SHEDDAD'S PALACE OF IREM.

Sheddad and Sheddid, the sons of Ad and the grandsons of Uz, acquired

great fame in Hadramaut, where they saw light in Ahkaf, a region of

deserts bordered by deserts, desolate as Hejaz, sterile as Tehamah,

burning as Dahna "the red," frightful as Gobi, and less explored than

Sahara. The ancient Hebrews spoke of Hadramaut as _Hazarmaveth_, the

"court of death," and this sepulchral name is fully accounted for by

its black rocks, which here and there show head above the sifting

sand-ridges, like so many colossal coffins in the midst of the

gloomiest of graveyards. Here the tribe of Ad not alone prospered, but

accomplished things forever memorable in tale and song.

While traversing the desert of Han-Hai Marco Polo reports to have seen

ghostly apparitions; and heard them speak, calling people by their

names, and startling the drivers of the caravan by such strange

noises as the tramp of horses, the beating of drums, and the blowing

of trumpets and other musical instruments. The Oriental counts those

spectral manifestations in the deserts as one of the many aspects of

the world's spiritual mystery, and the ancient Arab never entered a

waste in the dark without this propitiatory expression of confidence

uttered with the solemnity of prayer: "I fly for refuge unto the

prince of this region, that he may protect me against the foolish of

his domain."

It is the Bedouin's conviction that countless ages before the creation

of Adam myriads of Jinn or genii were created of fire, and enjoyed the

blessings of this world under successive rulers who bore the generic

name of Suliman. These airy creatures, however, being of inferior

quality, are not alone subject to mortal wants, like eating, drinking

and propagating, but are corruptible and perishable; so that when

their wickedness provoked Allah's anger, he ordered Eblis to drive

them into the most inhospitable deserts, where they are kept in rigid

seclusion, but not without a certain latitude of action. For they are

permitted to exercise their potential energies, and indulge their

various inclinations for good or for evil, some being malignant,

others beneficent. The fairy-like Peri, the gigantic Div, and the

sinister Tacwins or fates, are referred to in the Koran, which fact

renders doubt in their existence out of the question.

Now, the secret of Ad's power, which enabled him to flourish and

multiply in the heart of desolation, was a host of Jinn placed at his

command by his father Uz, the son of Aram, who was the son of Shem,

one of Noah's three offspring. With superhuman agents to carry out his

designs, Ad conceived the idea of building the most stupendous palace

on earth in the wilderness of Aden, and he intimated the project to

his older son Sheddad. Sheddad's imagination was set aflame, but the

vastness of the scheme rendered its realization somewhat doubtful, the

nature of the resources notwithstanding.

"Thy plan, father, surpasses in magnitude that of the Tower of Babel,

but my ambition would surround the grandest palace under the heavens

with a garden like unto Paradise, provided thy means are ample enough

to do it," said the firstborn of Ad.

"Palace and garden shall rise by invisible hands!" exclaimed Ad

boastfully, and proceeded with the sketching of his design on the

sand.

The palace was to be reared on a plateau as high as the highest land

of Yemen, should have sufficient accommodation for his progeny

multiplied a thousandfold, and its surpassing feature was to be a hall

of superb magnificence, with room for the throne of a king to stand in

the midst of his court and his warriors, the grand edifice to be

enwreathed by a garden like Eden, and to be accessible and visible

only at the royal bidding.

