How the King sent to call the ambassador, and of the answer which he
gave to him.
Next day the King sent to call the ambassador, and after other things
had been spoken of between[569] them, the King said that he would be
content to restore everything to the Ydallcao according to his wish,
and would be pleased at once to release Satabetacao, provided the
Ydallcao would come and kiss his foot. When the ambassador heard the
King's answer he took leave of him and went to his tent; and he wrote
to the Ydallcao and told him what had passed, sending to him one of the
scribes that had come with him. And much time had not passed when the
Ydallcao sent him a reply, saying: How could it be possible for him to
meet the King, seeing that he could not go to Bisnaga? and yet that
he was of full mind joyfully to do that which the King wished. With
this answer the ambassador went to the King, and since the King
would have set higher value on the Ydallcao's coming to kiss his feet
than on all that he had taken from him, he said to the ambassador,
"Do thou cause the Ydallcao to come to the confines of my kingdom, for
I shall be, soon there." Agreeing to this, the ambassador departed,
so as to persuade the Ydallcao to come to the boundary. The King on
his part went forthwith to a city called Mudugal[570] which is close
to the boundary, and there he waited until they told him that the
Ydallcao was coming and was already near at hand. Forthwith the King
set out to meet him, and entered the kingdom of Daquem, so desirous
was he to meet the Ydallcao; but the Ydallcao, after all, dared not
meet the King. And the King journeyed so far, whilst they kept saying
to him, "Lo! he is here close at hand," that he even went as far as
Bizapor,[571] which is the best city in all the kingdom of Daquem. It
has numbers of beautiful houses built according to our own fashion,
with many gardens and bowers made of grape-vines, and pomegranates,
and oranges and lemons, and all other kinds of garden produce.
Hither went the King, for it seemed well for him to await the coming
of the Ydallcao in so goodly a city; and he formed the determination
that if he got him here he would seize him or command him to be put to
death, to avenge the affront that had been put upon him; and seeing
that his enemy did not dare to come he remained in the city several
days. Then he turned away because water failed him; for since this
city lies in a plain and has no water save that which it receives
from rainfall into two lakes, of which there are two large ones, the
Moors had opened these in order to drain them, so that the King should
not be able to stay in their country. For this reason it behoved the
King to depart. But the city was left almost in ruins -- not that the
King had commanded it to be destroyed, but that his troops, in order
to make fires for cooking, had torn down so many houses that it was
a great grief to see -- and this was occasioned by there being in
the country a dearth of firewood, which comes to them from a great
distance. The Ydallcao sent to ask the King what wrong the houses
of his captains had done that he had commanded to destroy them; for
there remained no other houses standing save only the palaces of the
Ydallcao, the King himself being therein. The King sent answer that it
was not he who had done it, but that he could not control his people.
When the King went to the town of Modogal the Ydallcao returned to
Bigapor, where, seeing the great havoc that had been wrought in it,
he took to himself the blame for such damage having been done,[572]
saying that if he had gone to the King such destruction would not have
taken place, and that at least he could do this in future; he said that
he had been badly advised since for his own part he had been prepared
to do it. Thus he took counsel with his advisers, putting before them
how secure his position was if he had the friendship of the King,
that if allied to him he might be able to still further increase
(the greatness of) his State, and that with the King's favour he
would be able to carry out all his wishes. Concerning these things
and others similar to these he continued constantly speaking with his
advisers. Wherefore Acadacao the lord of Bilgao, he who had fled with
him in the battle, and who was a man sagacious and cunning in such
matters, addressed the Ydallcao begging permission to go himself to
the King, and saying that he would remedy everything and would cause
everything to take place just as his lord wished; and the Ydallcao
listened to him readily.
Now Acadacao did not trouble himself to make this journey because
he desired to serve the Ydallcao, for another would have done it as
well, but he did it with a villainous motive and from the ill-will
he bore to Salebatacao whom the King held in prison at Bisnaga; and
the reason that he had this wicked motive was because Salebatacao
knew that Acadacao was the man that had caused the Ydallcao to
flee, and that the cowardice of such an act was enough to destroy
an army. Salebatacao had spoken angrily about this to all those who
went to see him or who were sent to visit him, and he always said
that he did not desire to be released from his captivity save for one
reason only, namely that he might ruin Acadacao and war against him as
against a mortal enemy. These things were all known to Acadacao, and he
knew that if they released him it would come to pass as he had said,
and therefore he determined to prevent this by contriving his enemy's
death, as will be mentioned in its place. It was for this reason that
Acadacao asked to be sent as ambassador to the King; and this was done.