prophet, he would be able to distinguish boys from girls in the train
of the ambassadors, that he would be able to guess the contents of
the box, pierce the pearl, thread the diamond, and fill the goblet
with water which came neither from earth nor heaven. The chief nobles
of Sheba were sent to bear the letter. Before they left, she said to
them: “If Solomon receives you with arrogance, fear nothing; pride is a
sure token of weakness. If he receives you graciously, be careful--he
is a prophet.” The peewit, who had watched all these proceedings, and
listened to the message and advice, now flew to Solomon and told him
all.
The great king immediately ordered his Jinns to spread his carpet seven
leagues long, leading from his throne towards Sheba. He then surrounded
himself with gold and gems, and gathered all his courtiers and officers
together, and prepared for the audience.
When the ambassadors of Sheba set their feet on the carpet--the end of
which was beyond the range of vision--they were full of astonishment.
This astonishment increased, and became terror, when they passed
between ranks of demons, and Jinns, and nobles, and princes, and
soldiers, extending for many miles.
When the leaders of the embassy reached the foot of the throne, Solomon
received them with a gracious smile. Then they presented the letter of
the queen. Solomon, without opening it, told them its contents, for it
had been read by the peewit. They offered the box, and he said that in
it were a pearl, a diamond, and a goblet. He next ordered his servants
to bring silver ewers before the train of the ambassadors, that they
might wash their hands after their journey. Solomon watched intently,
and he picked out the boys from the girls at once; for the boys dipped
their hands only in the water, whilst the girls tucked up their sleeves
to their shoulders and washed arms as well as hands.
Then the box was opened and the pearl produced. Solomon unclasped his
pouch and drew forth Schamir, applied it to the pearl, and a hole was
drilled through it immediately. Next he took the diamond. The hole
pierced in it wound about, and a thread inserted in one end would not
pass through to the other end. Solomon took a piece of silk, called to
him a worm, put one end of the thread in its mouth and inserted it in
the diamond. The worm crawled down the winding passage, and appeared at
the other opening with the silk. In gratitude to the little creature,
Solomon gave it for its food forever the mulberry-tree. Then he took
the crystal goblet. He summoned to him a huge negro slave, bade him
mount a wild horse and gallop it about the plain till it steamed with
sweat. Then with ease, the monarch filled the chalice with water that
neither came from earth or heaven.
Solomon, having accomplished these tasks, said to the ambassadors:
“Take back your presents, I do not want them. Tell the queen what you
have seen, and bid her submit to my rule.”
When Balkis had heard the report of her servants, she saw that it was
in vain for her to resist.
“Solomon,” said she, “is a great prophet, and I must myself do him
homage.”
She accordingly hastened to prepare for her journey, and marched to
King Solomon at the head of her twelve thousand generals, and all the
armies they commanded. When she was a league from Solomon, the king
hit upon a scheme. He called to him a demon, and bade him transport
immediately from Sheba the throne of the queen, and set it beside his
own. The Jinn replied that he would bring it before noon, but the king
could not wait, for the queen would soon be there; then Asaph, his
vizir, said “Raise thine eyes, sire, to heaven, and before thou canst
lower them the throne of Balkis will be here.”
Asaph knew the ineffable name of God, and therefore was able to do what
he said.
Solomon looked up, and before he looked down, Asaph had brought the
throne.
As soon as Balkis appeared, Solomon asked her if she recognized the
seat. She replied, “It is mine, if it is that which it was.” A reply,
which we are told, charmed Solomon.
Now the Jinns were envious of Balkis, and they sought to turn away the
heart of Solomon away from her; so they told him that she had hairy
legs.[671]
Solomon, accordingly, was particularly curious to inspect her legs.
He therefore directed the Jinns to lay down in front of the throne a
pavement of crystal one hundred cubits square. Upon this pavement he
ordered them to pour water, so that it might appear to be water.
In order to approach Solomon, Queen Balkis raised her petticoats, lest
they should be wet in passing through what she supposed to be water of
considerable depth. The first step, however, convinced her that the
bottom was nearer the surface than she anticipated, and so she dropped
her petticoats, but not before the great king had seen that the Jinns
had maligned her legs, and that the only blemish to her legs was three
goat’s hairs; and these he was enabled to remove by a composition of
arsenic and lime, which was the first depilatory preparation ever
employed. This was one of the five arts introduced by Solomon into
the world. The others were, the art of taking warm baths, the art of
piercing pearls, the art of diving, and the art of melting copper.
