The few that survived became convinced that Hatim was more powerful in the magic art than even their great sovereign, whom they now resolved to abandon. Addressing the magician, they said to him, “Sire, is it your purpose thus to expose us to wanton slaughter? It is too evident that we have no power to cope with this formidable adversary; we must therefore save ourselves by flight.” The magician, enraged, shouted to them in a voice like thunder, “Base cowards, whither do ye fly? A few minutes more and Hatim is my prisoner.”
His words were unheeded by his shattered host; and seeing them thus quit the field, he uttered one of his spells and blew his breath after them, when every man was changed into a green tree. Thus left alone, Sam Ahmar, by means of some incantation, was furnished with a pair of wings, and soared aloft into the air. Hatim was not prepared for this stratagem of the enemy: he stood in astonishment as he beheld the magician darting through the clouds, anxiously expecting another display of his powerful art. But his adversary seemed to resign the struggle, and at length was lost to sight among the clouds.
Hatim, then addressing Sarmak, said, “I shall not consider my labor at an end till this magician is my prisoner.”—“At present,” replied Sarmak, “he is gone to his great preceptor, Kamlak, the mighty magician. This last exacts from his disciples the homage due to the Great Creator.”—“Know you aught of his abode?” inquired Hatim. “Full well,” answered Sarmak, “for once every year we used to visit him and do him homage, and if you will accept of my guidance, I am ready to conduct you thither.”
Ere Hatim would trust his guide, he had him solemnly initiated in the mysteries of his own faith; and when about to set out on their journey, Sarmak drew his attention to a forest close by, saying, “Those trees you behold are the remains of the magician’s army, and here they must rest till the last trumpet shall sound, unless your superior skill restore them to their original form.” Hatim took a cup full of water, and breathing over it pronounced the divine name, and handing the cup to Sarmak, said to him, “Go and sprinkle a few drops of this liquid among the trees.”
Sarmak received the liquid as ordered; and as soon as he had sprinkled the same upon the trees, these were restored to their original shape of human creatures. They asked Sarmak, “What is become of our great master the magician?”—“Know ye not,” replied Sarmak, “that the slave of Iblis, by means of his enchantment, transformed you all into trees, and that you owe your deliverance to the more potent art of Hatim, the true servant of the Almighty? He it was who blew with his breath on a cup of water, and pronounced a charm which the powers of hell cannot withstand. He then gave me the water; and the moment I sprinkled it over you, by the blessing of Allah, you resumed your primitive form. As to your late master, Sam Ahmar, he has made his escape from before the brave Hatim, and now he holds communion with Kamlak, chief of enchanters. But tell me,” continued Sarmak, “what were your thoughts when thus transformed, and what did you feel when you stood under the appearance of trees?”—“In the first place,” said they, “as we were about to fly, we felt all at once our feet cleave to the earth, so that we had not the power of moving; then a most painful sensation seized our whole bodies; but now, blessings upon Hatim, we are again ourselves. Truly he is most powerful to have obtained such a victory over our sovereign, and henceforth Hatim only shall receive our services.”
Having come to this resolution, they marched and presented themselves to Hatim, and making their most profound obeisance, said, “Brave Hatim! we have hitherto served Sam Ahmar; but now we tender our services to you, who have so kindly rescued us, though we lately sought your life.” Hatim received them graciously; and having pronounced the sacred charm, he breathed on all of them, so that they became perfectly free from the enchantments of their late master. This done, they said to him, “Noble sir, whither will you now lead us?”—“I have not yet done with Sam Ahmar,” replied Hatim, “for till I have made him my prisoner, I can attend to nothing else. If he should of his own free will give me his daughter in marriage, I shall let him escape with life, otherwise I am resolved to slay him.”—“And may we ask,” said his companions, “how you became acquainted with the magician’s daughter?”—“As I lately happened to journey through a certain desert,” replied Hatim, “my attention was drawn to a large tree on the border of a lake; there, to my astonishment, I beheld the head of the magician’s daughter suspended to the highest branch, while the heads of her attendants hung lower down on the tree.”
Hatim detailed to his hearers the whole affair up to that moment, and in conclusion said, “On her account have I journeyed hither; what reception I met with from her father, you have witnessed. I hope, however, that in the end the Almighty will render me victorious; and should it be agreeable to his divine will, I will slay the magician on the very threshold of his grand preceptor to whom he is just gone, nay, the master himself shall not escape me.”—“Have a care, noble Hatim,” said his attendants, “the enchantment of Kamlak is the most potent in existence.”—“Fear not for that,” rejoined Hatim; “but if you wish to see what will happen, come with me, if your hearts fail you not.”—“You have already restored us from death to life,” said they; “it shall never be said, then, that we lacked either honor or courage so far as to desert you. Lead wheresoever you will, and thither we follow you.”
On hearing this declaration, Hatim expressed his satisfaction; and having invited them to follow, he set out for the mountain where dwelt Kamlak, the grand magician. His attendants, however, not liking the length of the journey, said to him, “Brave sir, our late sovereign, Sam Ahmar, was wont to carry us to this mountain in less than the space of a day.”—“But,” replied Hatim, “you know well that he did so by means of his enchantment.”—“And can you not do the same?” rejoined his followers; “assuredly you are more cunning in the magic art than our master, otherwise you could not have conquered him. The power of Sam Ahmar was such that he could reduce a mountain to an atom, and magnify a particle of dust to the size of a mountain; yet this mighty enchanter fled from before you, and unless you were thoroughly skilled in the magic art, you could not think of pursuing him.”
Here Sarmak checked their speech, saying, “Fools that you are, Hatim uses no enchantment; but well I know, from what I have already witnessed of him, that he will soon conquer Sam Ahmar, even if aided by Kamlak.”—“My friends,” said Hatim, “a heavenly man hath taught me a divine charm, and wherever I utter the same, no enchantment can be of any avail against me. With this sacred charm, the magician has no power to cope.”
They marched onwards with Hatim at their head, and soon found themselves on a road of which they were utterly ignorant. All at once they arrived on the bank of a lake of the purest water; and as their thirst was great, they began to drink copiously. But the moment they had done drinking, the water began to gush out at the soles of their feet.