People of Damascus

On a certain year, I was travelling from Balk with some people of Damascus, and the road was infested with robbers. There was a young man of our party, are expert handler of the shield, a mighty archer, a brandisher of all weapons, so strong that ten men could not draw his bowstring, and the most powerful wrestler on the face of the earth had never brought his back to the ground; but he was rich, and had been nursed in the shade, was inexperienced in the world, and no traveler.

The thundering sound of the martial drum had never reached his ear, neither had his eyes seen the lightning of the horseman’s sword; he had never been made prisoner by the enemy, nor had the arrows fallen in showers around him. It happened that I and this young man were running together; every wall that came in his way he pulled down, and every large tree that he saw, by the force of his arm he tore up by the roots. He was boasting, saying, “Where is the elephant, that you may behold the shoulders of the hero?

Where is the lion that you may see the fingers and palm of the brave man? ” We were in this situation, when two Indians lifted up their heads from behind a rock with the intention to kill us; one had a stick in his hand, and the other a sling under his arm. I said to the young man, “Why do you stop? Show your strength and velour, for here is the enemy within a foot of in grave.” I saw tile bow and arrows drop from the hand of the young man, and a trembling seized all his joints. Not everyone who can split a hair with an arrow that will pierce a coat of mail, is able to stand against the warrior in the day of battle.

We saw no other remedy for ourselves, but to leave our accoutrements, surrender our arms, and escape with our lives. On an affair of importance employ a man of experience, who will bring the devouring lion into his trammels. A young man, though he has strength of arm and is powerful as an elephant, will feel his joints quaking with fear in the day of battle. A man of experience is as well qualified to act in war as the learned man is to expound a case of law.