THE TALE OF THE KALENDAR PRINCE
An expectant hush settled upon the tribesmen. Scheherazade, most famous story-teller of the Bedouin, stood in the moonlight between the palm trees, and began her tale. 'Long ago, in the city of Baghdad, there lived the Sultan Saladin. Convinced of the faithlessness of women, he swore to put to death each of his wives after the first night. In time his avaricious gaze fell upon beautiful Anitra, a princess of the Kalendar province. His soldiers came silently in the night, and by dawn they and their helpless captive were far away. The fate of the wives of Saladin was known throughout Arabia, and greatly was he loathed by the people of the land. But such was the awesome might of his armies, that no-one dared oppose him, even in thought. None that is, save Imrahil, eldest prince of Kalendar, who set out on the trail of his beloved sister with vengeance in his heart. His quest began aboard Sinbad's ship, sailing the Red Sea. Despite the many hazards of the long ocean voyage, Imrahil safely came ashore at the delta of the river Ahnil. Aboard a simple raft, he followed the river upstream until the waters swept him into a great cavern, deep in the bowels of the Earth. Here he fought with the bewitched genies of Al-Khemizd, too dreadful even to imagine. Escaping from the cavern, on a flying carpet stolen from the blind weaver Ahxmihnsta, Imrahil fought his way through the skies, across the burning desert - to Baghdad! Dodging the guards at the city gates, Imrahil ran along the high walls to the gardens of the Sultan's Palace. He climbed swiftly up the tallest tree in the garden, and jumped through a window into the palace. He fought past the guards, and reached the battlements, where Anitra was being held by the Sultan! Swiftly they leapt together onto the carpet, and rose high above the towers of Baghdad. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Retyped in 2012 by hERMOL Visit my website at http://CPCRULEZ.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |