...Beyond the seas which are known roar the waters of that
Tenebrous Ocean that is unknown to mortals. There the long
breakers chant an eternal hymn, in tones unlike to the
voices of other seas. And in that ocean there is an island,
and in that island the Fountain of Youth unceasingly bubbles
up from the mystic caverns; and it was that fountain which
King Alexander, the Two-Horned, vainly sought. Only his
general, the Prophet Khader, found it, whereby he became
immortal. And of other mortals Solomon only beheld the
waters of that fountain, according to the Persian legend
written in the nine hundredth year of the Hejira, by the
goldsmith of language, Hossein ben Ali, also called El Vaëz
u'l Kashifi. And it may be found in the "Anvari Soheili,"
which are "The Lights of Canopus."...
In the Name of the Most Merciful God!... I have heard this tradition of
Solomon, the unparalleled among kings, for whom all Genii, and Peris,
and men, and beasts of earth, and birds of air, and creatures of the
deep begirt the loins of their souls with the girdle of obedience,
and whose power was measurable only by the hoofs of the horse of the
Zephyr, "whose morning course is a month's journey, and whose evening
course is also equal to a month's journey, upon the swiftest of
earthly steeds."
...Now, Solomon being once enthroned upon the summit of the
mightiest of mountains, which yet bears his name--the mountain at
once overlooking the plains of Iran and the kingdoms of India--all
the creatures of the universe gathered to do him honor. The birds
of heaven formed a living canopy above him, and the spirits of air
ministered unto him. And, as a mist rising from the earth, a perfumed
cloud shaped itself before him; and from out the cloud reached a hand,
fairer than moonlight, holding a diamond cup in which a strange water
made jewel-glimmerings, while a voice sweeter than music spake to him
from out the cloud, saying: "The Creator of all--be His nature forever
glorified and His power forever honored!--hath sent me to thee, O
Solomon, with this cup containing the waters of youth and of life
without end. And He hath desired thee to choose freely whether thou
wilt or wilt not drink of this draught from the Fountain of Youth.
Therefore consider well, O Solomon! Wilt thou drink hereof, and live
divinely immortal through ages everlasting, or wilt thou rather remain
within the prison of humanity?... I wait."
Then a deep silence brooded above the place; for Solomon dreamed upon
these words, while the perfumed cloud stirred not, and the white hand
motionlessly offered the jewel-cup. And so dreaming, he said unto his
own heart: "Surely the gold of life is good wherewith to purchase many
things at the great market of the Resurrection; the plain of life is
a rich soil wherein to plant the spice-trees of eternal felicity; and
joyless is the black repose of death.... Yet must I ask counsel of the
Genii, and the Peris, and the wisest of men, and the beasts of earth,
and the birds of air, before I may resolve to drink."
Still the moon-white hand offered the scintillating cup, and the
perfumed cloud changed not. Then the Genii, and the Peris, and the
wisest of men, and the beasts of earth, and the birds of heaven, all
speaking with one voice of agreement, prayed him that he should drink,
inasmuch as the well-being of the world reposed upon his living wisdom,
and the happiness of all creatures was sustained by the circle of his
life as a jewel held within the setting of a ring of gold.
So that Solomon indeed put out his hand, and took the cup from the
luminous fingers; and the fingers withdrew again into the odorous
cloud. Wondrous were the lights within the water; and there was a glow
of rosiness unbroken all about the cup, as of the sempiternal dawn in
those islands beyond the Ocean of Shadows, where the sun rises never
above the east and there is neither night nor day. But hesitating yet
once more before he drank, he questioned again the creatures of the
universe, asking: "O ye administering Genii and Peri beings, ye wisest
among wise men, ye creatures also of air and of earth, say if there be
absent from this assembly even one representative of all over whom I
hold dominion!"
And they replied: "Master, only Boutimar is not here--Boutimar the wild
dove, most loving of all living creatures."
Then Solomon sent Hudh-hudh to seek the wild dove--Hudh-hudh, the bird
of gold, created by the witchcraft of Balkis, Queen of Sheba, the
sorceress of sorceresses; and the golden bird brought back with him
Boutimar, the wild dove, most loving of all living creatures. Then it
was that Solomon repeated the words of the song which he had written:
"O my dove that dwellest in the clifts of the rock, in the secret
hiding-places of the stairs, let me see thy face, let me hear thy
voice!... Is it meet that thy lord, Solomon, shall drink of the waters
of youth and know the bliss of earthly immortality?"
Then the wild dove, speaking in the tongue of birds known to Solomon
only among mortals, asked the prophet-king, saying: "How shall a
creature of air answer the source of wisdom? how may so feeble a mind
advise thy supernal intelligence? Yet, if I must counsel, let me ask
thee, O Solomon, whether the Water of Life brought hither by this
perfumed spirit be for thee alone, or for all with whom thy heart might
incline thee to share it?"
But Solomon answered: "It hath been sent to only me, nor is there
enough within the cup for any other."
"O prophet of God!" answered Boutimar, in the tongue of birds, "how
couldst thou desire to be living alone, when each of thy friends and
of thy counselors and of thy children and of thy servants and of all
who loved thee were counted with the dead? For all of these must surely
drink the bitter waters of death, though thou shouldst drink the Water
of Life. Wherefore desire everlasting youth, when the face of the world
itself shall be wrinkled with age, and the eyes of the stars shall be
closed by the black fingers of Azrael? When the love thou hast sung of
shall have passed away like a smoke of frankincense, when the dust of
the heart that beat against thine own shall have long been scattered
by the four winds of heaven, when the eyes that looked for thy coming
shall have become a memory, when the voices grateful to thine ear shall
have been eternally stilled, when thy life shall be one oasis in a
universal waste of death, and thine eternal existence but a recognition
of eternal absence--wilt thou indeed care to live, though the wild dove
perish when its mate cometh not?"
And Solomon, without reply, silently put out his arm and gave back the
cup, so that the white hand came forth and took it, and withdrew into
the odorous cloud, and the cloud dissolved and passed away forever. But
upon the prophet-king's rich beard, besprinkled with powder of gold,
there appeared another glitter as of clear dew--the diamond dew of the
heart, which is tears.