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1011. "Here on the seashore we found a man lying senseless; we succoured him till he could speak clearly with his tongue. We asked him: 'Who art thou, stranger? What business dost thou follow after?' He said to us: 'If ye go in they will slay you. It is well that I still live!'
1012. "He said: 'From Egypt we set out with a caravan and a guard,[1] we embarked upon the sea laden with many kinds of stuff, there pirates [2] (in ships) with sharp (iron) pointed wooden rams [3] slew us. All was lost; I know not how I came hither.'
1013. "O lion and sun, this is the reason of our standing here. If we return, our loss will be a hundredfold; if we embark, alas! they may slay us, we have no strength for battle. We cannot stay, we cannot go, the power to maintain ourselves[4] is gone from us."
1014. The knight said: "Whoever grieves is nought, and strives in vain; whatever comes from above, we cannot avoid its coming.[5] I am surety for your blood, I take upon myself what you shall shed; whoever fights with you, my sword will wear itself out on your foes."
1015. They of the caravan were filled with great joy; they said: "He is some knight, [6] some hero, [7] not timid like us, he has self-confidence, let us be calm in heart." They embarked, they went on board ship, they set out from the coast.
1016. With pleasant weather they journeyed without hardship; their convoyer,[8] Avt'handil, leads them with brave heart. A pirate[2] ship appeared with an exceedingly long
- ↑ Eri, people, nation; also, host, army, troops; 1053. Cf. Djavakhov: Gosud-stroi drevnei Gruzii, p. 62.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mecobre, 54, 193, 1201.
- ↑ Sakhnisi, Ch. Dict., plough; 1016, 1021.
- ↑ Rchoma, ? here "to bestir ourselves."
- ↑ Predestination, 189, 776, 1018, 1072.
- ↑ Qma.
- ↑ Dchabuci, P., 580, 1036, 1221. The word is used in Persian in the sense of "swift, clever, elegant"; in Bokhara it seems to mean "aristocrat." In the Georgian Bible (Gen. xxv. 27) we find it signifies " boy, youth " (M., xii., xxxiii).
- ↑ Badraga, P.
