Seeing all his endeavours to inspire his men with courage ineffectual, the Sultan travelled onward with them into the desert, as one given up to certain destruction.
After two days' march, they halted beside several small pools; and such was the excessive drought of Misnar's army, that many perished before they could be prevailed upon to quit the refreshing waters of the desert. These, indeed, thought of little more than present relief; but Misnar, their lord, was overwhelmed with the severest pangs of distress.
To increase their grief, scouts brought word that the troops of Hobaddan, being refreshed after their fatigues, were marching towards them, intending to destroy them while they were faint from want of provision. The army of the Sultan, terrified by the report, and seeing no hope of escape, fell upon the wretched Sultan and his faithful Vizier, and bringing them into the centre of the troops, demanded their blood as an atonement for the losses they were about to suffer in their cause.
The ringleader of this general mutiny was Ourodi, the ancient enemy of the faithful Horam, who, standing foremost in the ranks, commanded the archers to bind their Sultan and Vizier to a stake.
The Sultan, seeing all his hopes defeated, and the rage of the multitude, knelt down and commended his cause to the all-powerful Allah.
And now the archers were about to bend their bows and fit the deadly shafts to their bow-strings, when a luminous appearance was discovered to the eastward, and the outskirts of the army saw a female in robes of light travelling over the sands of the desert. In a moment she passed through the ranks of the army, and stood in the circle who were gathered around to see the execution of the Sultan and his Vizier.
"Misnar," said she, "arise, and fear not those sons of clay, nor the malice of enchantment: I am the genius Macoma, sent by Mahomet to save and deliver thee when human assistance was vain and impossible. Therefore assume thy just command over these thy subjects, and let them all fall prostrate on the ground to Allah, and wait to see the fate of those who fight against the Prophet of the Faithful. But first learn, from thine own experience, the folly of trusting even to the greatest human power or prudence, without an affiance in the Lord of Heaven. The world, O Misnar, is Allah's, and the kingdom of heaven is the work of His hands; let not, therefore, the proudest boast, nor the most humble despair; for, although the towering mountains appear most glorious to the sight, the lowly valleys enjoy the fatness of the skies. But Allah is able to clothe the summit of the rocks with verdure, and dry up even the rivers of the vale. Wherefore, although thou wert suffered to destroy the greatest part of thine enemies, yet one was left to overpower thee, that thou mightest know that thou wert but a weak instrument in the hands of strength."
"I know," answered the Sultan Misnar, "that Allah is able to dissolve this frame of earth, and every vision of the eye; and therefore not the proudest nor the most powerful can stand against Him."
As the Sultan spake thus; the army of Hobaddan appeared on the face of the sandy desert.