Once upon a time there was in the country of the Persians a haughty king named Saures (Shápúr), and he liked not that a Christian should be in a place where his power and his might could not follow him. The Christians had collected in the kingdom of Abcas for its strength. He pursued them with a great army. When the great army was seen by the Christians, they made their prayers to Christ, the Son of the living God, to give them succour, for the king was not willing to accept any present on earth from them, (but only) obedience and offerings to his own gods. The king's army was then on the plain of Hamsón. God hearkened to the prayer of the Christians, and cast a dark mist around the plain in which the king of the Persians lay with his army, so that no one durst