تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.11.15

13.11.15

When they attacked the vizier's camp, this Dāwūd was openly reviling the Sultan and insulting him in the foulest terms, while the Sultan heard it and recognised his voice. When the rout came, ʿAyn al-Mulk said to his deputy Ibrāhīm the Tatar: "What do you think, Malik Ibrāhīm? Most of the army has fled, including the bravest of them. Shall we save ourselves?" Ibrāhīm said to his men in their own tongue: "When ʿAyn al-Mulk tries to flee, I shall seize him by his pigtail (dabbūqa). When I do that, strike his horse so that he falls to the ground; then we will seize him and bring him to the Sultan, so that this may be an atonement for my sin in rebelling against him and a means of my deliverance." When ʿAyn al-Mulk was about to flee, Ibrāhīm said to him: "Where to, Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn?"—for so he was styled—and seized him by his pigtail, and