Redah, addressing her negress, said to her: "See now what casts that shadow. Is it a cloud, or an Arab's spear?"
The negress goes to see, comes back to her mistress, and says to her, "It is a horseman, such as I have never seen the like of before in all my life."
"Return," said Redah, "and ask him who he is." Redah goes to see, and says:
"O horseman, who dost come before our eyes,
Why seekest thou thy death? Tell me upon
Thine honor true, what is thine origin?"
He answers:
"Oh, I am Ahmed el Hilalieu called. Well known
'Mongst all the tribes of daughters of Hilal.
I bear in hand a spear that loves to kill,