The queen stepped gracefully towards the king, and bowing, offered him
two wreaths of flowers, whereof one was natural, the other artificial,
asking him which he preferred. The sagacious Solomon seemed perplexed;
he who had written treatises on the herbs, “from the cedar to the
hyssop,” was nearly outwitted. A swarm of bees was fluttering outside a
window. Solomon ordered the window to be opened, and the insects flew
in, and settled immediately on the wreath of natural flowers, not one
approaching the artificial wreath.
“I will have the wreath the bees have chosen,” said the king,
triumphantly.
Solomon took Balkis to be his wife, and she worshipped the true God.
She gave him all her realm, but he returned it to her; and when she
went into her own land, she bore with her the fruit of her union with
Solomon, and in the course of time bore a son, who is the ancestor of
the kings of Abyssinia.[672]
6. SOLOMON’S ADVENTURE WITH THE APES.
On one of his journeys, Solomon passed through a valley which was
inhabited by apes which dressed themselves like men, and lived in
houses, and ate their food in a way wholly superior to other apes.
Solomon descended from his carpet and marched at the head of his
soldiers into the valley. The apes assembled to resist him, but one of
their elders stepped into the midst of them and said, “Let us rather
submit and lay down our arms, for he who comes against us is a holy
prophet.”
Then three apes were chosen as ambassadors, and were sent to Solomon
with overtures of peace.
Solomon asked them to what race they belonged.
The envoys replied, “We are of human origin, and of the race of Israel,
and we are descended from those who, in spite of all warnings, have
violated the Sabbath, and who have therefore, in punishment, been
transformed by God into monkeys.”
Solomon had compassion on the apes, and he gave them a letter on
parchment, assuring to them undisturbed possession of their valley
against all assault by men.
And in after days, in the time of the Calif Omar, some of his troops
invaded this valley, and, with great amazement, beheld the apes stone
a female which had been taken in adultery. And when they would conquer
the valley, an aged ape came before them bearing a parchment letter.
This they were unable to read; so they sent it to the Calif Omar, who
was also unable to decipher the writing; but a Jew at his court read
it, and it was an assurance given to the apes against invasion by King
Solomon.
Therefore Omar sent orders that they were to be left unmolested, and
returned to them their parchment.[673]
7. SOLOMON MARRIES THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH.
The throne of Solomon had four feet. It was of red ruby, and of the
ruby were made four lions. None but Solomon could sit upon the throne.
When Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and sought to ascend the throne,
the lions rose and struck at him, and broke his legs. He was given
remedies, and his legs were reset. No one after that ventured to sit on
the throne.[674]
Djarada was the daughter of King Nubara, of an island in the Indian
Sea, according to the Arabs; of King Pharaoh of Egypt, say the Jews.
Solomon marched against the king, on his carpet, with as many soldiers
as it would accommodate; defeated him, and slew him with his own hand.
In the palace of King Nubara Solomon found the Princess Djarada, who
was more beautiful than all the ladies in Solomon’s harem, surpassing
even the beautiful Balkis.
Solomon made her mount the carpet, and he forced her, by threats of
death, to share his faith and his couch. But Djarada saw in Solomon
only the murderer of her father, and she recoiled from his embrace with
loathing, and spent her nights and days in tears and sighs. Solomon
hoped that time would heal these wounds and reconcile her to her fate;
but as, after the expiration of a year, her sorrow showed no signs of
abating, he asked her what he could do which might give her comfort.
She replied that at home was a statue of her father, and that she
desired greatly to have it in her chamber as a reminder of him whom she
had lost. Solomon, moved with compassion, sent a Jinn for the statue,
and it was set up in the apartment of Djarada. Djarada immediately
prostrated herself before it, and offered incense and worship to the
image; and this continued for forty days.
Then Asaph heard of it, and he ascended the pulpit in the temple and
preached before the king and all the people. He declared how holy and
pure had been the ancient prophets from Adam to David, how they had
been preserved clean from all idolatry. Then he turned to Solomon, and
praised his wisdom and piety during the first years of his reign; but
he regretted that his latter conduct had not been as full of integrity
as at first.
When Solomon heard this, he called Asaph to him, and asked him thus
before all the people. Asaph answered, “Thou hast suffered thy passions
to blind thee, so that idolatry is practised in thy palace.”
