Swords From the Desert (52 page)

Authors: Harold Lamb

Tags: #Crusades, #Historical, #Action & Adventure, #General, #Fantasy, #Suspense, #Adventure Fiction, #Historical Fiction, #Fiction, #Short Stories

Lamb knew many languages: by his own account, French, Latin, ancient Persian, some Arabic, a smattering of Turkish, a bit of ManchuTatar, and medieval Ukrainian. He traveled throughout Asia, visiting most of the places he wrote about, and during World War II he was on covert assignment overseas for the U.S. government. He is remembered today both for his scholarly histories and for his swashbuckling tales of daring Cossacks and crusaders. "Life is good, after all," Lamb once wrote, "when a man can go where he wants to, and write about what he likes best."

The following stories and novellas were originally published in Adventure magazine: "The Shield," August 8, 1926; "The Guest of Karadak," August iS, 1927; "The Road to Kandahar," November iS, 1927; "The Light of the Palace," August 8, 1928.

The following stories were originally published in Collier's magazine: "The Way of the Girl," November ii, 1931; "The Rogue's Girl," October 29, 1932; "The Eighth Wife," December 31, 1932.

*Khalil is Lamb's first Arabian narrator, which should not be confused with Lamb's first Moslem narrator, Abdul Dost. Dost narrates four short stories collected in Warriors of the Steppes (Bison Books, 2oo6).

tReprinted by Donald M. Grant.

*Hasan Ozbekkan, a Turk writing for the New York Times Book Review in reference to Lamb's book Suleiman the Magnificent) called him "completely objective and meticulously just."

*Wilfred Thesiger, Arabian Sands New York: E. P. Dutton, 1959).

tFrom the dust jacket of Lamb's Kirdy: The Road Out of the World (New York: Doubleday, 1933).

*Lamb, Kirdy, dust jacket.

*of the Christian era. Khalil's Costatinah is Constantinople. This and many other places named by the Arab scribe are altered hereafter to European names.

*The Hippodrome.

`El Khadr-the Valiant.

'The Arabs called the Greeks "Roumis." The French and English and Western Europeans were "Franks," and all Christians, "Nazarenes."

*Al-comes-count, or baron.

*The Forum of Theodosius.

`This must have been the colossal statue of Juno.

*A nobleman holding rank in an army.

*By the Christian calendar, 16i9. At that time the four great empires of Asia, stretching from the gates of Vienna to the Malay peninsula, were-as we moderns call them-Turkey, Persia, India, and China. In the narrative of Daril, Persia is called Iran, and the empire of the vastly powerful Moguls is Ind.

'Ladies-wives and daughters of distinguished men.

*Jerusalem.

*Bikanir, the city of the desert portion of Rajasthan held by a clan often at war with Chitore, the citadel of the reigning prince of Rajputs.

*The shaking of the standard-a signal once used by the Arab clans to go forward and begin to battle.

*A.D.

'Persia, then ruled by the great Shah Abbas. Daril and other Arabs called it Iran, but the modern name is substituted hereafter in the narrative. I have left the text as it was originally printed, even though we now refer to Persia as Iran. -HAT

*The tribe of Joseph. Also, David and Solomon are favorite names in the Afghan hills, where tribes trace their descent from the rulers of Israel.

*By the Christian calendar 162o. The story of Daril ibn Athir was first written down by a Persian scholar in the seventeenth century. The Arabs of that time were too proud of the sword to take up the pen. It will be noticed in Ibn Athir's narrative that he passes over his undeniable skill as a physician but dwells fondly on his success against a Rajput swordsman.

*Physician.

*The meaning of "Jahangir."

'This daughter was Bibi-Khanum, called Mumtaz-Mahal, or Glory of the Palace, and the famous Taj Mahal is her sepulcher. She had as great an influence over her husband as Nur-Mahal had over Jahangir.

*The meaning of "Mahabat Khan."

`Scott, who was a conscientious historian even in writing fiction, represents Richard as harassed and abandoned by the princes, who plotted against him. Modern writers explain that Richard's arrogance estranged the other princes, who withdrew from him on that account. The truth, here, lies between the two views. Richard was overbearing in seizing the leadership, and he lost prestige by taking sides in the Montserrat-Lusignan feud-the two parties claiming the kingship of Jerusalem. But by then some of the best of the leaders -Barbarossa, and the count of Flanders, and William of Sicily-had died, and it is clear to this writer at least that Philip-Augustus and the Austrians were only half-hearted in the Crusade. They seized upon Richard's conduct as an excuse for getting out.

tlt must be remembered that the crusaders lacked horses, having perhaps only one man mounted to five or ten Moslem horsemen. This brought about the curious situation in which Saladin, on the defensive, was able to attack at will, while Richard on the offensive could only crawl about.