Ad's fabulous dream was again improved upon by his inventive son, who

proposed to have a city of princely dwellings cluster around the

palace, the garden to surround the whole, and to be enclosed by a wall

with stately portals. The additional feature commended itself to Ad,

but the execution of the scheme was accompanied by an element of

danger of which its projectors were unaware, and which proved fatal

to its originator. Believing the hour ripe for the work to begin, Ad

repaired one dark night, unaccompanied, to the dismal region to set

himself aright with the potent instruments he had depended on for the

actualization of his dream. Whether unnerved by the dismal dreariness

of the desert, or confused by an instinctive dread of the supernatural

machinery to be set in motion, the conjuror uttered the wrong formula,

and the sequel was appalling. For instead of the beaming spirits he

expected to bow to him, a hideous legion wagged their tails, having

descended on him like a tempest, frowning and grinning, their eyes

darting fury and hatred. Ad had unwittingly disturbed the dreaded

Tacwins, who would have torn him to pieces but for the mystic signet

he held in his hand, the talisman which, in a later age, enabled

Solomon to capture Ashmodai and rule over myriads of genii. The terror

of the moment, however, paralyzed the heart of the unfortunate wizard.

Ad was found dead, and was greatly mourned by his family and the tribe

that bore his name.

Undeterred by the tragic end of his father, Sheddad, now the

acknowledged head of his tribe, and the owner of the potent seal, took

his brother Sheddid into the secret, asserting it to be their filial

duty to complete at all hazard what their sire had begun. Sheddid was

not of the adventurous type; he preferred the ease of the tent to

enterprises fraught with danger, and besought his brother to desist

from an attempt which had already proved fatal, declaring himself

content to be simply one of the tribe. Sole master of the situation,

however, Sheddad burned with impatience to see his dazzling vision

assume the form of reality; and wholly reckless as to danger,

proceeded to act in the manner planned by his father and himself. He

proved more successful than Ad in putting himself in communication

with the friendly Jinn subject to his will, and astonished them with

the sketch he drew of what he meant them to accomplish for him; for by

this time the previous outline was even more expanded, and his

commands were set forth with irrevocable authority.

"You are required to build for me a city never to be equalled, still

less to be excelled, by anything art or skill may attempt to produce;

it is to be the home of a people a thousand times more numerous than

the tribe of Ad, and its crowning marvel is to be my palace,--of a

splendor befitting a king of kings, and of an amplitude to afford room

for a great court and an army.[4] Grounded on a rocky foundation on a

level with Yemen's highlands, the city's walls and dwellings shall be

white as alabaster, but the palace shall be of onyx, trimmed with gold

and set with gems. Twelve gorgeous halls shall be named after the

signs of the zodiac, all opening upon one grander than them all,

beneath a dome lucent as the firmament, illumined by a sun, a moon,

and scintillating stars, moving at the king's will around his throne

that shall blaze with what is most precious and brilliant in those

jewels which rival the lustre of the constellations. Vaults for

treasures, apartments for feasting, pavillions for ease, recesses for

love, grottoes for coolness, cisterns for bathing, colonnades for

pleasure, balconies for survey, and seats for delight, shall make my

palace inimitable for all time. And city and palace shall be embedded

in an Eden of foliage, blossom and fruit, animated by birds of

lustrous plume and sweetest song. Tax your skill to build more perfect

than I know to ask for, but never less; and let your magic make the

retreats inaccessible without the pleasure of the king," closed

Sheddad, inwardly sorry that his inventive faculty lagged behind his

vaulting ambition to be unexcelled in grandeur and glory.

[4] The Koran has this reference to the Palace of Irem,

showing that it was already a tradition before the time of

Mohammed:

"Hast thou not considered how the Lord dealt with Ad, the

people of Irem, adorned by lofty buildings, the like whereof

hath not been erected in the land?" (Surah 89; "The

Daybreak.")

That Sheddad, having planted a garden in imitation of the

heavenly paradise, had been smitten by lightning on his way

hither, is another variation of the widely known legend.

"Master of the potent seal," replied the chief of the shining files,

"thy behest is our concern. In eleven nights Sheddad shall stamp our

work with his approval." Elevated in his own estimation to the rank of

a king of kings, and conscious of a power equal to that of a god, it

required but a slight incentive for Sheddad's vanity to overleap

itself, and infernal Eblis was at hand to furnish it. In the guise of

an angel, the devil bewildered the architect of Irem by saluting him

as a god.--"Born of a woman, thine is the homage due to a prince of

the skies, before whom spirits bow, exalted Sheddad!" spoke the

Satanic deceiver with a profound salaam, and rose on his mighty wings

to vanish in the void of the desert.

