And they sat down and feasted and drank wine. Uncle Toross took a cup
in his hand and paused: he was thinking about something, and he neither
drank nor set the cup down. His son cries from the street: "Father,
dear, there are the mad men of Sassun. Take care, they will be jeering
at you. Let us go away."

Uncle Toross turned to his son and said: "Oh, you dog of a son! Shall I
sit here and feast? Did not Mösramelik come and take our children away?
Abamelik's children in trouble, and I sitting at a banquet? Oh, what a
shame it is! Bread and wine, God be praised! Truly, I will drink no wine
till I have fetched the little ones." And Uncle Toross went out of
Sassun and came to Mösr. He greeted Mösramelik, and they sat down
together. Said Uncle Toross: "Now, we are come for God's judgment. It is
true that you made an agreement with Abamelik, but if a man sells a
captive he should first wait on the lord."[15]

[15] This means that if a captive is to be sold his kinsmen have a right
before all others to redeem him.

They arose and went to the court,[16] and Uncle Toross was given the
children.

[16] Schariat, the name of the Turkish court of justice, stands in the
original.

But Mösramelik stood in fear of these children, and he said to Uncle
Toross, "Let these children first pass under my sword, and then take
them with you."

Uncle Toross told the lads of this, and Zöranwegi said, "Let us pass