkish Armenia.
- ↑ "Talakh" is a barbarous ceremony consisting of throwing three stones over the head, by which the Mohammedan Kurd declares his wife divorced from him. (TR.)
