, v/ 
 
THE BIBLE, THE KORAN, AND THE TALMUD; 
 
 BIBLICAL LEGENDS 
 
 THE MUSSULMANS. 
 
 COMPILED FROM ARABIC SOURCES, AND COMPARED 
 WITH JEWISH TRADITIONS. 
 
 BY DR. G. WEI L, 
 
 LIBRARIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG, FELLOW OV THi 
 ASIATIC SOCIETY OF PARIS, &C., &C., &C. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, 
 
 WITH OCCASIONAL NOTF.S. 
 
 N E W - Y O R K : 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 82 CLIFF STREET. 
 
 18 4 0. 
 
INTKODUCTIOV. XV 
 
 before him. Here, again, we perceive that Mo- 
 hammed was probably misinformed both by 
 Jews and Christians, though perhaps from no 
 sordid motive. Some one, for instance, as 
 Maccavia has ah'eady observed, may have told 
 him that Christ had spoken of a peryclete — a 
 word which is synonymous with Ahmed (the 
 mucli-praised one). At all events, in all the le- 
 gends of the Mussulmans, Mohammed is declared 
 even by the oldest prophets to be the greatest of 
 all that were to come (although there are fewer 
 traces of this found in the Koran) ; and wherever, 
 in the Jewish legends, Moses, Israel, and the 
 Thora are prominently brought forward, there 
 the Mussulmans place Mohammed, the Arabs, 
 and the Koran. The name to which, they most 
 frequently appeal as their voucher is Kaab Alah- 
 bar, a Jew, who embraced Islamism during the 
 caliphate of Omar. As translations of the Koran 
 abound in the German language, it can not be 
 difficult for the reader to separate those portions 
 of these legends composed by Mohammed from 
 those which were afterward interpolated, but 
 which were, ascribed to him, and descended to 
 posterity as 'sacred traditions. 
 
 The oral traditions respecting the ancient 
 prophets, which are put into Mohammed's mouth, 
 are so numerous, and some of them so cantra- 
 dictory. that no historian or biogrnpher has bren 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 able to admit them all. It was therefore nec- 
 essary to select ; and in order to make them in 
 some degree complete, we were obliged to draw 
 from various sources, as it was only in this way 
 that the unity and roundness could be obtained 
 in which they are here presented to the reader. 
 Besides the Koran and the commentaries 
 upon it, the following MSS. have been made 
 use of for this little work : 
 
 1. The book Chamis, by Husein Ibn Moham- 
 med, Ibn Ahasur Addiarbekri (No. 279 of the 
 Arabian MSS. in the library of the Duke of 
 Gotha), which, as the introduction to the biog- 
 raphy of Mohammed, contains many legends re- 
 specting the ancient prophets, especially Adam, 
 Abraham, and Solomon. 
 
 2. The book Dsachirat Alulum w^anatidjal 
 Alfuhum (storehouse of wisdom and fruits of 
 knowledge), by Ahmed Ibn Zein Alabidin Al- 
 bekri (No. 285 of the above-mentioned MSS.), 
 in which also the ancient legends from Adam 
 to Christ are prefixed to the History of Islam, 
 and more especially the lives of Moses and 
 Aaron minutely narrated. 
 
 3. A collection of legends by anonymous au- 
 thors. (No. 909 of the same collection.) 
 
 4. The Legends of the Prophets (Kissat Alan- 
 bija), by Muhammed Ibn Ahmed Alkissai. (No. 
 
 764 of^he Arabic MSS. of the Roval Library 
 
 » *• 
 
 at Paris.) ^ 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Page 
 
 Adam (a Mohammedan Legend) 19 
 
 Idris, or Enoch 48 
 
 Noah, Hud, and Salih 53 
 
 Abraham 68 
 
 Joseph 97 
 
 Moses and Aaron 114 
 
 Samuel, Saul, and David 171 
 
 Solomon and the Queen of Saba 200 
 
 John, Mary, and Christ 249 
 
 2 
 
BIBLICAL LEGENDS, 
 
 FROM THE ARABIC, &c., &c. 
 
 ADAM. 
 
 (a MOHAMMEDAN LEGEND.) 
 
 The most authentic records of antiquity which 
 have come down to us state that Adam was 
 created on Friday afternoon, at the hour of 
 Assr.* 
 
 The four most exalted angels, Gabriel, Mi- 
 chael, Israfil, and Israil, were commanded to 
 bring from the four corners of the earth the 
 dust out of which Allah formed the body of 
 Adam, all save the head and heart. For these 
 He employed exclusively the sacred earth of 
 Mecca and Medina, from the very spots on 
 which, in later times, the holy Kaaba and the 
 sepulchre of Mohammed were erected. f 
 
 * The hour of Assr is between noon and evening, and is set 
 apart by the Mussulman for the performance of his third daily 
 prayer. 
 
 t Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was born in 571 A.D., at 
 Mecca, where the Kaaba, then an ancient temple, was held in 
 great veneration. In 622 the idolaters of Mecca compelled him 
 to emigrate to Medina, where he died in June, 632. Vide Crus- 
 tavus Weill. Mohamed der Prophet, .fcjn Lebe7i nnd seine Lehre, 
 Sic. Stuttgart, 1843, 9vo. 
 
20 ADAM CREATED. 
 
 Even before it was animated, Adam's beauti- 
 ful form excited the admiration of the angels 
 who were passing by the gates of Paradise, 
 where Allah had laid it down. But Iblis covet- 
 ed man's noble form, and the spiritual and love- 
 ly expression of his countenance, and said, there- 
 fore, to his fellows, " How can this hollow piece 
 of earth be well pleasing in your sight ? Noth- 
 ing but weakness and frailty may be expected 
 of this creature." When all the inhabitants of 
 heaven, save Iblis, had gazed on Adam in long 
 and silent wonder, they burst out in praises to 
 Allah, the creator of the first man, who was so 
 tall, that when he stood erect upon the earth 
 his head reached to the seventh heaven. 
 