Solomon hastened to the room of Djarada, and found her in prayer before
the image of her departed father. Then he cried out, “We are the
servants of God, and to Him shall we return.” Then he broke the image
and punished Djarada.
After that he put on him garments which had been woven and sewn by
virgins, strewed ashes on his head, and went into the wilderness to
bewail his sin. God forgave him, after that he had fasted and wept for
forty days.[675]
Another sin that Solomon committed was this. He was very fond of
horses. One day, when the hour of prayer approached, the horses of Saul
were brought before him; and when nine hundred had passed, Solomon
looked up and saw that the hour of prayer was passed and he had
forgotten to give glory to God. Then said Solomon, “I have cared for
the things of this world, instead of thinking of my Lord;” and he said,
“Bring back the horses;” and when they were brought back, he cut their
throats.[676]
Some commentators on the Koran object that this was an act of
injustice, for Solomon had sinned, not the horses; and they explain
away the passage by saying that he dedicated the horses to God, and
that he did not kill them.[677]
8. HOW SOLOMON LOST AND RECOVERED HIS RING.
One day that Solomon retired to perform the necessary functions
of nature, he placed his ring in the hand of Djarada; for on such
occasions he was wont to remove the ring from his finger. For the first
time he forgot the advice of the queen of the ants, and gave no praise
to God as he committed the signet to other hands.
Sachr, the mighty Jinn,[678] took advantage of this act of
forgetfulness, and, assuming the form of Solomon, came to the Egyptian
princess and asked her for the ring. She, nothing doubting, restored it
to him; and Sachr went to the hall of audience, and ascended the throne.
When Solomon returned, he asked Djarada for the signet.
“I have already given it thee,” said she; and then, contemplating him
with attention, she exclaimed, “This is not the king! Solomon is in the
judgment-hall; thou art an impostor, an evil spirit who has assumed his
shape for evil purposes.”
Then Solomon was driven, at her cry, from the palace, and every one
treated him as a fool or rogue. He begged from door to door, saying,
“I, Solomon, was king in Jerusalem!” but the people mocked him. For
three years he was an outcast, because he had transgressed three
precepts of the Law--“The king set over thee ... shall not multiply
horses to himself ... neither shall he multiply wives to himself;
neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.”[679]
And this is what befell him in that time. He went into the land of the
Ammonites, and there he fell into great want; but the master cook of
the king’s house took him to serve as scullion in the kitchen. After he
had served for some time, he one day cooked some meats for the king;
and when the king tasted the meats Solomon had baked, he was well
pleased, and sent for Solomon and asked him if he would be his head
cook.
Then Solomon consented, and the king of the Ammonites dismissed the
master cook, and placed Solomon in his room, and Solomon excelled
greatly in cooking, and pleased the king more and more with the variety
and excellence of his dishes every day.
Now it fell out that Naama, daughter of the king, saw Solomon from day
to day, and she conceived an ardent passion for him, and she went to
her mother and said, “I shall die of love, unless I am given the head
cook to husband.”
The queen was astonished and ashamed, and said, “There are kings and
princes and nobles in Ammon; take to you which you will.” But Naama
answered, “I will have none save the head cook.”
Then the queen went and told the king, and he was exceeding wroth,
and would have slain both Solomon and Naama; but when the first fury
of his anger was cooled down, he bade one of his servants take them,
both Solomon and Naama, and conduct them into the desert, and there
leave them to perish.[680] The command of the king was executed, and
Solomon and Naama were left in the wilderness without food. Then they
wandered on till they came to the borders of the sea, and Solomon found
some fishers, and he labored for them, and every day they gave him, in
payment for his services, two fish.
Thus passed the time, till one day Solomon’s wife, Naama, on cleaning
one of the fishes, found in its belly a ring, and she brought it to her
husband; and behold! it was his signet which he had put in the hands
of Djarada, and which had been taken from her by subtlety by the evil
spirit. And this was how he recovered it: on the ring was engraved the
Incommunicable Name, and this the Jinn could not endure; therefore he
could not wear the signet, and he cast it into the sea, where the fish
had swallowed it.
