Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Among the Mohammedans and Kurds at Ararat. The Rev. N. F. Hoijer - Sanctified Strategy - Greeting the Prince - The Missionary’s Weapon
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176 Among the Moliammedans and Kurds
them again: "Is any one of these your Prince?" He showed a beauti-
ful young man with large, bright eyes. I saluted him in the Kurdish
way by touching with my hand my forehead, my mouth and chest and
by making a deep bow. The Prince did likewise. Then I said to him:
Greeting the Prince
"I am come to you as a guest. I have been riding a long way and my
horse is tired and hungry. He wants to eat something and then to
rest. Have the kindness to let the horse be put in a stable and given
some fodder." The Prince ordered the horse to be taken through a
sloping path in the mountain. I followed after and I was followed by
a whole crowd of Kurds. Inside the mountain there was a large space
where the horses, donkeys, cows, oxen and sheep were kept. After
having made sure that my horse had the necessary care given to him,
I took my saddle, riding bags and walked into a hall to the left of
the stable’s entrance, where most of the men were gathered. The hall
was large and on both sides there were stone benches four feet high
and four feet wide, which were covered with precious rugs.
I climbed upon one of them, I laid there my saddle and bags, I spread
my overcoat and reclined on it, resting on my elbow, so I could see the
people. The men were all armed and they spoke with excitement
about the man they had captured.
"He is neither a Kurd, nor Turk, nor is he Persian; he is not
Armenian, Georgian, Syrian or Russian. What kind of a man can he
be?" "Ask him, who he is," said the Prince. The man who had been
acting for me as interpreter asked me now in Russian who I was;
because I pretended not to understand their language. I said that I
was a Swede. If I had said that I was an inhabitant of the moon
they would have understood me quite as well, because they never
heard anything of Swedes. The next thing they did was to settle
about disarming me. They said it is wonderful that this fellow who
has a Kurdish horse and saddle does not carry weapons.
The Missionary’s Weapon
The Prince said: "Oh, he carries certainly weapons, terrible weapons,
which we do not understand anything about. Look at him! Could
he rest so quietly there if he had no weapons, when we stand all
around him, a crowd of armed men. But he must give away his
weapons; tell him to do so."
I did not know at first what I should do. As I thought, now it will
be a fine thing when they learn that I have no weapon. But when
the interpreter gave me the order I had already decided what to do.
I opened my bag and took an Armenian Bible. I stood up and
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