Swear this to me; for I fear thy perfidy, since experience has it that as long as perfidy is in men’s natures, to trust in every one is weakness.  But if thou wilt swear I will come over to thee.”  Quoth Sherkan, “Impose on me whatever oath thou deemest binding, and I will swear not to draw near thee until thou hast made thy preparations, and sayest ‘Come wrestle with me.’  If thou throw me I have wealth wherewith to ransom myself, and if I throw thee I shall get fine purchase.”  Then said she, “Swear to me by Him who hath lodged the soul in the body and given laws to mankind that thou wilt not hurt me with aught of violence save in the way of wrestling—­else mayest thou die out of the pale of Islam.”  “By Allah,” exclaimed Sherkan, “if a Cadi should swear me, though he were Cadi of the Cadis, he would not impose on me the like of this oath!” Then he took the oath she required, and tied his horse to a tree, sunken in the sea of reverie, and saying in himself, “Glory to Him who fashioned her!” Then he girt himself, and made ready for wrestling, and said to her, “Cross the stream to me.”  Quoth she, “It is not for me to come to thee; if thou wilt, do thou cross over to me.”  “I cannot do that,” replied he; and she said, “O boy!  I will come to thee.”  So she gathered her skirts, and making a spring landed on the other side of the river by him; whereupon he drew near to her, wondering at her beauty and grace, and saw a form that the hand of Omnipotence had turned with the leaves of Jinn, and which had been fostered by divine solicitude, a form on which the zephyrs of fair fortune had blown, and over whose creation favorable planets had presided.  Then she called out to him saying, “O Muslim, come and wrestle before the daybreak!” and tucked up her sleeves, showing a fore-arm like fresh curd; the whole place was lighted up by its whiteness and Sherkan was dazzled by it.  Then he bent forward and clapped his hands, and she did the like, and they took hold and gripped each other.  He laid his hands on her slender waist ... and fell a trembling like the Persian reed in the hurricane.  So she lifted him up, and throwing him to the ground sat down on his breast.  Then she said to him, “O Muslim, it is lawful among you to kill Christians:  what sayest thou to my killing thee?” “O my lady,” replied he, “as for killing me, it is unlawful; for our Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!) hath forbidden the slaying of women and children and old men and monks.”  “Since this was revealed unto your prophet,” rejoined she, “it behooves us to be even with him therein; so rise:  I give thee thy life, for beneficence is not lost upon men.”  Then she got up, and he rose and brushed the earth from his head, and she said to him, “Be not abashed; but indeed one who enters the land of the Greeks in quest of booty and to succor kings against kings, how comes it that there is no strength in him to defend himself against a woman?” “It was not lack of strength in me,” replied he, “nor was it thy strength