I made my obeisance, and
presented the letter and gift. When he had read what the King of
Serendib wrote to him, he asked me if that prince were really so rich
and potent as he represented himself in his letter. I prostrated
myself a second time, and rising again, said, "Commander of the
Faithful, I can assure your majesty he doth not exceed the truth. I
bear him witness. Nothing is more worthy of admiration than the
magnificence of his palace. When the prince appears in public,[67] he
has a throne fixed on the back of an elephant, and rides betwixt two
ranks of his ministers, favorites, and other people of his court.
Before him, upon the same elephant, an officer carries a golden
lance[68] in his hand; and behind him there is another, who stands
with a rod of gold, on the top of which is an emerald, half a foot
long and an inch thick. He is attended by a guard of one thousand men,
clad in cloth of gold and silk, and mounted on elephants richly
caparisoned. The officer who is before him on the same elephant, cries
from time to time, with a loud voice, 'Behold the great monarch, the
potent and redoubtable Sultan of the Indies, the monarch greater than
Solomon, and the powerful Maharaja.' After he has pronounced those
words, the officer behind the throne cries, in his turn, 'This
monarch, so great and so powerful, must die, must die, must die.'[69]
And the officer before replies, 'Praise alone be to Him who liveth
forever and ever.
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