Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/22

Thus spake he, and I heard,, and with a heart of anger
Went I forth with him my son, and to the tribesmen
Pleaded in every tent his cause, we two as suppliants,
Calling on all their chiefs to give the hand of succour.
And fifty and five of them were those who lent agreement,
This one and that with joy, Fulano and Fulano.
And with them Selman was, Abul Jud el Aser.
And Jafferi was there, Khalifa ibn Nasser,
And many more of note. And they rose and went assembled
To the council of the king, and found him there in judgment
Set with his valiant men, and meting out obedience.
And when En Naaman saw them he cried to them in welcome :
'Sit ye, O chiefs, with me,' and made their place beside him.
And when he found them mute and of their manner bashful,
'Ye have come,' said he, 'to speak of him, my brother's orphan.'
And they, 'Ay, of a truth. We ask for him Betina.'
And he, ' Be short of words. From me ye shall get no lying.
Nasser hath come for her, and with him a brave dowry.
This one, what hath he speak beside his beggar's portion ?'