Part 33

His first care was to subject the Jinns. He made them all appear before him, with the exception of the mighty Sachr, who kept himself in concealment on an unknown island in the ocean, and the great Eblis, the master of all evil spirits, to whom God had promised complete liberty till the day of the last Judgment.

When all the demons were assembled, Solomon pressed his seal upon their necks, to mark them as his slaves. Then he commanded all the male Jinns to collect every sort of material for the construction of the temple he was about to build. He bade also the female Jinns cook, bake, wash, weave, and carry water; and what they made he distributed amongst the poor. The meats they cooked were placed on tables, which covered an area of four square miles; and daily thirty thousand portions of beef, as many portions of mutton, and very many birds and fishes were devoured. The Jinns and devils sat at iron tables, the poor at tables of wood, the heads of the people at silver tables, the wise and pious at tables of gold; and these latter were served by Solomon in person.

One day, when all spirits, men, beasts, and birds rose satisfied from the tables, Solomon besought God to permit him to feed to the full all created animals at once. God replied that he demanded an impossibility. “But,” said he, “try, to-morrow, what thou canst do to satisfy the dwellers in the sea.”

On the morrow, accordingly, Solomon bade the Jinns lade a hundred thousand camels and the same number of mules with corn, and lead them to the sea-shore. He then cried to the fishes and said: “Come, ye dwellers in the water, eat and be satisfied!”

Then came all manner of fishes to the surface of the water, and Solomon cast the corn to them, and they ate and were satisfied, and dived out of sight. But all at once a whale lifted his head above the surface, and it was like a mountain. Solomon bade the spirits pour one sack of corn after another down the throat of the monster, till all the store was exhausted, there remained not a single grain. But the whale cried, “Feed me, Solomon! feed me! never have I suffered from hunger as I have this day!”

Solomon asked the whale if there were any more in the deep like him. The fish answered: “There are of my race as many as a thousand kinds, and the smallest is so large that thou wouldst seem in its belly to be but a sand-grain in the desert.”

Solomon cast himself upon the earth, and began to weep, and prayed to God to pardon him for his presumption.

“My kingdom,” called to him the Most High, “is far greater than thine. Stand up, and behold one creature over which no man has yet obtained the mastery.”

Then the sea began to foam and toss, as though churned by the eight winds raging against it, and out of the tumbling brine rose the Leviathan, so great that it could easily have swallowed seven thousand whales such as that which Solomon had attempted to feed; and the Leviathan cried, with a voice like the roar of thunder: “Praised be God, who by His mighty power preserves me from perishing by hunger.”[660]

3. THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.[661]

When Solomon returned from the sea-shore to Jerusalem, he heard the noise of the hammers, and saws, and axes of the Jinns who were engaged in the building of the temple; and the noise was so great that the inhabitants of Jerusalem could not hear one another speak. Therefore he commanded the Jinns to cease from their work, and he asked them if there was no means whereby the metals and stones could be shaped and cut without making so much noise.

Then one of the spirits stepped forth and said: “The means is known only to the mighty Sachr, who has hitherto escaped your authority.”

“Is it impossible to capture this Sachr?” asked Solomon.

“Sachr,” replied the Jinn, “is stronger than all the rest of us together, and he excels us in speed as he does in strength. However, I know that once every month he goes to drink of a fountain in the land of Hidjr; by this, O king, thou mayest be able to bring him under thy sceptre.”

Solomon, thereupon, commanded a Jinn to fly to Hidjr, and to empty the well of water, and to fill it up with strong wine. He bade other Jinns remain in ambush beside the well and watch the result.[662]

After some weeks, when Solomon was pacing his terrace before his palace, he saw a Jinn flying, swifter than the wind, from the direction of Hidjr, and he asked, “What news of Sachr?”

“Sachr lies drunk on the edge of the fountain,” said the Jinn; “and we have bound him with chains as thick as the pillars of the temple; nevertheless, he will snap them as the hair of a maiden, when he wakes from his drunken sleep.”