Now when Solomon recovered his ring, he was filled with joy, and the
light returned to his eyes; he went back to Jerusalem with great haste,
and all the people recognized him, and bowed before him: and when the
Evil Spirit saw Solomon, and that he had the signet upon his hand, he
uttered a loud cry and fled. Solomon refused to see again Djarada, the
author of his misfortune; but he visited Queen Balkis every month, till
the day of her death.[681]
When Balkis died, he had her body conveyed to Tadmor in the desert,
the city she had built; but her grave was known to none till the reign
of the Calif Walid, when in consequence of a heavy rain, the walls of
Tadmor fell. Then was found an iron sarcophagus which was sixty ells
long and forty ells wide, which bore this inscription:--“Here lies
the pious Balkis, queen of Sheba, wife of the prophet Solomon, son of
David. She was converted to the true faith in the thirteenth year of
the reign of Solomon; she married him in the fourteenth, and died in
the three-and-twentieth year of his reign.”
The son of the Calif raised the lid of the coffin, and beheld a woman,
as fresh as if she had only been lately buried.
He announced the fact to his father, and asked what should be done
with the sarcophagus. Walid ordered him to leave it where it had been
found, and to pile blocks of marble over it, so that it might not again
be disturbed by the hand of man.[682]
Solomon, when he was again on the throne, placed a crown on the head
of Naama, and seated her beside him, and sent for the king of Ammon.
And when the king came, he was filled with astonishment, and wondered
how his daughter had escaped from the desert and had found favor with
the greatest of monarchs. Then said Solomon, “See! I was thy head-cook,
and this is thy daughter; bid her come to thee and kiss thee.” Then the
king of Ammon kissed his daughter and returned, glad of heart, to his
own land.[683]
9. THE DEATH OF SOLOMON.
When Solomon had recovered his throne, he reigned twenty years. His
whole reign was forty years, and he lived in all fifty-five years.[684]
He spent these years in prosecuting the building of the temple. Towards
the end of his life he often visited the temple, and remained there
one or two months plunged in prayer, without leaving it. He took his
nourishment in the temple. He even remained a year thus; and when he
was standing, with bowed head, in an humble attitude before God, no one
ventured to approach him, man or Jinn; if a Jinn drew near, fire fell
from heaven and consumed him.
In the garden of Solomon grew every day an unknown tree. Solomon asked
it, “What is thy name, and what are thy virtues?” And the tree answered
him, “I am called such and such, and I serve such a purpose, either by
my fruits, or by my shadow, or by my fragrance.”
Then Solomon transplanted it elsewhere; and if it were a tree with
medicinal properties, he wrote in books the kinds of remedies for which
it served. One day Solomon saw in his garden a new tree, and he asked
it, “What is thy name, and what purpose dost thou serve?”
The tree replied, “I serve for the destruction of the temple. Make of
me a staff, whereon to lean.”
Solomon said, “None can destroy the temple as long as I am alive.” Then
he understood that the tree warned him that he must shortly die. He
pulled up the tree, and of it he made a staff, and, when he prayed, he
leaned on this staff to keep himself upright.
Solomon knew that the temple was not completed, and that if he died,
and the Jinns knew of it, they would leave off building; therefore he
prayed, “O Lord! grant that the event of my death may be hidden from
the Jinns, that they may finish this temple.”
God heard his prayer, that the temple might be completed, and that the
Jinns might be humbled. Solomon died in the temple, standing, leaning
on his staff, with his head bowed in adoration. And his soul was taken
so gently from him by the Angel of Death, that the body remained
standing; and so it remained for a whole year, and those who saw him
thought he was absorbed in prayer, and they ventured not to approach.
The Jinns worked night and day till the temple was finished. Now, God
had ordered, the same day that the soul left Solomon, a little white
ant, which devours wood, to come up out of the earth under the staff,
and to gnaw the inside of the staff. She ate a little every day; and as
the staff was very strong and stout, she had not finished it till the
end of the year. Then, when the temple was finished, at the same time
the staff was eaten up, and it crumbled under the weight of Solomon,
and the body fell. Thus the Jinns knew that Solomon was dead. Now,
wherever the white ant eats wood, the void is filled up with clay and
water by the Jinns; and this they will continue to do till the day of
the Resurrection, in gratitude to the little ant which announced to
them the death of him who held them in bondage. If the clay and the
water are not inserted by the Jinns, whence can they come?
The sages assembled and enclosed an ant in a box, with a piece of wood,
for a night and a day; then they compared the amount devoured in that
time with the length of the staff, and thus they ascertained how long a
time Solomon had been dead.[685]
XXXIX.
