6.—What sixty of us Christians had agreed upon.
And when Weyasit came to his capital, there were sixty of us Christians agreed that we should escape, and made a bond between ourselves and swore to each other that we should die or succeed together; and each of us took time to get ready, and at the time we met together, and chose two leaders from amongst ourselves by lot, and whatever they ordered we were to obey. Then we rose after midnight and rode to a mountain and came to it by daybreak. And when we came to the mountain we dismounted, and let our horses rest until sunrise, when we remounted and rode the same day and night. And when Weyasit heard that we had taken to flight, he sent five hundred horse with orders that we were to be found, that we were to be caught, and brought to him. They overtook us near a defile, and called to us to give ourselves up. This we would not do, and we dismounted from our horses and defended ourselves against them as well as we could. When their commander saw that we defended ourselves, he came forward and asked for peace for one hour. We consented. He came to us and asked us to give ourselves up as prisoners; he would answer for the safety of our lives. We said we would consult, and did consult, and gave him this answer: We knew that so soon as we were made prisoners, we should die so soon as we came before the king, and it would be better that we should die here, with arms in our hands, for the Christian faith. When the commander saw that we were determined, he again asked that we should give ourselves as prisoners, and promised on his oath that he would ensure our lives, and if the king was so angry as to want to kill us, he would let them kill him first. He promised this on his oath, and therefore we gave ourselves up as prisoners. He took us before the king, who ordered that we should be killed immediately; the commander went and knelt before the king, and said that he had trusted in his mercy and had promised us our lives, and asked him also that he should spare us because he had even sworn that such would be the case. The king then asked him if we had done any harm? He said: No. Then he ordered that we should be put into prison; there we remained for nine months as prisoners, during which time twelve of us died. And when it was the Easter-day of the Infidels, his eldest son Wirmirsiana,[1][(1)] begged for us, then he set us free, and ordered that we should be brought to him; then we were obliged to promise him that we should never try to escape again, and he gave us back our horses and increased our pay.
[1]The Amir Souleiman. The other sons of Bajazet were Mouhammed and Mousa.
7.—How Wyasit took the city of Samson.[(1)]
Afterwards, in the summer, Wyasit took eighty thousand men into a country called Genyck, and lay siege to a capital called Samson. This city was built by the strong man Samson, from whom it has its name. The lord of the country was of the same name as the country, Zymayd, and the king expelled the lord out of the land; and when it was heard in the city that their lord was driven away, the people gave themselves up to Weyasit, who occupied the city and all the country with his people.