"_A little Bird told me_" (Vol. iv., p. 232.).--C. W. might have
discovered the origin of this saying in an authority much older and much
more familiar to English readers than the Koran. Instead of going to
Mahomet in search for legends of King Solomon, if he had opened his
Bible, and turned to the Book of _Ecclesiastes_ x. 20., he would there
have found the wise monarch of Israel himself saying,
"Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought; and curse not the
rich in thy bed-chamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the
voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."