ELIJAH.
When the prophet Elijah appeared, idolatry was general. God sent him
to Balbek (Heliopolis), to persuade the inhabitants to renounce the
worship of Baal, from whom the city took its name. Some say that Baal
was the name of a woman, beautiful of countenance. The Israelites
also adored Baal; Elijah preached against idolatry; and Ahab at first
believed in him, and rejected Baal, but after a while relapsed. Then
Elijah prayed, and God sent a famine on the land for three years, and
many men died. None had bread save Elijah, and when any smelt the odor
of bread, they said “Elijah hath passed this way!”
One day Elijah came to the house of an old woman who had a son named
Elisha. Both complained of hunger. Elijah gave them bread. It is said,
likewise, that Elisha was paralytic, and that at the prayer of Elijah
he was healed.
When the famine had lasted three years, Elijah went, accompanied by
Elisha, before King Ahab, and he said:--“For three years you have been
without bread; let your god Baal, if he can, satisfy your hunger. If
he cannot, I will pray to Jehovah, and He will deliver you out of your
distress, if you will consent to worship Him.”
Ahab consented. Then Elijah ordered the idol of Baal to be taken out
of the city, and the worshippers of Baal invoked the god, but their
prayers remained unanswered. Then Elijah prayed, and immediately rain
fell, and the earth brought forth green herb and corn.
Nevertheless, shortly after, the people returned to idolatry, and
Elijah was weary of his life; he consecrated Elisha to succeed him, and
he prayed to God, “O Lord! save me from this untoward generation.” And
God heard his cry, and He carried him away and gave him life till the
day when Israfiel shall sound the trump of judgment.[686]
Both Jews and Mussulmans believe that Elijah is not dead, but that
he lives, and appears at intervals. The Mussulmans have confused
him with El Khoudr, and relate many wonderful stories of him. He is
unquestionably the origin of the Wandering Jew. His reappearances are
mentioned in the Talmud, and in later Jewish legends, as, for instance,
in a story told by Abraham Tendlau.[687] A poor Jew and his wife were
reduced to great necessity; the man had not clothes in which to go
forth and ask for work. Then his wife borrowed for him clothes, and he
entered the street seeking work. He met a venerable man, who bade him
use him as a slave. The Jew engaged to build a palace for a prince with
the assistance of his slave, for ten thousand thalers. The mysterious
stranger labored hard and angels assisted him, so that the mansion was
completed with astonishing rapidity. When the Jew had received the
money, the old man announced that he was Elijah, who had come to assist
him, and vanished.
After the Arabs had captured the city of Elvan, Fadhilah, at the head
of three hundred horsemen, pitched his tents, late in the evening,
between two mountains. Fadhilah having begun his evening prayer
with a loud voice, heard the words “Allah akbar!” (God is great!)
repeated distinctly, and each word of his prayer was followed in a
similar manner. Fadhilah, not believing this to be an echo, was much
astonished, and cried out, “O thou! whether thou art of the angel
ranks, or whether thou art of some other order of spirits, it is well,
the power of God be with thee; but if thou art a man, then let mine
eyes light upon thee, that I may rejoice in thy presence and society.”
Scarcely had he spoken these words, before an aged man with bald head
stood before him, holding a staff in his hand, and much resembling a
dervish in appearance. After having courteously saluted him, Fadhilah
asked the old man who he was. Thereupon the stranger answered, “Bassi
Hadut Issa, I am here by command of the Lord Jesus, who has left me in
this world, that I may live therein until He comes a second time to
earth. I wait for the Lord, who is the Fountain of Happiness, and in
obedience to his command I dwell beyond the mountain.”
When Fadhilah heard these words, he asked when the Lord Jesus would
appear; and the old man replied that his appearing would be at the end
of the world.
But this only increased Fadhilah’s curiosity, so that he inquired the
signs of the approach of the end of all things; whereupon Zerib bar
Elia gave him an account of the general social and moral dissolution
which would be the climax of this world’s history.[688]
“In the second year of Hezekiah,” says the Rabbinic Sether Olam Rabba
(c. 17), “Elijah disappeared, and he will not appear again till the
Messiah come; then he will show himself once more; and he will again
disappear till Gog and Magog show themselves. And all this time he
writes the events and transactions that happen in each century....
Letters from Elijah were brought to King Joram seven years after Elijah
had disappeared.”