Antar Proclaimed Champion of Abs

Arabian Poetry, by W. A. Clouston, [1881], at sacred-texts.com

ANTAR PROCLAIMED CHAMPION OF ABS.

At length the hero is duly admitted by the Absian warriors to the honour and rank of an Arab. King Zoheir causes a great feast to be prepared to celebrate the overthrow of the Teyans, at which he presents Antar with a robe worked with gold, girds on him a trusty sword, and placing in his hand a pike of Khata, and mounting him on a fine Arab horse, proclaims him the champion of Abs and Adnan. And thus, apparently, was removed the chief obstacle to Antar's union with Abla; moreover, the maiden's father had solemnly sworn that she should be married to the hero if he rescued her from the Teyans. But the treacherous Malik never meant to keep his word; although, the King favouring Antar's cause, he had no choice but to profess his willingness to bestow his daughter on the saviour of the tribe. Old Malik, however, was a perfect master of craft and cozenage; and he devised a plan of exposing Antar to almost certain death. He requires him to procure for Abla's dowry a thousand Asafeer camels—the property of Monzar the son of Massema, king of the Arabs, and lieutenant of Nushirvan of Persia: if Antar once venture among the tribe of Shiban, Malik confidently assures his complotters, he will never return to trouble them again. For such a prize as Abla, however, Antar would willingly encounter even greater dangers, and therefore he undertakes the desperate enterprise with alacrity.