Solomon instantly mounted the winged Jinn and bade him transport him to the well at Hidjr. In less than an hour he stood beside the intoxicated demon. He was not a moment too soon, for the fumes of the wine were passing off, and, if Sachr had opened his eyes, Solomon would have been unable to constrain him. But now he pressed his signet upon the nape of his neck: Sachr uttered a cry so that the earth rocked on its foundations.

“Fear not,” said Solomon, “mighty Jinn; I will restore thee to liberty if thou wilt tell me how I may without noise cut and shape the hardest metals.”

“I myself know no means,” answered the demon; “but the raven can tell thee how to do this. Take the eggs out of the raven’s nest and place a crystal cover upon them, and thou shalt see how the raven will break it.”

Solomon followed the advice of Sachr. A raven came, and fluttered some time round the cover, and seeing that she could not reach her eggs, she vanished, and returned shortly with a stone in her beak, named Samur or Schamir; and no sooner had she touched the crystal therewith, than it clave asunder.

“Whence hast thou this stone?” asked Solomon of the raven.

“It comes from a mountain in the far west,” replied the bird.

Solomon commanded a Jinn to follow the raven to the mountain, and to bring him more of these stones. Then he released Sachr as he had promised. When the chains were taken off him, he uttered a loud cry of joy, which, in Solomon’s ears, bore an ominous sound as of mocking laughter.

When the Jinn returned with the stone Schamir, Solomon mounted a Jinn and was borne back to Jerusalem, where he distributed the stones amongst the Jinns, and they were able to cut the rocks for the temple without noise.[663]

Solomon also made an ark of the covenant ten ells square, and he sought to bring it into the Holy of Holies that he had made; and when he sought to bring the ark through the door of the temple, the door was ten ells wide. Now, that was the width of the ark, and ten ells will not go through ten ells. Then, when Solomon saw that the ark would not pass through the door, he was ashamed and cried, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and the King of Glory shall come in!” Then the gates tottered, and would have fallen on his head to punish what they supposed to be a blasphemy, for the doors thought that by “the King of Glory” he meant himself; and they cried to him in anger, “Who is the King of Glory?” and he answered, “It is the Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.” And because the doors were so zealous for the honour of God, the Lord promised them that they should never fall into the hands of the enemies of Israel. Therefore, when the temple was burnt and the treasures were carried into Babylon, the gates sank into the earth and vanished. And to this the prophet Jeremiah refers (Lament, ii. 9).[664]

Solomon also built him a palace, with great riches in gold, and silver, and precious stones, like no king that was before him. Many of the halls had crystal floors and crystal roofs. He had a fountain of liquid brass.[665] He had also a carpet five hundred parasangs in length; and whenever the carpet was spread, three hundred thrones of gold and silver were placed on it, and Solomon bade the birds of the air spread their wings over them for a shade.[666] He built a throne for himself of sandal wood, encrusted with gold and precious stones.

4. THE TRAVELS OF SOLOMON.

Whilst the palace was being built, Solomon made a journey to Damascus. The Jinn, on whose back he flew, carried him directly over the valley of ants, which is surrounded by such crags and precipices, that no man had hitherto seen it. The king was much astonished to see such a host of ants under him, which were as big as wolves, and which, on account of their grey eyes and grey feet, looked from a distance like a cloud. The queen of the ants, who, till this moment, had not seen a man, was filled with fear when she beheld Solomon, and she cried to her host, “Hie to your holes, fly!”

But God commanded her not to fear, and to summon all her subjects, and to anoint Solomon king of all insects. Solomon, who heard the words of God, and the answer of the queen from a distance of many miles, borne to him upon the wind, descended into the valley beside the queen. Immediately the whole valley was filled with ants, as far as the eye could see.

Solomon asked the queen, “Why didst thou fear me, being surrounded with such a countless and mighty host?”

“I fear God alone,” answered the queen; “if any danger were to threaten my subjects, at a sign from me seven times as many would instantly appear.”

“Wherefore then didst thou command the ants to fly to their holes when I appeared?”

“Because I feared they would look with wonder and reverence on thee, and thereby for a moment forget their Creator.”

“I am greater than thou,” added the queen of the ants.

