"Know, however, that among the soldiers of the Cross I am called Kenneth--Kenneth of the Couching Leopard; at home I have other titles, but they would sound harsh in an Eastern ear.

Brave Saracen, let me ask which of the tribes of Arabia claims your descent, and by what name you are known ?" "Sir Kenneth," said the Moslem, "I joy that your name is such as my lips can easily utter.

For me, I am no Arab, yet derive my descent from a line neither less wild nor less warlike.

Know, Sir Knight of the Leopard, that I am Sheerkohf, the Lion of the Mountain, and that Kurdistan, from which I derive my descent, holds no family more noble than that of Seljook." "I have heard," answered the Christian, "that your great Soldan claims his blood from the same source ?" "Thanks to the Prophet that hath so far honoured our mountains as to send from their bosom him whose word is victory," answered the paynim.
"I am but as a worm before the King of Egypt and Syria, and yet in my own land something my name may avail.

Stranger, with how many men didst thou come on this warfare ?" "By my faith," said Sir Kenneth, "with aid of friends and kinsmen, I was hardly pinched to furnish forth ten well-appointed lances, with maybe some fifty more men, archers and varlets included.