It is said that Sulimân assigned to each bird an occupation. He appointed the lapwing to investigate the earth, and to report in what places water is most accessible, because it was able to see water in the earth as men see oil in transparent bottles. During a certain journey water was wanted, and his lordship looked for the lapwing, but found its place empty, and said: ‘What is the reason that I see not the lapwing?’* But the more it was searched for, the less it could be found, because it had on that occasion departed to the kingdom of Saba. The details of this event are, however, as follows: When Sulimân was engaged in the conquest and occupation of countries, he marched toward Yaman [Arabia Felix], and arrived at the city of Sana’a. Perceiving the country to be pleasant and agreeable, he alighted in one of its prairies for the purpose of reciting his prayers and feeding his army. When the lapwing perceived Sulimân thus engaged, it made use of the opportunity, flew away, looked at the length and breadth of that country, and after it had enjoyed the aspect of the parks, rivers, the multitude of trees and buildings, it alighted from the air on the top of a tree, where it met a companion of its own species, entered with him into conversation, and his friend said to him: ‘This town is called the city of Saba, and the country is governed by a woman called Balqis. She has twelve generals, each of whom commands a hundred thousand warriors; all of them, however, worship the sun.’ After the lapwing of Sulimân had informed itself about all the external and internal affairs of that pleasant country, it returned. When Sulimân had perceived the absence of the lapwing, he called the chief of the birds, who was an eagle, into his presence, and inquired about the disappearance of the lapwing. The eagle replied: ‘I do not know where it went to, for I have not sent it anywhere.’ As the whole army stood in need of water, and the lapwing was not present to give the required information, the wrath of Sulimân became incensed, and he said: ‘Verily, I will chastise her with a severe chastisement, or I will put her to death, unless she bring me a just excuse.’* Then he despatched the eagle to search for the lapwing. The eagle soared about till he discovered it arriving from the road to Saba, and they returned together to Sulimân. His lordship stretched forth his hand, took hold of the lapwing’s head, and, drawing it towards him, said: ‘I shall chastise thee with a severe chastisement.’* The lapwing replied: ‘O prophet, think of the day of reckoning, on which thou wilt be brought before the righteous judge!’ At these words Sulimân let go its head, and asked where it had been. The lapwing said: ‘I have viewed [a country] which thou hast not viewed, and I come unto thee from Saba with a certain piece of news.’* Sulimân asked: ‘What hast thou seen there?’ The lapwing replied: ‘I have found a woman, who is the ruler of the country—namely, Balqis, the daughter of Sharahil, of the race of Ya’rob, the son of Qohtân, to whom Allah—w. n. b. e.—has granted the ornaments of this world, one of which is a large throne. Sharahil was a mighty king, and the surrounding potentates were all anxious to become his fathers-in-law. He was, however, reluctant, told them that they were not his peers, and refused to marry the daughter of every one of them; he, nevertheless, at last married Rihana, the daughter of Sakan, the king of the genii, who gave birth to Balqis. Sharahil had no other child except her, and after the death of her father she invited the people of Yaman to pay her allegiance. Some chiefs complied, whilst others did homage to a certain tyrant who oppressed his subjects greatly, and they desired to get rid of him. On this point Balqis also agreed with them; therefore, she concocted a stratagem, and sent an envoy to the oppressor with the following message: “I think proper that our two kingdoms become one, and that estrangement be changed into intimacy. This will take place if thou wilt marry me, and spread the shadow of thy compassion over me.” The king, being highly pleased, and feeling obliged by this proposal, the nuptials between the two took place by mutual consent, but at an hour which was propitious only to Balqis and fatal to the king. On the bridal night Balqis proceeded with all pomp and circumstance to the domicile of her consort, and having that same night caused him to quaff copious draughts of wine, she separated his conceited head with the scimitar of violence from his body; and after having also taken undisputed possession of her father’s kingdom, she established herself firmly on the throne of royalty. The Lord—whose magnificence be glorified—vouchsafed all the requisites of pomp to Balqis, and presented her with a couch made of pure gold, encrusted with rubies, pearls, and all sorts of precious stones. It is said that the legs of the throne were of rubies and emeralds; that it was thirty cubits long, and as many in height.’