 Allah then directed the angels to bathe the 
 Soul of Adam, which he had created a thousand 
 years before his body, in the sea of glory which 
 proceedeth from himself, and commanded her to 
 animate his yet lifeless form. The Soul hesita- 
 ted, for she was unwilling to exchange the 
 boundless heavens for this narrow home; but 
 Allah said, " Thou must animate Adam even 
 against thy will ; and as the punishment of thy 
 disobedience, thou shalt one day be separated 
 from him also against thy will." Allah then 
 breathed upon her with such violence that she 
 rushed through the nostrils of Adam into hig 
 head. On reaching his eyes, they were opened, 
 
ADAM ANIMATED WITH LIFE. 21 
 
 and he saw the throne of Allah, with the in- 
 scription, " There is but one God, and Moham- 
 med is his Messenger." The Soul then pene- 
 trated to his ears, and he heard the angels prais- 
 ing Allah ; thereupon his own tongue was loosed, 
 and he cried, " Blessed be thou, my Creator, the 
 only One and Eternal !" and Allah answered, 
 * For this end wast thou created ; thou and thy 
 Jescendants shall worship me ; so shall ye ever 
 obtain grace and mercy." The Soul at last 
 pervaded all the limbs of Adam ; and when she 
 had reached his feet, she gave him the power to 
 rise ; but, on rising, he was obliged to shut his 
 eyes, for a light shone on him from the throne 
 of the Lord which he was unable to endure ; 
 and pointing with one hand toward it, while 
 he shaded his eyes with the other, he inquired, 
 " O Allah ! what flames are those ?" " It is the 
 light of a prophet who shall descend from thee 
 and appear on earth in the latter times. By 
 my glory, only for his sake have I created thee 
 and the whole world.* In heaven his name is 
 Ahmed,! but he shall be called Mohammed on 
 earth, and he shall restore mankind from vice 
 and falsehood to the path of virtue and truth." 
 
 * The Midrash Jalkut (Frankfort on the O., 5469), says Rabbi 
 Juda, teaches that the world was created on account of the mer- 
 its of Israel. R. Hosia says it was created on account of the Thora 
 (the Law) ; and R. Barachia, on account of the merits of Moses. 
 
 t The much praised One. 
 
22 THE FALL OF t^ATAN. 
 
 All created things were then assembled be- 
 fore Adam, and Allah taught him the names of 
 all beasts, of birds, and of fish ; the manner in 
 which they are sustained and propagated, and 
 explained their peculiarities, and the ends of 
 their existence. Finally, the angels were con- 
 voked, and Allah commanded them to bow 
 down to Adam, as the most free and perfect of 
 His creatures, and as the only one that was ani- 
 mated by His breath. Israfil was the first to 
 obey, whence Allah confided to him the book 
 of Fate. The other angels followed his exam- 
 ple : Iblis alone was disobedient, saying, with 
 disdain, " Shall I, who am created of fire, wor- 
 ship a being formed of the dust?" He was 
 therefore expelled from heaven, and the en- 
 trance into Paradise was forbidden him. 
 
 Adam breathed more freely after the removal 
 of Iblis; and by command of Allah, he address- 
 ed the myriads of angels who were standing 
 around him, in praise of His omnipotence and 
 the wonders of His universe ; and on this occa- 
 sion he manifested to the angels that he far sur- 
 passed then:i in wisdom, and more especially in 
 the knowledge of languages, for he knew the 
 name of every created thing in seventy diflferent 
 tongues.* 
 
 * When the Lord intended to create man, he consulted with 
 the angels, and said to them, " We will create man after our im- 
 
EVE. 23 
 
 After this discourse, Allah presented him, 
 through Gabriel, with a bunch of grapes from 
 Paradise, and when be had eaten them he fell 
 into a deep sleep. The Lord then took a rib 
 from Adam's side, and formed a woman of it, 
 whom he called Hava [Eve], for he said, I have 
 taken her from (hai) the living. She bore a per- 
 fect resemblance to Adam ; but her features 
 were more delicate than his, and her eyes shone 
 with a sweeter luster, her hair was longer, and 
 divided into seven hundred braids ; her form 
 was lighter, and her voice more soft and pure. 
 
 While Allah was endowing Eve with every 
 female charm, Adam was dreaming of a second 
 human being resembling himself Nor was this 
 strange, for had he not seen all the creatures 
 which had been presented to him in pairs? 
 When, therefore, he awoke, and found Eve near 
 him, he desired to embrace her ; yet, although 
 her love exceeded his own, she forbade him, and 
 said, " Allah is my lord ; it is only with his per- 
 mission that I may be thine ! Besides, it is not 
 
 age." But they replied, " What is man, that thou art mindful of 
 him? What are his excellences?" He said, " His wisdom ex- 
 ceeds your own." He then took all kinds of wild beasts and 
 birds, and when he asked the angels to give their names, they 
 were not able to do so. After the creation, he brought these ani- 
 mals to Adam, who, on being asked their names, replied imme- 
 diately, " This is an ox, this is an ass, that a horse, a camel," &c. 
 (Compare Geiger, Was hat Mohamed aus dem Judenthum auf- 
 genommen, p. 99, &c.) 
 
24 THE ENTRANCE INTO I'AUADlSE. 
 
 meet that a woman should be wedded without 
 a marriage gift." Adam then prayed the angel 
 Gabriel to intercede for him with Allah, that he 
 might obtain Eve for his wife, and to inquire 
 what marriage gift would be demanded-. The 
 angel soon returned, and said, " Eve is thine, for 
 Allah has created her only for thee ! Love her 
 as thyself, and treat her with indulgence and 
 kindness. The marriage gift which he requires 
 of thee is, that thou shouldst pray twenty times 
 for Mohammed, his beloved, whose body shall 
 one day be formed out of thy flesh and blood, 
 but whose soul has dwelt in Allah's presence 
 many thousand years before the creation of the 
 world."* 
 
 Rid whan, the guardian of Eden, came leading 
 Meimun, the winged horse, and a fleet she-camel. 
 The one he presented to Adam, the other to Eve. 
 The angel Gabriel assisted them in mounting, 
 and conducted them to Paradise, where all the 
 angels and animals present saluted them with 
 the words, " Hail ! ye parents of Mohammed !" 
 
 * The idea that many things existed before the creation of the 
 world is purely Jewish. The Mussulmans adopted it. Some of 
 them maintained that the Koran had existed before the world, 
 which assertion excited many bloody contests among them. The 
 Midrash Jalkut, p. 7, says, Seven things were in existence before 
 the creation of the world : th-e Thora, Repentance, Paradise, Hell, 
 the Throne of God, the name of the Messiah, and the holy Tem- 
 ple. Some maintain that the throne and the Thora really ex- 
 isted, while the Lord only thought of the other five before he cre- 
 ated the world. 
 
THE PROHIBITION. 25 
 
 In the midst of Paradise there stood a green 
 silken tent, supported on golden pillars, and in 
 the midst of it there was a throne, on which Adam 
 seated himself with Eve, whereupon the curtains 
 of the tent closed around them of their own ac- 
 cord. 
 
