Mosiah 20

Shemlon had a girls’ dancing spot, where nubile Lamanites liked to party. One day twenty-four of them were dancing there and the exiled priests of Noah spotted them. The priests watched them hungrily, trying not to be seen, then surprised and overpowered the girls, tying them up and hauling them into the woods.

Word got out and the Lamanites went into an uproar. But they thought Limhi’s people were behind the kidnapping. A huge contingent of armed troops headed out for revenge. Limhi saw them from his tower and took his own posse to lay in wait for the Lamanite troops. That was how this legendary guerilla war—sometimes called the War of Lions and Dragons—started.

The Limhi posse got the better of their Lamanite foes,

who retreated leaving their king bleeding to death on the battlefield. The posse dragged him to Limhi to finish him off in front of their own king.

But Limhi demurred and asked to interrogate the wounded king. “Why did you pull this stunt?” he demanded. “We’ve kept our agreement to the letter. You just shattered yours. What are you, insane?”

“You kidnapped two dozen of our young women,” he said.

This was news to Limhi, who launched a full investigation. Gideon took umbrage and urged Limhi against putting people through this mill of suspicion. He had his own theory: Noah’s ex-priests in hiding were the perps. “Tell that to the Lamanite king,” he told Limhi, “because more troops are on the way and our manpower is low. The king has got to call off this attack.”

Gideon went on to quote Abinadi on the divine culpability of his people, since they’d never really complied with God’s law. We’ve got to stop this madness now, he said. It’s better to be slaves than corpses.

Limhi did it. He told the Lamanite king the whole story of his dad, the loathsome “priests,” their fugitive status, and even their propensity for rape. That swayed the king, who suggested they take him to meet the approaching troops so he could stop their advance and forestall more killing.

They did so—unarmed, which proved a convincing strategy. It was a show of good faith that, against common wisdom, melted the Lamanites’ cold hearts. The Nephites won, mainly because Limhi pursued negotiation when others just wanted decapitation. If for that alone, he deserved to be king.