“How so?” asked Solomon in surprise.

“Because thou hast a metal throne, but my throne is thy hand, on which I now repose,” said the ant.

“Before I leave thee, hast thou no word to say to me?”

“I ask nothing of thee, but I give thee a piece of advice. As long as thou livest, give not occasion to be ashamed of thy name, which signifies _The Blameless_. Beware also never to give the ring from thy finger, without saying first, ‘In the name of the God of all mercy.’”

Solomon exclaimed, “Lord! Thy kingdom exceeds and excels mine!” and he bade farewell to the queen of the ants.[667]

After Solomon had visited Damascus, he returned another way, so as not to disturb the ants in their pious contemplation. As he returned, he heard a cry on the wind, “O God of Abraham, release me from life!” Solomon hastened in the direction of the voice, and found a very aged man, who said he was more than three hundred years old, and that he had asked God to suffer him to live, till there arose a mighty prophet in the land.

“I am that prophet,” said Solomon. Then the Angel of Death caught away the old man’s soul.

Solomon exclaimed, “Thou must have been beside me, to have acted with such speed, thou Angel of Death.”

But the angel answered, “Great is thy mistake. Know that I stand on the shoulders of an angel, whose head reaches ten thousand years’ journey above the seventh heaven, and whose feet are five hundred years’ journey beneath the earth. He it is who tells me when I am to fetch a soul. His eyes are ever fixed on the tree Sidrat Almuntaha, which bears as many leaves as there are living men in the world; when a man is born, a new leaf buds out; when a man is about to die, the leaf fades, and, at his death, falls off; and, when the leaf withers, I fly to fetch the soul, the name of which is inscribed upon the leaf.”

“And what doest thou then?”

“Gabriel accompanies me, as often as one of the believers dies; his soul is wrapped in a green silk cloth, and is breathed into a green bird, which feeds in Paradise till the end of time. But the soul of the sinner is carried by me in a tarred cloth to the gates of hell, where it wanders in misery till the last day.”

Then Solomon washed the body of the dead man, buried him, and prayed for his soul, that it might be eased of the pains it would have to undergo during its purgation by the angels Ankir and Munkir.[668]

This journey had so exhausted Solomon, that on his return to Jerusalem he ordered the Jinns to weave him stout silk carpets on which he and all his servants, his throne, tables, and kitchen could be accommodated. When he wanted to go a journey, he ordered the winds to blow, and raise the carpet with all that was on it, and waft it whither he desired to travel.

One night, Abraham appeared to the king in a dream, and said to him: “God has given thee wisdom and power above every other child of man; He has given thee dominion over the earth and over the winds; He has suffered thee to build a house to His honour; thou hast power to speed on the backs of Jinns or on the wings of the winds where thou listest; now employ the gift of God, and visit the city of Jathrib (Medina), which will one day give shelter to the greatest of prophets; also the city Mecca, in which he will be born, and the temple which I and my son Ishmael—peace be with him!—rebuilt after the flood.”

Next morning Solomon announced his intention to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and bade every Israelite join in the expedition. The number of pilgrims was so great, that Solomon was obliged to have a new carpet woven by the Jinns of such vast size that it could serve the whole caravan, with the camels and oxen and sheep they destined for sacrifice. When ready to start, Solomon bade the Jinns and demons fly before the carpet; his confidence in their integrity was so small, that he would not trust them out of his sight: for this reason also he drank invariably out of crystal goblets, that even when drinking he might keep his eyes upon them. The birds he ordered to fly in ranks above the carpet, to give shadow to the pilgrims with their wings.

When all was in readiness, and men, Jinns, beasts, and birds were assembled together, Solomon ordered the winds to descend and bear the carpet, with all upon it, into the air, and waft it to Medina.

When they approached this town, Solomon made a sign, and the birds depressed their wings, and the winds abated, and the carpet sank lightly to the earth. But he suffered no man to step off the carpet, as Medina was then in the hands of idolaters. He alone went to the spot where afterwards Mohammed was to erect the first mosque—it was then a cemetery—and there he offered up his noon-day prayer. Then he returned to the carpet; at a sign the birds spread their wings, the winds gathered force and lifted the carpet, and the whole caravan sailed through the air to Mecca, which was then under the power of the Djorhamides, who were worshippers of the One God, and preserved the Kaaba from desecration by idols.