 When Adam and Eve were afterward walk- 
 ing through the garden, Gabriel came and com- 
 manded them, in the name of Allah, to go and 
 bathe in one of the four rivers of Paradise. Al- 
 lah himself then said to them, " I have appointed 
 this garden for your abode ; it will shelter you 
 from cold and heat, from hunger and thirst. 
 Take, at your discretion, of every thing that it 
 contains ; only one of its fruits shall be denied 
 you. Beware that ye transgress not this one 
 command, and watch against the wily rancor 
 of Iblis ! He is your enemy, because he was 
 overthrown on your account ; his cunning is in- 
 finite, and he aims at your destruction." 
 
 The newly-created pair attended to Allah's 
 words, and lived a long time, some say five 
 hundred years, in Paradise without approaching 
 the forbidden tree. But Iblis also had listened 
 to Allah, and resolving to lead man into sin, 
 wandered constantly in the outskirts of heaven, 
 seeking to glide unobserved into Paradise. But 
 its gates were shut, and guarded by the an- 
 gel Ridwhan. One day the peacock came out 
 C 
 
26 Satan's attempt. 
 
 of the garden. He was then the finest of the 
 birds of Paradise, for his plumage shone like 
 pearl and emerald, and his voice was so me- 
 lodious that he was appointed to sing the praises 
 of Allah daily in the main streets of heaven. 
 
 Iblis, on seeing him, said to himself, "Doubt- 
 less this beautiful bird is very vain : perhaps I 
 may be able to induce him by flattery to bring 
 me secretly into the garden." 
 
 When the peacock had gone so far from the 
 gates that he could no longer be overheard by 
 Ridwhan, Iblis said to him, 
 
 " Most wonderful and beautiful bird ! art thou 
 of the birds of Paradise ?" 
 
 " I am ; but who art thou, who seemest fright- 
 ened as if some one did pursue thee ?" 
 
 "I am one of those cherubim who are ap- 
 pointed to sing without ceasing the praises of 
 Allah, but have glided away for an instant to 
 visit the Paradise which he has prepared for the 
 faithful. Wilt thou conceal me under thy beau- 
 tiful wings?" 
 
 " Why should I do an act which must bring 
 the displeasure of Allah upon me ?" 
 
 " Take me with thee, charming bird, and I 
 will teach thee three mysterious words, which 
 shall preserve thee from sickness, age, and 
 death." 
 
 " Must, then, the inhabitants of Paradise die ?" 
 
THE PEACOCK AND THE SERPENT. 27 
 
 "All, wifhout exception, who know not the 
 three words which I possess." 
 
 " Speakest thou the truth ?" 
 
 "By Allah the Almighty!" 
 
 The peacock believed him, for he did not even 
 dream that any creature would swear falsely by 
 its maker; yet, fearing lest Ridwhan might 
 search him too closely on his return, he steadily 
 refused to take Iblis along with him, but prom- 
 ised to send out the serpent, who might more 
 easily discover the means of introducing him 
 unobservedly into the garden. 
 
 Now the serpent was at first the queen of all 
 beasts. Her head was like rubies, and her eyes 
 like emerald. Her skin shone like a mirror of 
 various hues. Her hair was soft like that of a 
 noble virgin ; and her form resembled the stately 
 camel ; her breath was sweet like musk and 
 amber, and all her words were songs of praise. 
 She fed on saffron, and her resting-places were 
 on the blooming borders of the beautiful Can- 
 tharus.* She was created a thousand years 
 before Adam, and destined to be the playmate 
 of Eve. 
 
 " This fair and prudent being," said the pea- 
 cock to himself, " must be even more desirous 
 than I to remain in eternal youth and vigor, and 
 will undoubtedly dare the displeasure of Rid- 
 
 * One of the rivers of Paradise. 
 
28 THE PEACOCK AND THE SERPENT. 
 
 whan at the price of the three invaluable words." 
 He was right in his conjecture, for no sooner 
 had he informed the serpent of his adventure 
 than she exclaimed, " Can it be so ? Shall I be 
 visited by death ? Shall my breath expire, my 
 tongue be paralyzed, and my limbs become im- 
 potent ? Shall my eyes and ears be closed in 
 night? And this noble form of mine, shall it 
 perish in the dust? Never, never! Even if 
 Ridwhan's wrath should light upon me, I will 
 hasten to the cherub, and will lead him into Par- 
 adise, so he but teach me the three mysterious 
 words." 
 
 The serpent ran forthwith out of the gate, 
 and Iblis repeated to her what he had said to 
 the peacock, confirming his words by an oath. 
 
 " How can 1 bring thee into Paradise unob- 
 served ?" inquired the serpent. 
 
 " I will contract myself into so small a bulk 
 that I shall find room in a cavity of thy teeth !" 
 
 " But how shall I answer Ridwhan if he ad- 
 dresses me ?" 
 
 " Fear nothing ; I will utter holy names that 
 shall render him speechless." 
 
 The serpent then opened her mouth : Iblis 
 flew into it, and, seating himself in the hollow 
 part of her front teeth, poisoned them to all eter- 
 nity. When they had passed Ridwhan, who 
 was not able to utter a sound, the serpent open- 
 
THE TEMPTATION, 29 
 
 ed her mouth again, expecting that the cherub 
 would resume his natural shape, but Iblis prefer- 
 red to remain where he was, and to speak to 
 Adam from the serpent's mouth, and in her 
 name. After some resistance, she consented, 
 from fear of Ridwhan, and from her anxiety to 
 obtain the mysterious words. Arrived at Eve's 
 tent, Iblis heaved a deep sigh : the first which 
 envy had forced from any living breast. 
 
 " Why art thou so cast down to-day, my be- 
 loved serpent?" inquired Eve, who had heard 
 the sigh. 
 
 " I am anxious for the future destiny of thee 
 and of thy husband," replied Iblis, imitating the 
 voice of the serpent. 
 
 " How ! Do we not possess in these gardens 
 of Eden all that we can desire ?" 
 
 " True ; and yet the best of the fruits of this 
 garden, and the only one which can procure you 
 perfect felicity, is denied you." 
 
 "Have we not fruits in abundance of every 
 taste and color ? why should we regret this 
 one?" 
 
 " If thou knewest why this fruit is denied you, 
 all the rest would afford thee no pleasure." 
 
 " Knowest thou the reason ?" 
 
 "I do ; and it is precisely this knowledge 
 which fills my heart with care ; for while all 
 the fruits which are given you bring with them 
 C2 
 
30 TH TEMPTATION. 
 
 weakness, disease, old age, and death, that is, 
 the entire cessation of Ufe, this forbidden fruit 
 alone bestows eternal youth and vigor." 
 
 " Thou hast never spoken of these things un- 
 til now, beloved serpent ; whence derivest thou 
 this knowledge ?" 
 
 " An angel informed me of it, whom I met 
 under the forbidden tree." 
 
 Eve answered, "I will go and speak with 
 him ;" and, leaving her tent, she hurried toward 
 the tree. 
 
