This he did , laying the meat on the platform . Then the king-lion beckoned the prince to come near and said : ` Sleep at ease ; my guards will watch . ' . So , surrounded by the lion-guard , he slept till dawn , when the king lion said good-bye , and gave him a few of his own hairs and said : ` When you are in any difficulty , burn one of these and I will be there . ' Then it went off into the jungle . Prince Almas immediately started ; he rode till he came to the parting of the ways . He remembered quite well that the right-hand way was short and dangerous , but he bethought himself too that whatever was written on his forehead would happen , and took the forbidden road . By-and-by he saw a castle , and knew from what Jamila had told him that it was the Place of Clashing Swords . He would have liked to go back by the way ho had come , but courage forbade , and he said , ` What has been preordained from eternity will happen to me , ' and went on towards the castle . He was thinking of tying his horse to a tree which grew near the gate when a negro came out and spied him . ` Ha ! ' said the wretch to himself , ` this is good ; Taram-taq has not eaten man-meat for a long time , and is craving for some . I will take this creature to him . ' He took hold of the prince 's reins , and said : ` Dismount , man-child ! Come to my master . He has wanted to eat man-meat this long time back . ' ` What nonsense are you saying ? ' said the prince , and other such words . When the negro understood that he was being abused , he cried : ` Come along ! I will put you into such a state that the birds of the air will weep for you . '
Then the prince drew the Scorpion of Solomon and struck him -- struck him on the leathern belt and shore him through so XXXXX the sword came out on the other side .
at by for from in near of on that till