After this Sheddad would not have been astonished to hear the stars

proclaim his majesty, but he was surprised when, having listened to

his marvellous tale of the city the Jinn would build for him, Almena,

his favorite wife, beheld an evil omen in the fact that, in his plan

of sumptuous building, Sheddad had neglected to provide for the

worship of the only true God.

"How could Sheddad forget him who created the heavens and the earth,

the stars and the spirits, and whose just wrath wiped out the people

in the time of our ancestor Noah? God's temple ought to rise high

above thy palace, or it will not stand, even according to the prophecy

of Hud, thy uncle, whose words were confirmed by signs from On High,"

expostulated Almena. "Woman, thy Sheddad is a god, and shall be

worshipped because of his potency, and the favors he may bestow on

those who shall please him. A heavenly power paid me homage before I

entered this tent, and in eleven nights the tribe of Ad will see the

wonder of the world. My palace shall be their temple, my throne their

altar, thyself their goddess, and Sheddad their god!" cried the

infatuated chief.

Almena was a frail daughter of Eve, and Sheddad's picture of their

prospective divinity, sustained as it was by an angel's confirmation,

converted her to share her husband's madness. The thoughts that

occupied them during the day came in weird visions during the

night,--throngs kneeling in adoration before them, burning incense and

wafting expiatory invocations, and kings hurrying from the ends of the

earth to receive their crowns and sceptres from Sheddad's grace. On

the tribe, it was deemed best that their chief's godship should burst

as a revelation.

While the tribe of Ad were soundly asleep in their tents, a man and a

woman slipped cautiously out of the encampment. They were mounted on

two fast dromedaries, and glided like spectres into the heart of the

desert, buried in night and silence. Once more Eblis played his

infernal trick on the deluded Sheddad, now in company of his bewitched

Almena, by a renewed mock-adoration offered as by a winged cherub. For

it is hardly necessary to state that the infatuated couple were on

their way to the abode of their future felicities. They had not been

riding many hours before the level, blank face of the waste softened

into undulations scantily covered with that vegetation which the camel

alone is capable of digesting,--its gastric capacities being almost

equal to that of the ostrich,--and the outlook indicated rising

ground. A stretch had to be crossed punctuated by black rocks in

ever-increasing number, until the wilderness looked a stony maze of

dismal projections worn smooth by the grinding sands, ever moving

with the gusts of hot air; and the East indicated daybreak when

Sheddad and Almena ascended a height from which they could survey a

vast horizon, bordered on the south-east by sea, but presenting

otherwise the sterility of Arabia Deserta. A curious and perplexing

paralysis of speech deprived them of the interchange of sentiments,

and an uphill advance of a mile or so brought them before an arched

portal of imposing stateliness, opening on a great city, half-hidden

from view by the sylvan and floral wealth of an Eden.

Husband and wife exchanged a look of amazement, strangely debarred

from an audible articulation of feeling just when there was so much to

be wondered at. There being nobody to hinder, no one to welcome them,

Sheddad and Almena tied their brutes to the glittering handles of the

brazen gates, and proceeded to take sovereign possession of what they

considered their indisputable domain. The ascending avenue before them

might have been called "The Vista of Enchantment." Sinuous in its

course, its moss-bedded windings were bordered by crystal rivulets

which came down, broken by impediments, in bounding cascades, the

water teeming with fish of tints recalling the changeful blushes of

Aurora. Towering trees shaded, with their intertwining crowns of

delicious leafage, a tropical exuberance of lesser growths weighed

down with luscious fruit or glowing and sparkling with soft colors

forming part of a delightful disorder of shrubs and vines, climbing,

winding, crawling, hanging and blooming, but receding here and there

to uncover the placid mirror of a lake limpid as beryl, or a spring of

the coolest and purest liquid, all approachable by a hundred

intercrossing pathways, lined and so softly carpeted that the

unsandaled foot paced as on a silken rug of the finest texture. Here

the bulbul's note was drowned in a concert of rival warblers, whose

melodies were as sweet as their feathers were coruscant.

