ike the story of David and the Amalekite in Ziklag!
(2 Samuel, ch. i.).

The chronology of these events is doubtful. Rashiduddin seems to put the
defeat of Toktai near the Don in 1298-1299, and a passage in Wassaf
extracted by Hammer seems to put the defeat and death of Noghai about
1303. On the other hand, there is evidence that war between the two was in
full flame in the beginning of 1296; Makrizi seems to report the news of a
great defeat of Toktai by Noghai as reaching Cairo in _Jumadah_ I.A.H.
697 or February-March, 1298. And Novairi, from whom D'Ohsson gives
extracts, appears to put the defeat and death of Noghai in 1299. If the
battle on the Don is that recounted by Marco it cannot be put later than
1297, and he must have had news of it at Venice, perhaps from relations at
Soldaia. I am indeed reluctant to believe that he is not speaking of
events of which he had cognizance _before_ quitting the East; but there is
no evidence in favour of that view. (_Golden Horde_, especially 269
seqq.; _Ilchan_. II. 347, and also p. 35; _D'Ohsson_, IV. Appendix; _Q.
Makrizi_, IV. 60.)

The symbolical message mentioned above as sent by Toktai to Noghai,
consisted of a hoe, an arrow, and a handful of earth. Noghai interpreted
this as meaning, "If you hide in the earth, I will dig you out! If you
rise to the heavens I will shoot you down! Choose a battle-field!" What a
singular similarity we have here to the message that reached Darius 1800
years before, on this very ground, from Toktai's predecessors, alien from
him in blood it may be, but identical in customs and mental
characteristics:--

"At last Darius was in a great strait, and the Kings of the Scythians
having ascertained this, sent a herald bearing, as gifts to Darius, a
bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows.... Darius's opinion was that the
Scythians meant to give themselves up to him.... But the opinion of
Gobryas, one of the seven who had deposed the Magus, did not coincide with
this; he conjectured that the presents intimated: 'Unless, O Persians, ye
become birds, and fly into the air, or become mice and hide yourselves
beneath the earth, or become frogs and leap into the lakes, ye shall never
return home again, but be stricken by these arrows.' And thus the other
Persians interpreted the gifts." (_Herodotus_, by Carey, IV. 131, 132.)
Again, more than 500 years after Noghai and Toktai were laid in the
steppe, when Muraview reached the court of Khiva in 1820, it hap