 On the instant, Iblis, who knew Eve's curios- 
 ity, sprang out of the serpent's mouth, and was 
 standing under the forbidden tree, in the shape 
 of an angel, but with a human face, before Eve 
 had reached it. 
 
 " Who art thou, singular being," she inquired, 
 " whose like I have never seen ?" 
 
 " I was man, but have become an angel ?" 
 
 " By what means ?" 
 
 " By eating of this blessed fruit, which an en- 
 vious God had forbidden me to taste on pain of 
 death. I long submitted to his command, until I 
 became old and frail ; my eyes lost their luster 
 and grew dim, my ears no longer heard, my 
 teeth decayed, and I could neither eat without 
 pain, nor speak with distinctness. My hands trem- 
 bled, my feet shook, my head hung down upon 
 my breast, my back was bent, and my whole 
 
THE FORBIDDEN TREE. 31 
 
 appearance became at last so frightful that all 
 the inhabitants of Paradise fled from me. I then 
 longed for death, and expecting to meet it by 
 eating of this fruit, I stretched out my hands 
 and took of it ; but lo ! it had scarcely touched 
 my lips, when I became strong and beautiful as 
 at first ; and though many thousand years have 
 since elapsed, I am not sensible of the slightest 
 change either in my appearance or in my ener- 
 gies." 
 
 " Speakest thou the truth ?" 
 " By Allah, who created me, I do." 
 Eve trusted to his oath, and plucked an ear 
 of the wheat-tree. 
 
 Now, before Adam's sin, wheat grew upon 
 the finest tree of Paradise. Its trunk was of 
 gold, its branches were of silver, and its leaves 
 of emerald. From every branch there sprung 
 seven ears of ruby ; each ear contained five 
 grains, and every grain was white as snow, 
 sweet as honey, fragrant as musk, and as large 
 as an ostrich's egg. Eve ate one of these grains, 
 and finding it more pleasant than all she had 
 hitherto tasted, she took a second one and pre- 
 sented it to her husband. 
 
 Adam resisted long — our doctors say, a whole 
 hour of Paradise, which means eighty years of 
 our time on earth ; but when he observed that 
 Eve remained fair and happy as before, he vield- 
 
32 THE FALL. 
 
 ed to her importunity at last, and ate the second 
 grain of wheat, which she had had constantly with 
 her, and presented to him three times evei'y day. 
 Scarcely had Adam received the fruit when 
 his crown rose toward heaven, his rings fell from 
 his fingers, and his silken robe dropped from him. 
 Eve, too, stood spoiled of her ornaments and 
 naked before him, and they heard how all these 
 things cried to them with one voice, " Woe unto 
 you ! your calamity is great, and your mourning 
 will be long : we were created for the obedient 
 only: farewell until the resurrection!" The 
 throne which had been erected for them in the 
 tent thrust them away and cried, " Rebels, de- 
 part !" The horse Meimun, upon which Adam 
 attempted to fly, would not suffer him to mount, 
 and said, " Hast thou thus kept the covenant of 
 Allah ?" 
 
 All the creatures of Paradise then turned from 
 them, and besought Allah to remove the human 
 pair from that hallowed spot. Allah himself ad- 
 dressed Adam in a voice of thunder, and said, 
 " Wast thou not commanded to abstain from this 
 fruit, and forewarned of the cunning of Iblis, thy 
 foe?" Adam attempted to flee from these up- 
 braidings, and Eve would have followed him, but 
 he was held fast by the branches of the tree 
 Talh, and Eve was entangled in her own di- 
 sheveled hair, while a voice from the tree ex- 
 
THE EXPULSION. 33 
 
 claimed, "From the wrath of Allah there is no 
 escape : submit to his divine decree ! Leave 
 this Paradise," continued Allah, in tones of wrath, 
 " both you, and the creatures which have seduced 
 you to transgress : by the sweat of your brow 
 alone shall you earn your bread ; the earth shall 
 henceforth be your abode, and its possessions 
 shall fill your hearts with envy and malice ! Eve 
 shall be visited with all kinds of sickness, and 
 bear children in pain. The peacock shall be de- 
 prived of his voice, and the serpent of her feet. 
 The darkest caverns of the earth shall be her 
 dwelling-place, dust shall be her food, and to kill 
 her bring sevenfold reward. But Iblis shall de- 
 part into the eternal pains of hell." 
 
 Hereupon they were hurled down from Para- 
 dise with such precipitancy that Adam and Eve 
 could scarcely snatch a leaf from one of the 
 trees wherewith to cover themselves. Adam 
 was flung out through the Gate of Repentance, 
 teaching him that he might return through con- 
 trition ; Eve through the Gate of Mercy ; the 
 peacock and the serpent through the Gate of 
 Wrath, but Iblis through that of the Curse. 
 
 Adam came down on the island Serendib, Eve 
 on Djidda, the serpent fell into the Sahara, the 
 peacock into Persia, and Iblis dropped into the 
 torrent Aila. 
 
 When Adam touched the earth, the eagle said 
 3 
 
34 REMORSE OF ADAM AND EVE. 
 
 to the whale, with whom he had hitherto Uved 
 on friendly terms, and had whiled away many 
 an hour in pleasant converse on the shores of 
 the Indian Ocean, " We must now^ part forever ; 
 for the lowest depths of the sea and the loftiest 
 mountain tops will henceforth scarcely preserve 
 us from the cunning and malice of men." 
 
 Adam's distress in his sohtude was so great 
 that his beard began to grow, though his face 
 had hitherto been smooth; and this new ap- 
 pearance increased his grief until he heard a 
 voice which said to him, " The beard is the or- 
 nament of man upon the earth, and distinguishes 
 him from the weaker woman." 
 
 Adam shed such an abundance of tears that 
 all beasts and birds satisfied their thirst there- 
 with ; but some of them sunk into the earth, and, 
 as they still contained some of the juices of his 
 food in Paradise, produced the most fragrant 
 trees and spices. 
 
 Eve also was desolate in Djidda, for she did 
 not see Adam, although he was so tall that his 
 head touched the lowest heaven, and the songs 
 of the angels were distinctly audible to him. 
 She wept bitterly, and her tears, which flowed 
 into the ocean, were changed into costly pearls, 
 while those which fell on the earth brought forth 
 all beautiful flowers. 
 
 Adam and Eve lamented so loudlv that the 
 
SYMPATHY. 35 
 
 east wind carried Eve's voice to Adam, while 
 the west wind bore his to Eve. She wrung her 
 hands over her head, which women in despair 
 are still in the habit of doing ; while Adam laid 
 his right hand on his beard, which custom is 
 still followed by men in sorrow unto this day. 
 
