The knight in the panther's skin, 1979
1387. “Without any trouble, my friends. I shall hack those Kajis to pieces. You in the meanwhile will strike down the soldiers guarding the entrance. With one mighty blow I will shatter the gates of the city. This is my plan. Perhaps you can think of one that is better,.
COUNSEL OF TARIEL
1388. “I know well, said Tariel. “the might of your strength and wisdom. Your fearless zeal and your prowess are like your undaunted hearts. You are both eager for battle, eager to vanquish the enemy. Fierce though the struggle may be, yet for you to fight is to conquer.
1389. Listen to me. Let me also have choice in the matter, my brothers. The sun-like maiden will hear the din and tumult of battle, And from her lofty tower she will see only you two combat. Better to die than be thought a coward by her whom I worship.
1390. “Honour me now with your trust and follow the counsel I give you. Let us divide our men into hundreds. and when it is morning Let the three of us start at full gallop from three different places. They will come forward to meet us but the points of our swords will accost them.
1391. We will engage them swiftly and give them no chance to escape. While we wreak havoc amongst them. one of us three will enter And Iike a violent torrent fall on the hosts in the tower. Let us then take up our arms and prove to the foe our prowess -.
1392. Pridon said gaily to Tarlel: “O what a day is before us! There is no horse like the one I gave you for fire and for swiftness. If I had foreseen what glory that courser of mine would have brought me I would by no means have bestowed it on you as a present. My Tariel”.
1393. Pridon thus jested, whereat they laughed at his wit and humour. They were cheerful and gay as they joked and laughed with each other. Thus do the wise and the eloquent indulge in light-hearted discourse. They then dismounted and quickly prepared for the battle before them.
1394. While they were making ready they continued their gay conversation. They had resolved to follow the plan that Tariel had given. The three hundred men all equal to heroes were divided among them. Then they remounted their steeds and donned their gleaming helmets.
1395. Lo! I beheld the heroes; their rays were brighter than sunbeams. Encased in a column of light by the seven planets above them. Tariel sat on his charger, slim as the branch of the willow. They consumed their foes in the battle, as they dazzled the eyes of beholders.
1396. Listen to my words about AvtandiI and Tariel and Pridon; The rain bursts down from the clouds. and leaps in a stream down the mountains The stream then enters the glens with a grinding of stones and uproar. But when it unites with the sea the turmoil subsides into silence.
1397. Pridon and Avtandil were as brave as lions and unrivalled In valour. Yet none, not even these heroes would dare to engage Tariel . The sun hides even the planets. the stars do not shine in its presence. Listen. Then. To my story: of terrible fights is its burden.
1398. The heroes divided their forces. each of them leading one hundred Soldiers of proven worth. all of them equal to heroes. The night was spent in surveillance. in cautious and skilful scrutiny. At dawn. Each took up his shield, and they sallied forth to the battle.
1399. At first they walked quietly forward, like men setting out on a journey; The watchers behind the walls did not suspect their intentions. The sentries stood at their ease, let them approach ever nearer, And the heroes, masking their helmets. Bided their time discreetly.
1400. Then they spurred their steeds all at once, and made for the gates of the city. Laying about with their whips, raising a hubbub of terror. Dividing their forces in three, they plunged through the ranks of the foemen To the music of fife and drum, and the piercing sounds of the trumpet.
1401. Then the measureless wrath of God struck down the realm of the Kajis. And Saturn blotted the sun. so that darkness covered the heavens. The field was strewn with the wounded. corpses were heaped upon corpses. And ever the slaughter continued, till the dead were a mighty army.
1402. The gates of the city were shattered. the walls of the fortress were razed, The heroes spread death and destruction. as they cut a path through the foe. Tariel's thunderous accents struck terror in all who heard them; He rent the enemy's armour, piercing their greaves and their bucklers.
1403. There, in the enemy's stronghold. Avtandil came upon Pridon. They had wholly destroyed their opponents, who lay in the streams of their lifeblood. They hailed one another with gladness, the swift encounter was joyous: “But Tariel. Where is he'll they questioned, and no one could tell them.
1404. They pushed their way to the portal. giving no thought to the foe. Ruthlessly trampling on corpses, wading through rivers of blood. And there in the gateway was nothing but a pile of armour in fragments, And the bodies of ten thousand warriors. Dead as the stones they lay on.
1405. Each bore innumerable wounds, their armour was rent In pieces. ' The gates of the castle were open, Its bars were wrenched from their hinges. They knew the hand of their hero; they read the signs of his prowess. “Tariel was here, cried Pridon, “Who else could have wrought such havoc?"