With ravenous greed Sheddad and Almena surrendered to the garden's

temptations, swallowing great quantities of precious fruit, but

feeding a hunger that seemed to grow with its glutting; nor did the

cooling drink they greedily imbibed allay their parching thirst. But

the whetted appetite rendered the sensuous enjoyment resistlessly

fascinating; and, the choice of the food being seemingly unlimited,

husband and wife would have abandoned themselves altogether to

physical indulgence, had not an overpowering sight burst on them, like

a vision from a suddenly opened heaven.

They were on the point of ascending a terrace laid out with all the

arts of magic, and enwreathed with all the bounties of nature, when

they reached the entrance to an enormous square, superbly enclosed by

what appeared a score of palaces blended in one mass of variegated

splendors, the one at the opposite end overtopping the others by a

dome which blazed in the sun's radiance, as though set with

carbuncles. Symmetrically proportionate to the size of the grand space

ran a depression defined by a line of artistic shafts of alabaster,

capped with globes of burnished gold studded with gems, and rising

majestically above a grove of enameled green, thick with odoriferous

bloom. In the heart of the depression was a basin filled with a

rushing water as transparent as the sky, and enlivened by star-dotted

swarms of the finny tribes. It was an azure stream in an Elysian

garden, in the heart of a succession of edifices far beyond the limits

of human resources and ingenuity. Except for the feathered musicians,

and the zephyr which stirred the air and foliage, not a sound was

heard, nor a creature to be seen. The overawing majesty of an

architecture that dwarfed pantheons into monuments of man's vain

endeavor to imitate the inimitable, and the gorgeousness which could

not be thought of without remembering the limitations of earthly art

and treasures however great, justified to himself Sheddad's conceit

that he was more than human, a consciousness now at last fully shared

by Almena. Still unable to express their wonderment in words, they

resorted to gestures and grimaces, as though the tale of Babel was to

have a sort of counterpart in the story of Sheddad's palace of Irem.

And their wonder rose in intensity as, entering the left wing of the

palace by a sublime portico, the lofty vaulted spaces, communicating

by exquisitely carved arches, imparted the illusion that the ceilings

were as high as heaven and sparkled with real stars.

An implied welcome was extended to them in the first apartment by a

banquet set in a begemmed service of golden vessels,--dainties and

beverages fit for gods. Hours busily spent at the sumptuous board did

neither appease their hunger nor quench their thirst. Every morsel and

every quaff sharpened the craving for more. When they succeeded in

tearing themselves from the table's inexhaustible dishes, their

progress through the palatial spaces consumed more time than they were

aware of, the fascinations being as varied as they were marvellous.

For incomputable as was the wealth, and lavish the ornamental art

bestowed on each and every room traversed, their main charm lay in the

optic illusions, causing Sheddad and his companion to laugh with

amusement and wonder, to scream with astonishment, or to shudder with

horror.