 The tears flowed at last in such torrents from 
 Adam's eyes, that those of his right eye started 
 the Euphrates, while those of his left set the 
 Tigris in motion. 
 
 All nature wept with him, and the birds, and 
 beasts, and insects, which had fled from Adam 
 by reason of his sin, were now touched by his 
 lamentations, and came back to manifest their 
 sympathy. 
 
 First came the locusts, for they were formed 
 out of the earth which remained after Adam 
 was created. Of these there are seven thousand 
 difl^erent kinds of every color and size, some even 
 as large as an eagle. They are governed by a 
 king, to whom Allah reveals his will whenever 
 he intends to chasten a wicked people, such as, 
 for instance, the Egyptians were at the time of 
 Pharaoh. The black letters on the back of their 
 wings are ancient Hebrew, and signify, " There 
 is but one only God. He overcomes the mighty, 
 and the locusts are part of his armies, which he 
 sends against sinners." ' 
 
 When at last the whole universe grew loud 
 
36 MERCY TO ADAM. 
 
 with lamentation, and all created beings, from 
 the smallest insect up to the angels who hold 
 whole worlds in one hand, were weeping with 
 Adam, Allah sent Gabriel to him with the words 
 which were destined to save also the prophet 
 Jonah in the whale's belly : 
 
 " There is no God besides thee. I have sin- 
 ned ; forgive me through Mohammed, thy last 
 and greatest prophet, whose name is engraved 
 upon thy holy throne." 
 
 As soon as Adam had pronounced these 
 words with penitent heart, the portals of heaven 
 were opened to him again, and Gabriel cried, 
 "Allah has accepted thy repentance. Pray to 
 him, and he will grant all thy requests, and 
 even restore thee to Paradise at the appointed 
 time." Adam prayed : 
 
 " Defend me against the future artifices of 
 Iblis my foe !" 
 
 Allah replied : 
 
 " Say continually there is no God but one, and 
 thou shalt wound him as with a poisoned arrow." 
 
 " Will not the meats and drinks of the earth, 
 and its dwellings, ensnare me ?" 
 
 " Drink water, eat clean animals slain in the 
 name of Allah, and build mosques for thy abode ; 
 so shall Iblis have no power over thee." 
 
 " But if he pursue me with evil thoughts and 
 dreams in the night ?" 
 
iMERCY TO EVE. 37 
 
 " Then rise from thy couch and pray." 
 
 " O Allah ! how shall I always distinguish 
 between good and evil ?" 
 
 " I will grant thee my guidance : two angels 
 shall dwell in thy heart; one to warn thee 
 against sin, the other to lead thee to the prac- 
 tice of good." 
 
 " Lord, assure me of thy pardon also for my 
 future sins." 
 
 " This thou canst only gain by works of right- 
 eousness ! I shall punish sin but once, and re- 
 ward sevenfold the good which thou shalt 
 do." 
 
 At the same time the angel Michael was sent 
 to Eve, announcing to her also the mercy of 
 Allah. 
 
 " With what weapons," inquired she, " shall 
 I, who am weak in heart and mind, fight against 
 sin?" 
 
 "Allah has endued thee with the feeling of 
 shame, and through its power thou shalt subdue 
 thy passions, even as man conquers his own by 
 faith." 
 
 " Who shall protect me against the power of 
 man, who is not only stronger in body and 
 mind, but whom also the law prefers as heir and 
 witness ?" 
 
 " His love and compassion toward thee, which 
 I have put into his heart." 
 D 
 
38 MERCY TO SATAN. 
 
 " Will Allah grant me no other token of his 
 favor?" 
 
 " Thou shalt be rewarded for all the pains of 
 motherhood, and the death of a woman in child- 
 bed shall be accounted as martyrdom." 
 
 Iblis, emboldened by the pardon of the human 
 pair, ventured also to pray for a mitigation of 
 his sentence, and obtained its deferment until 
 the resurrection, as well as an unlimited power 
 over sinners who do not accept the word of Allah. 
 "Where shall I dwell in the mean time?" 
 said he. 
 
 "In ruins, in tombs, and all other unclean 
 places shunned by man !" 
 " What shall be my food ?" 
 " All things slain in the name of idols." 
 " How shall I quench my thirst ?" 
 " With wine and intoxicating liquors !" 
 " What shall occupy my leisure hours ?" 
 " Music, song, love-poetry, and dancing." 
 " What is my watchword ?" 
 "The curse of Allah until the day of judgment." 
 " But how shall I contend with man, to whom 
 thou hast granted two guardian angels, and who 
 has received thy revelation ?" 
 
 " Thy progeny shall be more numerous than 
 his ; for every man that is born, there shall come 
 into the world seven evil spirits ; but they shall 
 be powerless against the faithful." 
 
THE COVENANT. 39 
 
 Allah then made a covenant vi^ith the de- 
 scendants of Adam. He touched Adam's back, 
 and lo ! the whole human family which shall be 
 born to the end of time issued forth from it, as 
 small as ants, and ranged themselves right and 
 left. 
 
 At the head of the former stood Mohammed, 
 with the prophets and the rest of the foithful, 
 whose radiant whiteness distinguished them from 
 the sinners, who were standing on Adam's left, 
 headed by Kabil [Cain], the murderer of his 
 brother. 
 
 Allah then acquainted the progenitor of man 
 with the names and destinies of each individual ; 
 and when it cam-e to King David the prophet's 
 turn, to whom was originally assigned a lifetime 
 of only thirty years, Adam inquired, " How 
 many years are appointed to me ?" 
 
 " One thousand," was the answer.* 
 
 " I will renounce seventy if thou wilt add 
 them to the life of David !" 
 
 Allah consented ; but, aware of Adam's for- 
 getfulness, directed this grant to be recorded on 
 a parchment, which Gabriel and Michael signed 
 as witnesses. f 
 
 * Nine hundred and thirty years was the lifetime of Adam, 
 according to Gen., v., 3. 
 
 t The Lord showed to Adam every future generation, with 
 their heads, sages, and scribes. He saw that David was destined 
 
40 THE COVENANT. 
 
 Allah then cried to the assembled human 
 family, " Confess that I am the only God, and 
 that Mohammed is my messenger." The hosts 
 to the right made their confession immediately; 
 but those to the left hesitated, some repeating 
 but one half of Allah's words, and others re- 
 maining entirely silent. And Allah continued : 
 " The disobedient and impenitent shall suffer the 
 pains of eternal fire, but the faithful shall be 
 blessed in Paradise !" 
 
 " So be it !" responded Adam ; who shall call 
 every man by name in the day of the resurrec- 
 tion, and pronounce his sentence according as 
 the balance of justice shall decide. 
 
