ied Naznai. "Look at my sabre: that will tell you who I am." The
vizier unsheathed the sabre, looked at it, stared first at Naznai and
then at the weapon, and finally rushed, sabre in hand, straight to the
king. The king was even more astonished than the vizier. He sent for all
the eloquent fools in the city, called together all the wise men who
hadn't any judgment, and held a great council. They all said to the
king, "You must take the hero Naznai from the land of Daghestan into
your service, no matter at what cost, no matter how much you may have to
reward him: so long as he lives you will be as safe as if you were
behind an iron wall." Then the king sent for Naznai, and the vizier
brought him in. "Hero Naznai from the land of Daghestan," said the
king--"first I, then you, I the father, you the son--take my only
daughter: live with me and defend my kingdom."--"Hard as it is for me,"
replied Naznai, twisting his moustache, "I will do as you desire." That
very night he married the king's daughter, and went to sleep in her arms
on a bed from which if one should fall out not even so much as one's
bones could ever be gathered together again.[3]

In the course of a week Naznai was summoned to the king, and found him
sitting on his throne surrounded by a great multitude of people. "My
dear son, Hero Naznai," said the king, "I gave you my daughter and made
you my son with the hope that when a black day should come upon me you
would give me your help. The black day has come: a great dragon gives no
peace to my flocks and my herds. Twice every year, at certain known
times, he makes his appearance: to-morrow is the day of his coming. You
must go out to meet him: who should go if not you, the killer of five
hundred men at a blow?" No sooner did Naznai catch the word "dragon"
than his heart sank within him, and hardly had the king finished
speaking when he ran furiously out of doors. Some said that he had
turned coward: others said, "No: he ran out filled with rage against the
dragon." In the mean time Naznai had gone home; and that night, as soon
as his wife fell asleep, he took to his heels to save his head. He ran
and ran and ran until he was so tired that he could run no farther, and
at last came to a great forest. Fearing to sleep on the ground, he
climbed up into a tree, and, holding fast to a limb with each hand, he
fell asleep. When he awoke he looked down, and there, coiled around the
trunk of the tree and fast asleep, lay