Yielding to a woman's inquisitiveness, Almena was always a little in

advance of her husband, always eager to be yet more surprised, and her

eagerness was fully gratified. Once when a scream of laughter brought

Sheddad to his wife's side, he found that what she had mistaken for

clear water, rippled by a breeze, was indeed the solid floor of a long

green archway, imparting the illusion of a stream flowing under cover

of beautiful trees; Almena had prepared to cross it, with her sandals

off, and her skirts raised, imagining the water to wave gently in a bed

of golden sand. Here, again, she recoiled with terror from the glaring

eyes of a crouching lion, ready to fly at her in a rage; there she

stood paralyzed at the sight of the deadly _rukta_, rolled up in a coil

on an imperial divan, with her fangs pointed, and her eyes glaring. In

this manner the most formidable species of the animal kingdom faced

them in threatening postures throughout the entire palace, often

environed by their natural conditions, always in a pose of aggressive

ferocity. Yet all this notwithstanding, Sheddad affected the lofty

bearing of a god in his realm; strode haughtily along the mysteriously

echoing halls, the echoes of which ere long mixed with strains of music

sweet beyond expression. Drawn by the swelling harmonies, they

descended a stately flight of stairs landing on a platform whence,

descending another flight, they beheld themselves at the extreme end of

an enormous cavern bathed in a translucent haze of an unearthly

luminousness. The muffled rumble of a distant waterfall blended

enchantingly with waves of melody that floated incomprehensibly through

the weird mazes of the honey-combed hollow extending endlessly in

cavernous, inaccessible spaces, passes and galleries. Availing

themselves of conveniently protruding stepping-stones, the explorers

ventured into the nethermost ranges, fairly brightened by the reflex of

a stalactitic display, grotesque in shape, bulky in size, and

indefinable in color, every known hue blending into a magic play of

ever-changing spectra, and suggesting the idea that the palace above

was the blossom of which the underground masses were the roots. Here

they stood bewitched by the symphonies they could not account for, and

by a scenery human genius may dream of, but never imitate.

While divided between the delights of the ear and the charm of the

eye, Sheddad and Almena lost no sight of a crystal barrier behind

which flowed a clear water alive with luminous fish, and through which

they had a glimpse of things above, recognizing it to be the bed of

the rushing stream that flowed in the court of the palace, fed by

unexplorable cisterns, and discharging its volume into an unsounded

abyss. As they advanced the wonders multiplied. Fluted pillars of

snowy alabaster, draped and marvellously traced by invisible hands;

towering shafts of white, red, amber and blue; hanging balconies of

gossamer lightness, trimmed with scarfs finer than the Indian shawl;

canopies bristling with numberless crystals of every tint and shape;

cataracts petrified in the act of precipitation; grottoes, fountains,

streamlets and cascades, with a myriad other exhibitions of magic art,

filled subterraneous spaces of unmeasured magnitude.

Progressing through irregular archways and winding passages, Sheddad

and Almena were lost in the labyrinth. Remembering, however, that the

crystal basin ran along the grand court above, Sheddad followed its

length and discovered a way to an ascent which took them to a broad

stairway. This was the entrance from below to a colonnade of

astonishing height and dimensions, covering the entire width of the

court, and having at both extremes grand flights of steps, leading up

to the wing of the palace crowned by the blazing dome.

If the son of Ad and his consort marveled at what they had seen

hitherto, they felt stupefied as ascending they stood before a golden

arch wrought in imitation of the rainbow, revealing the all-outshining

throne-hall, rising high above the lofty throne. Four tigers erect on

their haunches held up with their forepaws the seat of majesty, a

gorgeous divan bedecked with priceless jewels, under a lofty canopy

shaded by tapestries of matchless fabric and embroidery. To the right,

suspended from the roof of the canopy, hung the sceptre, a mace

incrusted with brilliants; to the left the crown, of dazzling

splendor; above the throne sun, moon, and stars were scattered within

the concave of the dome, while the twelve adjoining halls similarly

represented the signs of the zodiac, thus completing a startling

illusion of the heavens.

As though driven by an irresistible force, Sheddad, with the firm step

of a king, advanced to take possession of his throne, Almena watching

him with a throbbing heart. Nine steps had to be ascended before the

seat could be reached. The aspirant to godship thought he felt the

deadly breath of the tigers, whose distended claws and furious eyes

threatened destruction, but he nerved himself and ascended the royal

seat. Simultaneously with his touch upon the throne the crown

descended on his head, the sceptre flew into his hand, while a mantle

of radiance clothed his frame. Sheddad felt that he was a god, for his

coronation was confirmed by the immediate action of sun, moon and

stars, which began to move in their respective orbits, shedding mellow

light, and filling the spaces with sweet strains.