 When the covenant was concluded, Allah 
 once more touched Adam's back, and the whole 
 human race returned to him. 
 
 And when Allah was now about to withdraw 
 his presence for the whole of this life from Ad- 
 am, the latter uttered so loud a cry, that the 
 
 to live only three hours, and said, "Lord and Creator of the 
 world, is this unalterably fixed ?" The Lord answered, 
 
 " It was my original design !" 
 
 " How many years shall I live ?" 
 
 " One thousand." 
 
 " Are grants known in Heaven ?" 
 
 " Certainly !" 
 
 "I grant, then, seventy years of my life to David !" 
 
 What did Adam therefore do ? He gave a written grant, set 
 his seal to it, and the same was done by the Lord and Metatron. 
 —Midrash Jalkut, p. 12. 
 
THE TEMPLE. 41 
 
 whole earth shook to its foundations : the All- 
 merciful thereupon extended his clemency, and 
 said, " Follow yonder cloud ; it shall lead thee 
 to the place which lies directly opposite my 
 heavenly throne ; build me a temple there, and 
 -when thou walkest around it, I shall be as near 
 to thee as to the angels which encompass my 
 throne !" 
 
 Adam, who still retained his original stature, 
 in a few hours made the journey from India to 
 Mecca, where the cloud which had conducted 
 him stood still. On Mount Arafa, near Mecca, 
 he found, to his great joy. Eve his wife, whence 
 also this mountain (from Arafa, to know, to rec- 
 ognize) derives its name. They immediately 
 began to build a temple with four gates, and 
 they called the first gate the Gate of Adam ; 
 the second, the Gate of Abraham ; the third, the 
 Gate of Ismael ; and the fourth, the Gate of Mo- 
 hammed. The plan of the building they had 
 received from the angel Gabriel, who had, at 
 the same time, brought them a large diamond 
 of exquisite brightness, which was afterward 
 sullied by the sins of men, and at last became 
 entirely black. 
 
 This black stone, the most sacred treasure of 
 
 the blessed Kaaba, was originally the angel who 
 
 guarded the forbidden tree, and was charged to 
 
 warn Adam if he should approach it, but, hav- 
 
 D2 
 
42 CAIN AND ABEL. 
 
 ing neglected his trust, he was changed into a 
 jewel, and at the day of judgment he shall re- 
 sume his pristine form and return to the holy- 
 angels. 
 
 Gabriel then instructed Adam in all the cere- 
 monies of pilgrimage, precisely as they were 
 instituted by Mohammed at a later period ; nor 
 was he permitted to behold Eve his wife until 
 the evening of Thursday, when the holy days 
 were ended. 
 
 On the following morning Adam returned 
 with his wife to India, and abode there during 
 the remainder of his life. But he went every 
 year on a pilgrimage to Mecca, until he at last 
 lost his original size, retaining a height of only 
 sixty yards. This diminution of his stature, ac- 
 cording to the tradition of the learned, was 
 caused by the excessive terror and grief which 
 he experienced in consequence of the murder 
 of Abel. 
 
 For Eve had born him two sons, whom he 
 named Kabil and Habil [Cain and Abel], and 
 several daughters, whom he gave in marriage 
 to their brothers. The fairest of them he in- 
 tended for Abel, but Cain was displeased, and 
 desired to obtain her, though he had a wife al- 
 ready. Adam referred the decision to Allah, 
 and said to his sons, " Let each of you offer a 
 sacrifice, and he to whom Allah vouchsafes a 
 
DEATH OF ABEL. 43 
 
 sign of acceptance shall marry her." Abel of- 
 fered a fatted ram, and fire came down from 
 heaven and consumed it ; but Cain brought some 
 fruits, which remained untouched upon the altar. 
 He was thereupon filled with envy and hatred 
 toward his brother, but knew not how he might 
 destroy his life.* 
 
 One day Iblis placed himself in Cain's way as 
 he walked with Abel in the field, and seizing a 
 stone, shattered therewith the head of an ap- 
 proaching wolf; Cain followed his example, and 
 with a large stone struck his brother's forehead 
 till he fell lifeless to the ground. Iblis then as- 
 sumed the shape of a raven, and having killed 
 another raven, dug a hole in the earth with his 
 bill, and laying the dead one into it, covered it 
 with the earth which he had dug up. Cain did 
 the same with his brother,t so that Adam was 
 
 * Cain and Abel divided the world between them, the one 
 taking possession of the movable, and the other of the immovable 
 property. Cain said to his brother, " The earth on which thou 
 standest is mine ; then betake thyself to the air ;" but Abel re- 
 plied, " The garments which thou wearest are mine ; take them 
 off!" There arose a conflict between them, which ended hi 
 Abel's death. R. Huna teaches, They contended for a twin sister 
 of Abel's : the latter claimed her because she was born with him ; 
 but Cain pleaded his right of primogeniture,— M^c^ras;^, p. 11. 
 
 t The dog which had watched Abel's flocks guarded also his 
 corpse, protecting it against the beasts and birds of prey. Adam 
 and Eve sat beside it, and wept, not knowing what to do. But a 
 raven, whose friend had died, said, "I will go and teach Adam 
 what he must do with his son," It dug a grave and laid the dead 
 raven in it. When Adam saw this, he said to Eve, " Let us do 
 
44 DISCOVERY OF ABELS CORPSE. 
 
 long in ignorance of the fate of his son, and 
 shrunk together through care and sorrow. It 
 was not until he had fully learned what had be- 
 fallen Abel that he resigned himself to the will 
 of Allah, and was comforted. 
 
 Now the discovery of Abel's corpse took place 
 in this wise : Since his expulsion from Eden, 
 Adam had lived on wild herbs, fruits, and meat, 
 when, at Allah's command, the angel Gabriel 
 brought him the remaining grains of wheat 
 which Eve had plucked, a yoke of oxen, the va- 
 rious implements of husbandry, and instructed 
 him in ploughing, sowing, and reaping. 
 
 While he was one day w^orking in the field, 
 his plough suddenly stopped, nor were all the 
 exertions of his cattle able to move it. Adam 
 struck the oxen, and the eldest of them said to 
 him, 
 
 " Why dost thou strike me ? Did Allah strike 
 thee when thou wast disobedient ?" 
 
 Adam prayed. " O Allah ! after thou hast 
 forgiven my sin, shall every beast of the field 
 be permitted to reprove me ?" 
 
 the same with our child." The Lord rewarded the raven, and no 
 one is allowed, therefore, to harm their young ; they have food in 
 abundance, and their cry for rain is always heard. R. Johanan 
 teaches, Cain was not aware of the Lord's knowledge of hidden 
 things ; he therefore buried Abel, and replied to the Lord's in- 
 quiry, " Where is Abel, thy brother ?" " Am I my brother's keep- 
 er ?"—ilfjdra«^, p. 11. 
 