After the lapwing had finished its tale about Balqis, Sulimân asked what religion she and her subjects professed. The lapwing replied: ‘I found her and her people worshipping the sun (till the end of the verse).’* Sulimân said: ‘Why do you not worship God, who reveals things secret and hidden in heaven and on earth? They say the rain is concealed in heaven and the plants in the earth. Why do you not adore that Omnipotent One who sends rain from heaven and causes grass to grow from the earth?’ Then Sulimân again addressed the lapwing, saying: ‘I shall see whether thou hast spoken the truth in what thou hast reported, or whether thou art one of the tribe of liars.’ Then he ordered Asaf, the son of Barahia, to write a letter to Balqis and to her subjects, to invite them to accept Islâm and to follow the truth. Asaf accordingly composed an epistle, as Allah—whose name be exalted and blessed— says: ‘It is from Sulimân, and this is [the tenor thereof]: In the name of the most merciful God, rise not up against me; but come and surrender yourselves unto me.’* Sulimân then sealed the letter, and despatched it by the lapwing to Saba:
| Distich: | O lapwing of the zephyr! To Saba I send thee; See from what place, and to what place I send thee. |
It is said that from the locality where Sulimân dwelt there was a distance of seventy farsakhs to the residence of Balqis. When Sulimân despatched the lapwing, he said: ‘Carry this letter, and drop it upon their heads; observe what they say, and return to me’: ‘Go with this my letter, and cast it down unto them; then turn aside from them, and wait [to know] what answer they will return.’* When the lapwing arrived in Saba, it found seven doors of the pavilion of Balqis locked; then it soared about the palace, entered her private apartment by the window, and deposited the epistle upon the bosom of Balqis. When the queen awoke from sleep she found the letter upon her breast, but the doors being fastened, and no one with her, she was astonished, meditated who could have brought this writing, and looked puzzled to her left and right; but when she caught sight of the lapwing, she knew that it had been the bearer of the missive. Then she looked at the seal of Sulimân’s ring, began to tremble for fear, opened the letter, read it, ordered the ministers of the kingdom and the councillors into her presence, explained what had taken place, and communicated to them the contents of the epistle, asking them their opinion in this matter. They replied with strength of mind and boldness, saying: ‘The reins of command and prohibition are in thy hands. We shall gird our loins in obedience to whatever thou mayest command.’ Love, however, had taken possession of the queen’s heart, and she asked: ‘Have you heard what kind of man Sulimân is?’ They replied: ‘He is a king, the son of a king, who invites men to profess the religion of Mûsa; men, fairies, birds, beasts, and demons obey him.’ Balqis continued: ‘Verily, kings, when they enter a city, waste the same, and abase the most powerful of the inhabitants thereof.* Now, I will send a gift unto them.* If Sulimân be the administrator of royalty, he will accept my presents; but if he be invested with the prophetic dignity, he will reject my offerings, and will not be satisfied unless we adopt Islâm; nor can we offer resistance to him if he be a prophet.’ The councillors having approved of this opinion, Balqis selected one hundred boys and girls from among her servants, the former resembling the latter on account of their comeliness, long hair, and absence of beards. She placed an unbored ruby in a casket, and locked it with a golden padlock. She took four ingots encrusted with sapphires and other precious stones—two of them were of silver and two of gold; then she sent these things as presents, after having appointed Mundhir Bin A’mru, who was distinguished among his contemporaries by his great intelligence and knowledge, to be her ambassador and the bearer of her letter. She also attached to him seven wise men, and, before dismissing him, said: ‘When thou arrivest near that heavenlike palace, request Sulimân to separate the females from the males; because, if he be a prophet, this will not be difficult to him. Ask him what is in this casket, and how it may be perforated. If he speaks and acts righteously, leave these gifts with him; but if not, bring them back to me. Ask him what water it is that comes neither from heaven nor from the earth, but quenches the thirst of anyone who drinks it?’ She also said to Mundhir: ‘If Sulimân looks at thee with haughtiness and pride, know that he is a king and not a prophet; therefore thou needest not fear his bravery and power, and mayest boldly enter into conversation with him. But if he meets you with affability and kindness, be sure that he is a prophet; then consider well the words of his lordship, replying humbly and respectfully.’ After the queen had finished her injunctions, the ambassadors departed to the palace of Sulimân.