Solomon, with all his company, entered the city, went in procession round the temple, performed the requisite ceremonies, and offered the sacrifices brought for the purpose from Jerusalem. Then he preached a long sermon in the Kaaba, in which he prophesied the birth of Mohammed and the future glory of Mecca.

After three days, Solomon desired to return to Jerusalem, and he remounted his throne on the carpet, and all the pilgrims resumed their places. When the birds spread their wings, and the carpet was again in motion, the king perceived one ray of sun which pierced the canopy of birds, and this proved to him that one of the birds had deserted its place.

He called to the eagle, and bade it go through the roll-call of the birds, and ascertain which was absent.

The eagle obeyed, and found that the peewit was missing. Solomon was inflamed with anger, especially as he needed the peewit during his journey over the desert, to discover for him the hidden wells and fountains.

“Soar aloft!” exclaimed Solomon to the eagle, “and seek me this runaway, that I may strip him of his feathers and send him naked forth into the sun, to become the prey of the insects.”

The eagle mounted aloft, till the earth was beneath him like a revolving bowl, and he looked in all directions, and at length he spied the peewit coming from the south. The eagle would have grasped him in his talons, but the little bird implored him, by Solomon, to spare him till he had related his history to the king.

“Trust not in the protection of Solomon,” said the eagle; “thy mother shall bewail thee.” Then the eagle brought the culprit before the king, whose countenance was inflamed with anger, and who, with a frown, signed the runagate to be brought before his throne.[669]

The peewit trembled in every limb, and, in token of submission, let wings and tail droop to the ground. As Solomon’s face still expressed great anger, the bird exclaimed, “O king and prophet of God! remember that thou also shalt stand before the judgment-throne of God!”

“How canst thou excuse thine absence without my consent?” asked the king.

“Sire, I bring thee news of a land and a queen of which thou hast not even heard the name—the land of Sheba, and the queen, Balkis.”

“These names are indeed strange to me. Who told thee of them?”

“A lapwing of that country whom I met in my course, to whom I spoke of thy majesty, and the greatness of thy dominion, and wisdom, and power. Then he was astonished, and he related to me that thy name was unknown in his native land; and he spake to me of his home and the wonders that are there, and he persuaded me to accompany him thither. And on the way he related to me the history of the Queen of Sheba, who commands an army generalled by twelve thousand officers.”

Solomon bade the eagle release the peewit, and bade him relate what he had heard of Sheba and its queen.

5. THE HISTORY OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.

“Sheba,” said the peewit, “is the name of the king who founded the kingdom; it is also the name of the capital. Sheba was a worshipper of the sun, Eblis having drawn him from the true God, who sends rain from heaven, and covers the earth with plenty, and who reads the thoughts of men’s hearts.

“A succession of kings followed Sheba: the last of the dynasty was Scharabel, a tyrant of such dissolute habits that every husband and father feared him. He had a vizir of such singular beauty that the daughters of the Jinns took pleasure in contemplating him, and frequently transformed themselves into gazelles that they might trot alongside of him as he walked, and gaze with admiration on his exquisite beauty. One of these Jinn damsels, Umeira by name, conceived for the vizir a violent passion, and forgetting the great distance which separates the race of the Jinns from that of mortals, she appeared to him one day as he was hunting, and offered him her hand, on condition that he should fly with her into her own land, and that he should never ask her origin. The vizir, dazzled by the marvellous beauty of Umeira, gladly yielded, and she transported him to an island in the midst of the ocean, where she married him. At the end of nine months she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Balkis. The vizir, all this while, was ignorant of the nature of his bride, and one day forgot himself so far as to ask her to what race she belonged. No sooner had he asked the fatal question, than, with a wail of sorrow, she vanished for ever from his sight.

“The vizir now left the island, and, regaining his native country, retired with his babe to a valley far from the capital, and there lived in seclusion.