BREAD, THE CHIEF FOOD OF MAN. 45 
 
 Allah heard him, and from that moment the 
 brute creation lost the power of speech. Mean- 
 while, as the plough still remained immovable, 
 Adam opened the ground, and found the still 
 distinguishable remains of his son Abel. 
 
 At the time of harvest, Gabriel came again 
 and instructed Eve in making bread. Adam 
 then built an oven, and Gabriel brought fire 
 from hell, but first washed it seventy times in 
 the sea, otherwise it would have consumed the 
 earth with all that it contained. When the 
 bread was baked, he said to Adam, 
 
 " This shall be thy and thy children's chief 
 nourishment." 
 
 Although Adam had shed so many tears over 
 the labor of the plough that they served instead 
 of rain to moisten and to fructify the seed, yet 
 were his descendants doomed to still greater 
 toil by reason of their iniquities. Even in the 
 days of (Enoch) Idris, the grain of wheat was 
 no larger than a goose's egg : in those of Elias 
 it shrunk to the size of a hen's egg : when the 
 Jews attempted to kill Christ, it became like a 
 pigeon's egg ; and, finally, under Uzier's (Es- 
 dras's) rule it took its present bulk. 
 
 When Adam and Eve were fully instructed 
 in agricultural cookery, the angel Gabriel 
 brought a lamb, and taught Adam to kill it in 
 the name of Allah, to shear its wool, to strip its 
 
46 • THE FORGOTTEN GRANT. 
 
 hide, and to tan it. Eve spun and wove under 
 the angel's direction, making a veil for herself, 
 and a garment for Adam, and both Adam and 
 Eve imparted the information which they had 
 received from Gabriel to their grand-children 
 and great-grand-children, in number forty, or, 
 according to others, seventy thousand. 
 
 After the death of Abel and Cain, the latter 
 of whom was slain by the blood-avenging angel. 
 Eve gave birth to a third son, whom she called 
 Sheth : he became the father of many sons and 
 daughters, and is the ancestor of all prophets. 
 
 The 930th year of Adam's life came at last 
 to its close, and the Angel of Death appeared 
 to him in the shape of an unsightly he-goat, and 
 demanded his soul, while the earth opened under 
 his feet, and demanded his body. Adam trem- 
 bled with fear, and said to the Angel of Death, 
 " Allah has promised me a lifetime of a thou- 
 sand years : thou hast come too soon." " Hast 
 thou not granted seventy years of thy life to 
 David?" replied the angel. Adam denied it, 
 for he had indeed forgotten the circumstance ; 
 but the Angel of Death drew forth from his 
 beard the parchment in which the grant was 
 written, and spread it out before Adam, who, 
 on seeing it, willingly gave up his soul. 
 
 His son Sheth washed and buried him, after 
 that Gabriel, or, according to others, Allah him- 
 
DEATH OF ADAM AND EVE. 47 
 
 self, had pronounced a blessing. The same was 
 done with Eve, who died in the following year. 
 In regard to the places of their burial, the 
 learned differ. Some have named India ; other 
 traditions fix on Mount Kubeis, and even on 
 Jerusalem. Allah alone is omniscient. 
 
48 IDRIS, OR ENOCH. 
 
 IDRIS, OR ENOCH. 
 
 Idris, or Enoch, was the son of Jarid, the son 
 of Mahlalel, but was called Idris, from darasa 
 (to study), for he was constantly occupied with 
 the study of the holy books, both those which 
 Allah had revealed to Adam, and those which 
 Gabriel brought to him from heaven. He was 
 so virtuous and pious, that Allah anointed him to 
 be his prophet, and sent him as a preacher to the 
 descendants of Cain, who only employed in deeds 
 of sin the gigantic frames and surpassing strength 
 with which Allah had endowed them. Enoch 
 exhorted them unceasingly to purity of conduct, 
 and was often compelled to draw his sword in 
 defense of his life. He was the first who fought 
 for Allah, the first who invented the balance to 
 prevent deception in traffic, and the first also to 
 sew garments, and to w^rite with the Kalam. 
 Idris longed ardently for Parad ise ; still he was not 
 desirous of death, for he was anxious to do good 
 on the earth ; and but for his preaching and his 
 sword,* the sons of Cain would have flooded 
 the earth with iniquity. Allah sent him the 
 Angel of Death in the form of a beautiful virgin, 
 in order to see whether he would approve him- 
 
 * See the E. Translator's Preface. 
 
THE TEMPTATION. 49 
 
 self worthy of the peculiar favor which no man 
 before him had ever received. 
 
 " Come with me," said the disguised angel to 
 Idris, " and thou shalt do an acceptable work to 
 Allah. My younger sister has been carried off 
 by an ungodly descendant of Cain, who has con- 
 fined her in the farthest regions of the West ! 
 Gird on thy sword, and help me to deliver 
 her !" 
 
 Enoch girded on his sword, and took up his 
 bow and the club, with which he had laid low at 
 a single stroke whole ranks of the enemy, and 
 followed the virgin from morn till eve, through 
 desolate and arid deserts, but he said not a word 
 and looked not upon her. At nightfall she erect- 
 ed a tent, but Idris laid himself down at its en- 
 trance to sleep on the stony ground. On her 
 inviting him to &hare her tent with her, he an- 
 swered, " If thou hast any thing to eat, give it 
 to me." She pointed to a sheep which was 
 roving through the desert without a keeper, but 
 he said, " I prefer hunger to theft ; the sheep 
 belongs to another." 
 
 Next day they continued their journey as be- 
 fore, Idris still following the virgin and uttering 
 no complaint, though he was nearly overcome 
 with hunger and thirst. Toward evening they 
 found a bottle of water on the ground. The 
 virgin took it up, and opening it, would have 
 
 4 E 
 
50 TEMPTATION, FIRMNESS, AND REWARD. 
 
 forced Enoch to drink, but he refused, and said, 
 " Some luckless traveler has lost it, and will re- 
 turn to seek for it." 
 
 During the night, Idris having once more 
 baffled all the wiles of the virgin, who had again 
 endeavored to draw him into her tent, Allah 
 caused a spring of clear fresh water to gush 
 forth at his feet, and a date-tree to rise up laden 
 with the choicest fruit. Idris invited the virgin 
 to eat and to drink, and concealed himself be- 
 hind the tree, waiting her return to the tent ; 
 but when, after a long interval, she came not, 
 he stepped to the door and said, " Who art thou, 
 singular maiden? These two days thou hast 
 been without nourishment, and art even now 
 unwilling to break thy fast, though Allah him- 
 self has miraculously supplied us with meat and 
 drink ; and yet thou art fresh and blooming like 
 the dewy rose in spring, and thy form is full 
 and rounded like the moon in her fifteenth 
 night." 
 
