DAVID OF SASSUN

Strong and mighty was the Caliph of Bagdad[1]; he gathered together a
host and marched against our Holy John the Baptist[2]. Hard he oppressed
our people, and led many into captivity. Among the captives was a
beautiful maiden, and the caliph made her his wife. In time she bore two
sons, Sanassar and Abamelik. The father of these children was a heathen,
but their mother was a worshipper of the cross[3], for the caliph had
taken her from our people.

[1] From the sense and according to the time in which the action takes
place, Nineveh must be understood here; and instead of an Arabian
caliph, the Assyrian king Sennacherib. There is an anachronism here, as
the reader will see, for a king living 800 years before Christ is called
an Arabian caliph, though the caliphs first took up their residence in
Bagdad in the year 755.

[2] The reference here is to the famous monastery of St. John the
Baptist, which was built by Gregory the Illuminator during the fourth
century, on the mountain of Kark, near the Euphrates, on a spot where
heathen altars had previously stood. On certain days pious Armenians
made annual pilgrimages to the place. Among them many poets and
champions, who, with long fasts and many prayers, begged from the saint
the gifts of song, strength, and courage. John the Baptist was regarded
by the Armenians generally as the protector of the arts.

[3] So the Armenians called Christians.

This same caliph again gathered together a host and fell upon our
people. This time--I bow before thy holy miracle, O sainted John--this
time our people pressed him sorely, and in his affliction he cried unto
his idols: "May the gods save me from these people; bring me to my city
safe and well, and both my sons will I sacrifice unto them."

In Bagdad the mother lay sleeping, and she had a dream. She dreamed she
had in each hand a lamp, and when their flames seemed ready to go out
they flashed up brightly again. When morning came she told this dream to
her sons, and said: "Last night holy St. John appeared to me in my
dreams and said that your father was in great trouble and had vowed to
sacrifice you. When he again comes home he will stab you: look to your
safety."

Both sons cried unto their gods, took food with them for their journey,
put gold into their purses, and set out on their travels. Coming to a
narrow valley they halted there. They saw a river, and in the distance a
brook clove the river to mid-s