“As Balkis grew up, her beauty became more striking, and was of such a superhuman nature, that her father became uneasy lest the fame of it should reach the dissolute monster then seated on the throne of Sheba, and lest his daughter should be ravished from his arms. He therefore redoubled his precautions to guard Balkis, keeping her much at home, and only allowing her to appear veiled in public. But these precautions were vain. Scharabel was in the habit of travelling about his empire in disguise, and making himself, by this means, personally acquainted with the condition of his estates.

“On one of these expeditions he appeared, dressed in rags, as a mendicant, at the door of the ex-vizir, and obtained a glimpse of Balkis, then thirteen years old, lovely as a houri; she stepped out to give the beggar alms. At the same moment, the father hurried out towards his daughter. The eyes of the two men met; a mutual recognition ensued. The vizir fell at the feet of his king, and entreated pardon, telling him all that had happened; and Scharabel, who had fallen in love at first glance with Balkis, readily pardoned him, restored him to his place as grand vizir, and lodged him in a magnificent palace near Sheba.

“Installed there, the vizir was full of disquiet. His daughter observing this, inquired the cause, and received from her father the answer that he dreaded lest the tyrant should carry her off to his harem; ‘and,’ said the unhappy man, ‘I had rather see thee dead, Balkis, than in the power of this licentious monster.’

“‘Do not fear for me, my father,’ replied Balkis; ‘what thou dreadest shall not take place. Appear cheerful before the king. If he wishes to marry me, then ask him to give me a splendid wedding.’

“A few days after, Scharabel sent to ask the hand of Balkis. The virgin replied that it should be his if he would solemnize the marriage with great pomp. To this the king agreed, and a magnificent banquet was prepared.

“After dinner, the vizir and all the company retired, leaving Balkis alone with the king. There were, however, four female slaves present, one singing, another harping, a third dancing, and a fourth pouring out wine for the king. Balkis took the goblet, and plied her royal bridegroom well, till he fell drunk upon the floor, and then, with a dagger, she stabbed him to the heart.

“She at once communicated with her father, and bade him send orders throughout the town that all the citizens were to bring their daughters before the king, that he might add the comely ones to his already extensive list of wives and concubines. He obeyed her, and the commotion in the town was prodigious. Parents gathered their friends, those who were officers in the army agitated amongst their soldiers, and the whole town rose up in revolt, and rushed furiously to the palace, determined on the death of the tyrant.

“Then Balkis cut off the head of the king, and showed it to the excited multitude from a window. A cry of joy rang through Sheba. The palace gates were thrown open, and Balkis was unanimously elected queen in the room of the murdered tyrant.

“From that hour she has governed Sheba with prudence, and has made the country prosperous. She sits to hear suits, and gives judgment on a throne of gold, robed in splendour. All prospers under her wise administration: but, alas! like her predecessors, she too is a worshipper of the sun.”

When Solomon heard the story of the peewit, he wrote a letter and sealed it with his ring, gave it to the bird, and bade him carry it immediately to the Queen of Sheba.

The peewit flew like an arrow, and on the morrow appeared before Balkis, and gave her the missive. The queen broke the seal and read: “Solomon, son of David, and servant of the Most High God, to Balkis, queen of Sheba, sendeth greeting. In the name of the merciful and gracious God, peace be to those who walk in His ways. Do what I bid thee: submit immediately to my sceptre.”[670]

The queen, startled at the abrupt and peremptory command, read the letter to her council, and asked their advice.

They urged her to follow her own devices, and promised to agree to whatever she thought fit. She then said: “You know what disasters follow on war. The letter of Solomon is threatening; I will send him a messenger, and propitiate him with gifts. If he accepts them, he is not above other kings; if he rejects them, he is a prophet, and we must yield to his sway.”

She then dressed five hundred boys as girls, and five hundred girls she equipped in boys’ clothes. She collected, for presents, a thousand carpets of gold and silver tissue, a crown adorned with pearls and diamonds, and a great quantity of perfumes.

She also placed a pearl, a diamond cut through in zigzags, and a crystal goblet, in a box, and gave it to her chief ambassador.