Jebrâil having been sent down by the Lord of lords, informed his lordship the refuge of prophecy [i.e., Sulimân] of all matters and of the solution of difficulties. The Lord Sulimân then ordered the demons to pave the long and wide plain alternately with bricks of gold and silver, and to leave four spaces for bricks empty on the part on which the ambassadors were to arrive. Innumerable multitudes of people assembled on the plain; the children of men being on one side, and the Satans drawn up in distinct lines separately from them. In the vicinity and around that assembly, animals and wild beasts were kept in check. The throne of Sulimân, occupied by his lordship, was situated in the centre of the said plain, on each side of which four thousand chairs were placed, destined for the nobles of the children of Esrâil and for the grandees of the realm, over all of whom the various tribes of birds intertwined their wings and formed a canopy. When the ambassadors of Balqis arrived, and beheld the perfect magnificence of Sulimân. they were confused and astounded; when they looked at the floor made of gold and of silver, they were ashamed of the poverty of their own gifts, and deposited their four ingots in the place purposely left empty for them by the demons. When they approached the ranks of the Satans, they perceived their strange and terrible shapes, were startled, and, being dismayed, had not the courage to progress further; but the Satans exclaimed: ‘Hasten on, and be of good cheer; for the government and justice of Sulimân are such that not only you, but no one else, can come to harm.’ Accordingly the ambassadors passed through the legions of genii and of men, through the various species of animals and wild beasts, at last reaching the presence of Sulimân. His lordship received them with kindness and mercy, whereon Mundhir stepped forward and presented the letter of Balqis, which she had humbly and respectfully written. Sulimân inquired about the ingots, and Mundhir bashfully confessed having thrown them down. After he had condescended to comply with the requests of the ambassadors, he discerned the males from the females by the light of prophecy, and by the abundance of his wisdom; he also told them that the casket enshrined an unbored ruby, and that they desired to learn how to perforate it; he therefore, in compliance with their wishes, ordered a demon to bore it through with a diamond. He also explained that the water which neither descends from heaven nor issues from the earth, but quenches thirst, is the perspiration of a horse The ambassadors acknowledged the truth [of these replies], but his lordship refused to accept the gifts of Balqis, saying: ‘You cannot augment my possessions; for what God the magnificent and glorious has bestowed upon me is better than anything you are able to offer.’ Then he said to Mundhir: ‘Return and tell them to profess the Faith, or else I shall come with an army, to which they will be unable to offer any resistance; I shall then expel them from the country, and take possession of Yaman with the kingdom of Saba.’ After Mundhir had returned, he reported at the court of Balqis what had taken place, whereon the queen swore that Sulimân was not only a sovereign, but also an inspired messenger, whose prophetic dignity had been decorated with the ornament of royalty, and the diploma of whose ambassadorship had been sealed with the signet of sovereignty, and that she had not the power to resist or to oppose him. Therefore she despatched, by the advice of intelligent men, again a smooth-tongued and very learned ambassador to Sulimân, to whom she sent the message that she would come and wait on him with the chief men of her kingdom, for the purpose of paying allegiance and homage to him.