From his exalted seat Sheddad had for the first time an extended view

of his dominion, and he realized that what he had seen thus far was

but the heart of the whole, which seemed unbounded in extent and

unapproachable in magnificence. It was manifest that palace and court

formed the focus of a great city, spreading in many directions in

avenues shaded by trees and cooled by delicious springs, placid lakes,

playing fountains, and bubbling streamlets. Why should he lose a

moment to reveal himself to his tribe as their god and lead them

hither triumphant in confirmation of his godship? Who on earth was

mightier than he?

He rose. The sceptre slipped from his hand, the crown from his head,

the mantle from his shoulders. Everything stood still. The song died.

A dimness spread around him. The eyes of the tigers glared viciously.

He stood by the side of his wife. They joined hands, hurried down and

out into the open air to find that it was twilight and sultry. Surely

the garden was less green, the flowers less fresh, the air less balmy,

and the water less transparent than before. The song of the birds had

changed into a melancholy chirrup, and their eyes glowed with

threatening fierceness. From the water of the basin the fish pierced

the royal pair with their fiery eyes, and the breeze moved lamenting

through the corridors and trees. With a woman's instinct of impending

danger, Almena led the way out of the court; but the garden was

plunged in a mist, which made impossible a quick exit from the sylvan

entanglements. While trying to strike the main avenue, they fell in

with their dromedaries browsing contentedly in the thick of the most

exquisite shrubbery, with neither saddle nor rope available for use.

The brutes looked unaccountably shaggy; they turned to run at the

approach of their master, and did not stop until they had passed the

gateway of which Sheddad was in quest. Here the saddles were found,

shabby and mouldy, were placed where they belonged, the camels having

submitted to the goad, and the homeward journey began.

A deep sigh escaped Almena's breast as the distance widened between

them and the enchanted city, and when she found words she began

solemnly: "Sheddad, what is it we have seen and passed through? Cold

runs my blood when I think of the place; and dost thou mean to

re-enter it as our permanent home?"

"Thou art a woman, or thou wouldst know that what Sheddad conjured out

of naught, Sheddad will as master rule and own. Are not those spirits

subject to my will?" was the imperious answer.

"Thou wilt bear patiently with thy Almena, my lord; but are not the

looming cities and splendid gardens often seen in the haze of the

desert the dread of the lured Arab, who, mistaking them for fertile

oases, rushes to destruction? Verily, the wiles of Eblis are

numberless, and thy great palace is destitute of the sacred place to

prove it a work of the friendly Jinn. Thy father's end be thy warning,

O, light of mine eyes!" cried the woman appealingly.

"Art thou the wife of Sheddad, or of Sheddid? Let woman be timid, but

no man be craven. The signet on my finger scorns infernal traps. Thou

hast seen me on the awful throne destined to be the worship of

nations, and thou art to share in the divine sovereignty of thy

Sheddad.--But, O, Almena, why is thy voice so unlike the one I have

ever heard since the days of our youthful love? It sounds as though

thou art speaking to me from the hollow of a cave," spoke the son of

Ad uneasily.

"Thou hast taken this question from my lips, my lord; for thy speech

is so unfamiliar to my ear that, were I not near thee, I should

mistake it for an echo heard in the mountains of Yemen," confessed the

daughter of the desert.

There was no time for another remark. The air swarmed with thousands

of lurid Cupids, each one holding a tiny harp under his left arm.

Flocking together, they interlocked in such a fashion as to form a

stupendous arch, perfect in shape and burning like a crescent cut from

the effulgent sun. On the top of the curve alighted one larger than

his compeers, his outstretched arms pointing a glittering tiara in the

direction of Sheddad, whose advance was greeted with voluptuous

strains:

"Hail, our chief, thy sceptre sway!

Rule Irem, Sheddad, we obey!

Thy seal bade spirits be thy thralls,

Hail, god of Irem's magic halls!"

