They couldn’t see the enemy, but still they fought. Twelve
hundred knights left the day before from Saffuriya. Only one
hundred and fifty knights were alive when Saladin’s seventeenyear-old
son Al-Afdal described what he saw that day:
Hattin was my first battle and I was at my father’s side. In the end, the
King of the Franks was on the hill. He and his soldiers made an attack
that drove our men back to where my father and I were standing. My
father cried, ‘They mustn’t win!’ and our men attacked the hill again.
I was happy when I saw the Franks fall back. I cried, ‘We’ve won!’ But
the Franks attacked again with all their strength and our men were all
around us again. Then my father told them to attack once more, and they
pushed the enemy up the hill another time. Again I screamed, ‘We’ve
beaten them!’ But my father turned to me and said, ‘Be silent! We’ll win
only when that red tent on the hill falls!’ Before he finished his words,
the king’s tent fell. My father then got off his horse, bowed down and
thanked God, crying happily.
After the battle, Saladin’s men took King Guy and Reynald
of Chatillon to their commander’s tent. Saladin asked both of
them to sit. He then said to Reynald, ‘How many promises and
agreements have you broken?’
Reynald answered, ‘Kings have always done things in this
way! I did nothing more.’
King Guy was very thirsty and afraid. Saladin spoke to him
kindly and gave him cold water. The king drank and then gave
some water to Reynald.