Khalid said that Solomon was famous for his wealth, and that the Caliph regarded him highly, though he did not follow the true religion. Orm now began to hope, but he said nothing to his countrymen of what Khalid had told him. The outcome of their conversation was that Khalid undertook to send a message, together with Orm’s greetings, to Solomon in Toledo, as soon as he was released himself.
But the days passed and still no order arrived for Khalid’s liberation. The delay made him more unruly than ever, and he inveighed furiously again the indifference shown by his kinsmen. He began to compose a long poem on the pernicious influence of wine, hoping that he might be able to get this copied out when they were in port and forwarded to the Caliph, so that his real feelings on the subject might become known. But when it came to the point where he had to sing the praises of water and lemon-juice and to acclaim their superiority to wine, his verses began to halt somewhat. However, although he continued to shriek imprecations at the ship’s crew whenever his dark fits settled on him, he was still never touched with the whip, and Orm took this to be a hopeful sign that he would not remain with them for much longer.
One morning, when they were in one of the eastern harbors, the ship having returned with many others from a hard chase after African pirates, four men walked aboard, and when Khalid saw them, he became faint with joy and paid no heed to Orm’s questions regarding their identity. One of the men was an official with a big turban and a cloak reaching to his feet. He handed a letter to the captain of the ship, who touched it with his forehead and read it reverently. Another member of the four seemed to be some kinsman of Khalid’s, for, as soon as the latter had been released from his ankle-chain, they threw themselves into each other’s arms, weeping and exchanging kisses and chattering like madmen. The other two men were servants, bearing clothes and baskets. They dressed Khalid in a fine robe and offered him food. Orm shouted to him to remember his promise, but Khalid was already rebuking his kinsman for having forgotten to bring a barber with him, and did not hear. Then Khalid went ashore with his suite, the captain and crew bidding him obsequious farewells, which he acknowledged with condescension, as though barely aware of their presence, and disappeared arm in arm with his kinsman.
Orm was sorry to see him depart, for Khalid had been an entertaining companion, and he feared that in his new-found freedom he would be above remembering to fulfill his promise. Another man was chained beside Orm in Khalid’s place, a shopkeeper who had been found guilty of using false weights. He tired quickly and was little use at the oar, and had to be whipped frequently, at which he moaned and mumbled little pieties to himself. Orm gained small pleasure from his company, and this was the period of his life in the galley that he found most tedious. He set all his hopes on Khalid and Solomon, but as more and more time passed, these began to fade.
At last, however, in Cádiz, their lucky day arrived. An officer came on board with a troop of men, and all the Northmen were released from their ankle-chains, were given clothes and shoes, and were removed to another ship, which proceeded up the great river to Córdoba. They were made to lend a hand rowing against the stream, but were not fettered or whipped and were frequently relieved; moreover, they were allowed to sit together, and so could talk without hindrance for the first time for many a day. They had been galley slaves for two years and the greater part of a third; and Toke, who sang and laughed almost the whole time, said that he did not know what would become of them now, but that one thing he did know, that it was high time that he drank the thirst out of himself. Orm said that it would be better if he could wait until he had someone’s permission to do so, for it would be a bad thing if they had any violence now, which they would be liable to have, if Orm’s memory served him rightly, once Toke began quenching his thirst. Toke agreed that he would do better to wait, though he added that the waiting would be difficult. They all wondered what was going to happen to them, and Orm now repeated to them the details of his conversation with Khalid concerning the Jew. Then they were loud in the Jew’s praise, and in Orm’s also; and, though Orm was the youngest of them, they all now acknowledged him to be their chieftain.
Orm asked the officer what was going to be done with them, and whether he knew of a Jew called Solomon, but all the officer could tell him was that he had been commanded to conduct them to Córdoba; and he had never heard of Solomon.
They arrived at the Caliph’s city and saw it spreading out on both banks of the river, with many houses huddled together and white palaces and palm courts and towers. They marveled greatly as its size and splendor, which surpassed anything they could have imagined, and its wealth seemed to them sufficient to provide rich booty for all the seamen from the whole of the Danish kingdom.
They were led through the city, gazing in wonder on the throngs of people, though they complained that there were too few women among them, and that not much could be seen of those who were abroad, because they were all cloaked and veiled.
“A woman would have her work cut out not to appear beautiful in my eyes,” said Toke, “if only I had a chance to talk to one of them; for it is now three years since we fell among those foreigners, and in all that time we have not been allowed to smell a single woman.”
“If they set us free,” said ögmund, “we ought to be able to do well for women in this country; for their men are of miserable appearance compared with us.”
“Every man in this land is allowed to have four wives,” said Orm, “if he has embraced the Prophet and his teaching. But, once having done so, he can never drink wine again.”
“It is a difficult choice to make,” said Toke, “for their ale is too thin for my palate. But it may be that we have not yet sampled their best brew. And four women is just about what I need.”
They came to a large house, where there were many soldiers, and there they slept the night. The next morning a stranger appeared and led them to another house not far distant, where they were well bathed and barbered, and where cool drinks were offered to them in beautiful tiny cups. Then they were given softer garments, which chafed them less; for their clothes felt rough against their skin, since they had for so long been naked. They looked at each other, laughing at the change that had been wrought in their appearance; then, marveling greatly at all this, they were conducted into a dining-room, where a man came forward, greeting them and bidding them welcome. They recognized him at once as Solomon, though he now wore a very different appearance from when they had last seen him, for he had all the bearing and accouterments of a rich and mighty prince.
He greeted them hospitably, bidding them eat and drink and regard his house as their own; but he had forgotten most of what he had formerly known of the Nordic tongue, so that only Orm was able to converse with him. Solomon said that he had done all that he could on their behalf as soon as he had heard of their plight, because they had once performed a very great service for him, which he was glad to be able to repay. Orm thanked him as eloquently as he could; but, he told Solomon, what they were most eager to know was whether they were now free men or whether they were still slaves.
Solomon replied that they were still the Caliph’s slaves, and must remain so; in that matter he could not help them; but they were now to serve in the Caliph’s private bodyguard, which was recruited from the pick of the prisoners that the Caliph captured in battle and of the slaves that he purchased from abroad. The Caliphs of Córdoba, he went on, had always possessed such a bodyguard, regarding it as safer than being surrounded by armed subjects of their own, since the latter might more easily be bribed by their kinsmen or their friends to lay violent hands on the Caliph’s person when discontent pricked the land.