Next morning, Frankish foot soldiers ran to get water, but
many died under the swords and arrows of the Muslim army.
Then Saladin told his men to light fires in the dry grass in front
of the Frankish army. Smoke filled the Franks’ eyes and mouths.
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,