After making all the preparations necessary for the journey, the queen ordered the throne to be placed into the seventh [innermost] house, to be locked up, and the keys of the doors to be given to herself. She also left a company of guards and confidential servants to watch the throne. Then she marched with a pomp and magnificence, the aspect of which confused the vision of the heavens, to the camp of Sulimân, near which she arrived after duly performing the journey, and alighted at the distance of one farsakh therefrom. Sulimân, who had in the morning received the news of the arrival of Balqis, assembled his men and genii, and said to them: ‘Which of you will, before the arrival of Balqis and her retinue, bring her throne to me?’ An I’frit of the genii said: ‘I shall bring the throne of Balqis ere thou arisest from thy place.’ Sulimân remained sitting from morn till eve in his assembly of judgment, as has been mentioned above. ‘A terrible genius answered: I will bring it unto thee before thou arise from thy place, for I am able [to perform it] and may be trusted.’* Sulimân replied: ‘I want it sooner than that.’ ‘And one with whom was the knowledge of the Scriptures said: I will bring it unto thee in the twinkling of an eye.’* There are, however, also other explanations about the words, ‘in the twinkling of an eye,’ which pertain to the province of commentaries [of the Qurân], but the principal historians agree that these words were spoken by Asaf, the son of Barahia, and that he promised to produce the throne of Balqis. It is related that he knew the ineffable name of Allah, and that whenever he implored the Lord and Granter of requests by this name, his prayers were accepted and responded to. When Sulimân—u. w. b., etc.—perceived the throne [of Balqis] by his side, he exclaimed: ‘This favour is one of the bounties of the Omnipotent Nourisher, by which He tries me whether I am grateful for His benefits, or am unthankful to Him; and whoever is grateful, the advantages of his disposition redound upon himself.’
It is related that on the day of the arrival of Balqis Sulimân ordered a place of meeting to be arranged, in comparison to which the age-stricken firmament appeared as nothing [in brilliancy]. He commanded the throne of Balqis to be adorned in another manner, and to be placed opposite to his own. When Balqis reached the foot of the exalted presence, Sulimân took her dignity into consideration, and seated her near himself upon the throne of prophecy. After Balqis had thus taken her place, she looked now and then towards her own throne, and Sulimân, or Asaf—according to different traditions—asked whether this throne was her own. She replied: ‘As though it were the same,’* and neither positively denied nor affirmed it. When Sulimân became aware of the intelligence of Balqis, he sent her to live with his sister, who apprised him, after the expiration of forty days, of the noble virtues, exquisite qualities, and exalted disposition of her guest. His lordship thereon determined to string this royal pearl of the diadem of sovereignty upon the thread of matrimony; at these news, however, the ladies of Sulimân became distressed, and, for the purpose of causing the noble prophetic mind to get disgusted with Balqis, they enviously spread the rumour that her legs were extremely hairy. Sulimân, being desirous to convince himself with his own eyes of the truth of this report, ordered the demons to build a palace on the surface of the water, which should appear to the beholder as if it were likewise of water. His lordship then took up his position at a spot near which anyone wishing to approach him was obliged to pass. On this occasion he called Balqis to himself, who obeyed, but on reaching the edge of the palace [or rather pavement], imagined it to be water, and bared her legs for the purpose of stepping into it in order to reach Sulimân; his lordship, however, said: ‘It is not water, but glass; place thy foot on it and come.’ Balqis was embarrassed, and commenced to excuse herself, as Allah—w. n. b. e.—says in the glorious Qurân: ‘O Lord, I have dealt unjustly with my own soul, and I resign myself together with Sulimân unto Allah, the Lord of all creatures.’* After Balqis had made her profession of Islâm, he entered with her into a matrimonial alliance, and considered how the hairs of her blessed legs might be removed. The demons thereon invented the bath and the use of mortar, the comfort ensuing from the former, and the cleanliness from the latter, having before that time been lost among the children of men.
According to some historians, Sulimân ordered a throne of gold to be constructed for Balqis, around which were four lions, invented by the acuteness of those who excelled in talismanic arts. The lions were near the supports of the throne, but inside, and vomited fire from their throats. On the back of each lion two vultures were perched, whose eyes were of rubies and teeth of pearls. Whenever Sulimân ascended this throne, and sat on it with Balqis, two eagles poured rosewater upon them moderately, and according to their requirements. On the two upper extremities of this couch, a pair of birds were stationed, which so spread their wings around the throne, that whenever Sulimân desired with Balqis to be seen by no one, they were completely screened. At the sides of the throne four peacocks were erected, whose beaks constantly exhaled a perfume of ambergris. It is said that near the chair whereon Asaf, the son of Barahia, used to sit, a lion was stationed, who attacked any person bearing false testimony. The author of these pages observes, that whoever thinks similar events and figures to be remote from [being brought into existence by] Divine predestination, belongs to the number of those who have not dived into the ocean of the power of God as they ought to have done.
| Distich: | If thou hast not become a Sulimân in the path of love, What knowest thou of the language of all the birds? |