RECORD OF SHAMSÛN THE HERMIT.

It is said that after the ascension of I’sa—t. w. s.—and before the mission of the seal of prophets—u. w. b., etc.— there lived a hermit in some Arab country, who was so powerful and strong, that he tore any bonds by which he was fastened, spent most of his time in fighting against infidels, and bore the name of Shamsûn. The idolaters consulted with each other how they might destroy him, and said: ‘We may vanquish him through his own wife.’ Accordingly the governor of the town sent a messenger to the woman, with the promise that he would marry her, and give her much property, if she would connive at the destruction of Shamsûn. The unfaithful wife, laying aside the duties she owed to her husband, consented to become an accomplice in the plot. It is related that she asked for instructions, and that she was told to fasten Shamsûn with ropes. Accordingly, when he went to bed, she tied him, but when he awoke he burst the shackles, and asked for the reason of thus confining him; but his wife replied that she had done this only to try his strength, and he was satisfied. When the woman had made her report to the king, he sent a chain with orders to fetter Shamsûn there­with, after he had fallen asleep. This attempt likewise proved unsuccessful, and when Shamsûn expostulated with his wife, she said that she intended to ascertain the truth of the saying: ‘Shamsûn is able to burst any fetters.’ Shamsûn replied: ‘This is true; but if I am tied with my own hair, I am unable to liberate myself.’ Accordingly, when he had fallen asleep, his treacherous wife cut off several hairs from his blessed moustache [sic], with which she tied together the thumbs of his hands, and then sent a message to the infidels. They came immediately and took Shamsûn to the presence of the king, who was at that time sitting on a stage supported by four columns. As soon as Shamsûn arrived, the king ordered the people to assemble at the foot of the stage, and a gibbet to be erected opposite to it, whereon to hang Shamsûn. The latter, however, uttered the following prayer: ‘O Lord! if Thou art willing to preserve my life, for the purpose of waging war against Thy enemies, deign to extricate me from this calamity.’ This prayer having met with a favourable response, an angel arrived, liberated him from his bonds, and ordered him to pull down the columns of the stage whereon the king was sitting. Shamsûn obeyed, the stage fell to the ground, and the king with all his courtiers hastened to the mansion of hell. Whilst the people were engaged in disentangling the corpses from the débris of the platform, Shamsûn returned sound and safe to his hermitage, but divorced his wife. It is related that Shamsûn spent a thousand days in fasting, and as many nights in vigils; but some com­mentators assert that the meaning of ‘a thousand months’ in the blessed verse, ‘The night of Al-Qadr is better than a thousand months,’* relates to the thousand months which Shamsûn spent in the worship of the forgiving Sovereign.