With the dying of the choral apostrophe, the treacherous vision

conjured by Eblis to dispel Almena's intuitive fear of something

dreadful to come faded away. The sure-footed dromedaries picked their

way among the bleak rocks and the sand ridges, with not a glimmer to

break the darkness nor a syllable to spur them on. Sheddad and Almena

continued silent under the overpowering spell of the sight, which

soared before their mental vision long after it had vanished to the

eye.

Daybreak found them near a solitary cliff known for the brackish

water, oozing from one of its cracks, and the scanty browsing nearby

fit for camels. Turning to his fresh water supply to appease his

thirst, Sheddad found the water-skin not only empty, but as dry as an

old hide, while the figs he held in reserve were mouldy and hard as

stone. Almena had the same experience. Unaccountable as appeared this

discovery, it was less of a surprise than the cadaverous aspect of

husband and wife, as they looked into each other's faces in full

daylight. "Thou dost not look like thyself, my lord; there is neither

blood in thy veins nor a beam of life in thine eye," cried the

startled mate of the aspiring god.

"And thou hast described thy own looks, O, Almena.--It is but the

withering of our mortal substance before our beings are impregnated

with immortal virtue," assumed Sheddad with an air of supreme

indifference, in which, however, his heart failed to share. Almena's

ghastly countenance, once the seat of radiant beauty, struck a chord

of unexpressed pain in the heart of her besotted consort.

The consternation of the tribe of Ad, on learning that a dead pair

mounted on two bulky _delools_[5] was on the point of entering their

encampment, may be imagined. The news was brought by some Arabs, who,

perceiving the approach of the strangers, made a sally, but hurried

back with the horrifying alarm, "The dead are coming!" Whoever could

run took to his heels, leaving the infirm old and the helpless young

to face the ghosts, who entered the settlement and took possession of

the largest tent, the one just vacated by Sheddid, who was among the

first to deny himself the enjoyment of the uninvited visitors.

[5] A _delool_ is a dromedary trained and used as a saddle

animal, and not as a burden carrier.

"If we have undergone a change, so has this place and all things

hereabout in but a few days; our young camels have grown large and

fat,--and who is this sleeping child?" asked Sheddad, pointing to a

half-naked maiden stretched on a mat upon the ground.--"Can this be

our Chaviva?"

"Our daughter!" exclaimed the mother hysterically, recognizing in the

girl of seven the child of two years. "Either we see wrong or things

are wrong," added the woman, greatly troubled.

"Neither this nor that; we are not the same, our sight is not the

same, but the world around us is the same, only that we see it

magnified, as higher beings must see; else how could the powers above

take cognizance of what is going on below?" argued Sheddad with

self-approving plausibility.

While Almena waited for her child to waken, Sheddad proceeded to

investigate the neighborhood with the view of gathering an audience to

whom to reveal himself. In vain did the hapless old men and women

hide themselves from the searching eye of the cadaverous chief; he

ferreted them out and warned them to beware of his wrath. "Inform the

tribe, and let Sheddid know, that Sheddad and Almena have dwelt in the

land of the spirits as god and goddess, and that I am come to take you

into an Eden of endless felicities, if you only say, 'Lead on,

Sheddad.'"

"Hast thou not dwelt with the dead all that time?" asked a trembling

crone.

"No, daughter of the noble tribe; during the five days we have been

away----"

"Five years!" interrupted a chorus of voices. "For five years have

Sheddad and Almena been missed and mourned as lost," supplemented the

aged female to the unspeakable consternation of his godship. He had

spent years, instead of hours, in the magic palace, and everything

contributed to confirm the astounding fact. Yet, however amazed,

Sheddad's faith in his superhumanity was so deeply rooted that the new

revelation occurred to him as but another evidence of his supernatural

destiny. To continue for five years without regular food and sleep

was to him a most striking proof of his transmutation, while the many

years that passed like so many hours attested the blessedness of the

seat he had created.

