In the course of time his denunciations were reported to Motadhid. The latter caused to be prepared a bronze casket, in which were placed a number of pieces of gold that had been covered with a deadly volatile poison. As the pilgrims were leaving to join the annual caravan to Mecca, Motadhid caused one of them, in whom he could confide, to be brought before him, and gave him the casket.
“When thou hast entered the Holy City,” said he, “seek out the person whose name is inscribed hereon, and present this to him with my compliments. But be sure not to open the casket or evil will befall thee.”
On his arrival the messenger had little difficulty in finding the blind beggar, who was accustomed each day, before the Great Mosque, to revile the name and recount the crimes of his oppressor.
“Friend,” said the Andalusian, “behold a gift which our Lord the Prince of Seville hath charged me to deliver to you. Receive it with joy, for methinks it is of great value.”
The blind man took the casket and shook it. “By the beard of the Prophet, it contains gold!” he cried. “But why hath Motadhid sent me this, after having reduced me to poverty and driven me into exile?”
“I know not,” responded the other. “It may be a royal caprice; it may be the fruit of remorse. In any event, rejoice in thy good fortune.”
“Thanks for thy kindness, and do not fail to convey to the Prince the assurance of my appreciation of his generosity,” said the beggar, as he departed to grope his way through the street leading to the wretched lodging which public charity had bestowed upon him.
Opening the fatal casket, he poured the gold into his lap. He counted it, fondled it, embraced it, with all the rapture of one who long accustomed to abject poverty is suddenly raised to affluence.
But a few moments elapsed before the fumes of the poison produced their effect; a convulsive shudder racked his frame, and the victim of Motadhid’s hatred fell forward upon his treasure—a corpse.
The military operations of Motadhid were characterized by great energy and unusual success. At the very outset of his reign, he was attacked by a coalition of Berber princes. Marching towards the west, he desolated the territories of Modhaffer, Emir of Badajoz, the soul of the hostile league. In a battle which followed, Modhaffer sustained a decisive defeat, and a considerable number of the inhabitants of his capital were killed and captured. The son of Mohammed, Emir of Carmona, perished in this engagement, and his skull, duly bleached and labelled and embellished with gold and jewels, was deposited by the side of its grinning predecessors in the unique casket of the Prince of Seville. Peace was finally adjusted between these two petty sovereigns through the intervention of Ibn-Djahwar, ruler of Cordova, who, in these sanguinary struggles, although his sympathies were with the opponents of the Berbers, maintained a politic neutrality. His most formidable enemy disposed of, Motadhid attacked and conquered in detail the little states of Huelva, Silves, and Santa-Maria. The extreme South of the Peninsula was at that time in the hands of the Berbers. To such a commanding position had the principality of Seville now attained, that the African lords of Andalusia acknowledged the title and the supremacy of the false Hischem, and paid tribute to the government he pretended to control. The cupidity and ambition of Motadhid were aroused by the sight of this fertile domain lying at his very door. He determined to secure the prize by artifice, this method being more congenial to his politic genius than the expensive and uncertain result of an appeal to arms. The states of Ronda and Moron, the most important and accessible, he selected as the object of his first attempt. Relying upon the doubtful faith of his tributaries, and accompanied by only four attendants, he boldly placed himself in the power of the Berber chieftains. He was received with the greatest courtesy and kindness, and while he was being feasted at the palace, his followers, who had been selected for their acuteness and proficiency in all the arts of deception, mingled in disguise with the people and ascertained their sentiments towards the ruling powers. The information obtained was most favorable to the plans of Motadhid. Under a delusive appearance of contentment a wide-spread hatred of the African domination was found to exist; and, by a judicious distribution of the gold with which they were provided, his attendants experienced no difficulty in purchasing the support of a number of influential officials, through whose assistance, at the designated time, the strongholds of the two Berber sovereigns were to be betrayed. Amidst the repeated and prolonged festivities to which his visit had given rise, the ability of Motadhid to resist the intoxicating fumes of wine stood him in good stead among revellers whose convivial propensities and experience were fully equal to his own. In the midst of a prolonged debauch immediately preceding his intended departure, the crafty prince pretended to be overcome with sleep. As soon as his heavy breathing indicated loss of consciousness, his perfidious hosts began to discuss, deliberately and in whispers, the propriety of his assassination. The infamy of this proposal, sufficiently flagitious of itself, was increased by the fact that among the Berbers, as well as the Arabs, hospitality was regarded as the most noble of virtues, and the person of a guest who had eaten at the board of his entertainer was, for the time being, inviolably sacred. The few moral sensibilities originally possessed by the Berbers had, however, amidst the commotion of incessant conflict and through familiarity with the insidious artifices constantly employed by the mixed and demoralized population of the Peninsula, been effectually destroyed. According to the unscrupulous maxims of their policy universally entertained and constantly practised, considerations of present expediency far outweighed the obligations of social courtesy or the dictates of personal honor. The opportunity of delivering themselves at a single blow and without personal risk from the most powerful and implacable enemy of their race was too fortunate and unexpected to be sacrificed to a mere question of casuistry or sentiment by men long habituated to deeds of treachery and violence. Of all the assemblage only one, Moadh-Ibn-Abi-Corra, a youth of the most distinguished rank, had the principle and the courage to remonstrate. The indignant reproaches of their young companion, not yet sufficiently practised in duplicity and crime to overcome the impulses of a noble and generous nature, prevailed over the base resolve of the other princes, and realizing, in spite of their blunted faculties, the flagrant enormity of the project, they quietly abandoned it. While the discussion involving the fate of Motadhid was being conducted, the self-control of the latter was subjected to a far more severe strain than it had ever before been called upon to endure. His drowsiness had been assumed as a convenient ruse. By its means he had hoped to become acquainted with the prejudices and the designs of his turbulent vassals heedlessly betrayed in moments of conviviality. But he was entirely unprepared for the revelations which fell upon his astonished ears. Aware that the slightest indication of consciousness would only precipitate the blow, he maintained, with a simulated calmness incredible under the circumstances, the appearance of a profound slumber. Finally he arose and resumed his place at the banquet. Not a tremor of voice, not an agitation of muscle, disclosed the ordeal he had just undergone. His marvellous self-command easily imposed upon his unsuspecting hosts, who, partly from policy, partly from remorse, now overwhelmed with assiduous attentions the guest whom their deliberate malice had but a moment before been ready to consign to a violent death.