The one man of the tribe, who was most concerned and least delighted

with Sheddad's return from what he believed to be the real beyond, was

his own brother Sheddid, who wished himself a thousand miles away from

the spot; not that he was jealous of the rights attaching to his

brother's primogeniture, but because he shuddered at the thought of

meeting him, to say nothing of his aversion to the conjurer's

chimerical projects. However, having nerved himself to the emergency,

Sheddid faced his brother with the question whether he was determined

to lead his people into a realm whence they would return like him,

looking more dead than alive.--"An evil influence sways thy heart, O,

my brother. The children of Ad are happy, why tempt them into a snare

spread by Eblis?"

Sheddad replied with a glowing outline of the Eden in store for them

who would follow him. "That ye may all be convinced of the truth my

words contain, this coming eve a mist shall rise from the bosom of

Hadramaut, and with it shall ascend the image of the palace and city

embedded in gardens like unto Paradise. Remain in the waste ye who

love it; but ye who prefer the marble habitation, the cool walk, the

cooler spring, the crystal bath, the delicious fruit, the mellow

sunshine, the sights of wonder, and the rule of the world, to the dark

tent, the scanty meal and the arid region,--are welcome to share them

with Sheddad," cried he with godlike benignity.

This offer was received with a wild shout by the fiery children of the

desert, and the promised mirage was expected with intense interest.

Retiring to his tent, the mighty wizard summoned the chief of the Jinn

and charged him with the task of conjuring up the picture of the

Palace of Irem. Sunset was the signal for every eye to turn toward the

desert. With nightfall came a pellucid silveriness, which transformed

the wilderness into an atmospheric canvas whereon rose, looming in

perfect outline and majestic proportions, the city, palace and

gardens of Irem. Wild joy yielded to a sober sense of awe before him

who thus proved his claim to worshipful reverence.--"Lead us, divine

Sheddad," was the cry, followed by the taking down of tents and the

loading of camels, the whole tribe being seized by the one passion, to

possess and inhabit the grandest and happiest of cities. Sheddid was

obliged to choose between remaining behind or going with the tribe,

and he threw in his lot with the multitude, his evil forebodings

notwithstanding.

The march was opened with dance and song, Sheddad and Almena leading

the motley caravan; but soon voices other than human began to disturb

the pregnant silence of the dismal waste. Sheddad's name was heard

articulated to the accompaniment of heart-chilling laughter. As if

goaded by demons to madness, the camels grew vicious, throwing women

and children from their backs and trampling them to death, so that

everybody hoped for day to deliver them from terror. But there was no

break in the night, although it seemed as long as three nights in one;

and when light finally broke on the caravan it came so suddenly that

it almost blinded the confused Arabs. And with it came a noise from On

High, a noise like that of a myriad roaring lions, growing, swelling

and reverberating till heaven appeared in uproar,--earth trembling,

the desert glowing like a furnace, the sands rising and whirling like

a cyclone of ignited gases, and exploding in vitriolic sheets of fire.

Man and brute tried to bury their heads in the burning sands. The

catastrophe was too terrible for flesh to survive. In his agony

Sheddad felt the signet slip from his finger. Struck deaf and dumb,

the son of Ad perished with his entire following, the cyclonic fire

consuming them flesh and bone. Only those whom weakness or the love of

little ones detained behind remained to build up again the almost

annihilated tribe of Ad.

Such was the punishment of Sheddad for his aspiration to godship. His

name lives in Arabia's legendary lore. Down to this day Allah

preserves the city and palace as a monument of divine retribution, and

numerous are the tales of straying pilgrims or lost Bedouins, who

have been favored with a glimpse of it. Among these is Kalabah who,

having lost himself in the desert while in search of a camel, suddenly

found himself before the gate of a dazzling city. He entered it, but

was so overawed by the dead stillness therein that he fled its

precincts in horror, taking with him an invaluable stone as a memento.

This he showed to the Caliph Madwigah in confirmation of his

adventure,--as is duly recorded.