 "I am the Angel of Death," she replied, "sent 
 by Allah to prove thee. Thou hast conquered ; 
 ask now, and he will assuredly fulfill all thy 
 wishes." 
 
 "If thou art the Angel of Death, take my soul." 
 
 " Death is bitter : wherefore desirest thou to 
 die?" 
 
 "I will pray to Allah to animate me once 
 
MALIK. 51 
 
 more, that after the terrors of the grave, I may 
 serve him with greater zeal." 
 
 " Wilt thou, then, die twice ? Thy time has 
 not yet come : but pray thou to Allah, and I 
 shall execute his will." 
 
 Enoch prayed : 
 
 " Lord, permit the Angel of Death to let me 
 taste death, but recall me soon to life ! Art thou 
 not almighty and merciful ?" 
 
 The Angel of Death was commanded to take 
 the soul of Idris, but at the same moment to re- 
 store it to him. On his return to life, Idris re- 
 quested the angel to show him Hell, that he 
 might be in a position to describe it to sinners 
 with all its terrors. The angel led him to Ma- 
 lik, its keeper, who seized him, and was in the 
 act of flinging him into the abyss, when a voice 
 from heaven exclaimed, 
 
 " Malik, beware ! Harm not my prophet Idris, 
 but show him the terrors of thy kingdom." 
 
 He then placed him on the wall which sepa- 
 rates hell from the place appointed as the abode 
 of those who have merited neither hell nor heav- 
 en. Thence he saw every variety of scorpions 
 and other venomous reptiles, and vast flames of 
 fire, monstrous caldrons of boiling water, trees 
 with prickly fruits, rivers of blood and putrefac- 
 tion, red-hot chains, garments of pitch, and so 
 many other objects prepared for the torture of 
 
52 THE TRANSLATION. 
 
 sinners, that he besought Mahk to spare him 
 their farther inspection, and to consign him once 
 more to the Angel of Death. 
 
 Idris now prayed the latter to show him Par- 
 adise also. The angel conducted him to the 
 gate before which Ridwhan kept his watch. 
 But the guardian would not suffer him to enter : 
 then Allah commanded the tree Tuba, which is 
 planted in the midst of the garden, and is known 
 to be, after Sirdrat Almuntaha, the most beautiful 
 and tallest tree of Paradise, to bend its branches 
 over the wall. Idris seized hold of them, and 
 was drawn in unobserved by Ridwhan. The 
 Angel of Death attempted to prevent it, but Al- 
 lah said, " Wilt thou slay him twice ?" Thus it 
 came to pass that Idris was taken alive into Par- 
 adise, and was permitted by the most gracious 
 One to remain there in spite of the Angel of 
 Death and of Ridwhan.* 
 
 * In the Bible it is said the Lord took Enoch ; but the Midrash 
 adds, nine human beings entered Paradise alive : Enoch, Messi- 
 ah, Elias, Eliezer the servant of Abraham, the servant of the 
 Kmg of Kush, Chiram the King of Tyre, Jaabez, the son of the 
 Prince and Rabbi Juda, Serach the daughter of Asher, and Bitja 
 the daughter of Pharaoh. 
 
NOAH, HUD, AND SALIH. 
 
 After the translation of Idris, the depravity 
 of men waxed so mightily, that Allah deter- 
 mined to destroy them by a flood. But the 
 prophet Noah, who had in vain attempted to 
 restore his followers to the path of virtue, was 
 saved : for Allah commanded him to build an 
 ark for himself and family, and to enter it as 
 soon as his wife should see the scalding waters 
 streaming from the oven.* This was the be- 
 ginning of the flood ; for it was followed by in- 
 cessant rains from heaven (as from well-filled 
 leathern bottles into which a sharp instrument 
 has been plunged), which mingling with the 
 subterraneous waters that issued forth from all 
 the veins of the earth, produced an inundation 
 which none save the giant Audj the son of Anak 
 survived. f The ark floated during forty days 
 from one end of the earth to the other, passing 
 
 * The generation of the flood was chastised with scalding wa- 
 ter. — Midrash, p. 14. 
 
 t Besides Noah, Og the King of Bashan was saved, for he 
 seized hold on one of the beams of the ark, and swore to Noah 
 that he and his posterity would serve him as bondmen. Noah 
 made an opening through the wall of the ark, and gave Og some 
 food daily, for it is written, " Only Og the King of Bashan sur- 
 vived of all the giants." — Midrash, p. 14. 
 
 E 2 
 
54 THE RELAPSE. 
 
 over the highest mountains ; but when it came 
 to Mount Abu Kubeis, on whose peak Allah had 
 concealed the black diamond of the Kaaba, that 
 it might serve in the second building of this 
 blessed temple, it rode seven times round the 
 sacred spot. At the lapse of six months the ark 
 rested on Mount Djudi in Mesopotamia, and 
 Noah left it as soon as the dove which he had 
 sent to examine the state of the earth returned 
 with an olive leaf in its mouth. Noah blessed 
 the dove, and Allah gave her a necklace of 
 green feathers ; but the raven which Noah had 
 sent out before the dove, he cursed, because, in- 
 stead of returning to him, it stayed to feast on a 
 carcass which it found on the earth,* wherefore 
 the raven is no longer able to walk like other 
 birds. 
 
 But, spite of the calamities of the flood, which 
 Allah intended to serve forever as a warning 
 against sin, Iblis soon succeeded in banishing 
 virtue and goodness from the human family as 
 before. Even Noah's sons, Cham and Japhet, 
 forgot the reverence that was due to their fa- 
 , ther, and left him uncovered when one day they 
 found him asleep. Cham even derided him, and 
 
 * The Midrash, p. 15, relates the same, and draws from it the 
 conclusion that no one should seek to accomphsh his ends by 
 (unclean) unlawful means : the raven being unclean (unlawful), 
 but the dove being clean. 
 
THE ENCHANTED CITY. 55 
 
 became on this account the father of all the 
 black races of mankind. Japhet's descendants 
 remained white, indeed, but it was written that 
 none of them should attain to the dignity of a 
 prophet. Sham (Shem) is the sole ancestor of 
 the prophets, among whom Hud and Salih, who 
 lived immediately after the flood, attained to 
 high distinction.* Hud was sent to the nation 
 of giants which dwelt in Edom, a province of 
 the Southern Arabia, then governed by King 
 Shaddad, the son of Aad. When the prophet 
 exhorted this king to the faith and fear of Allah, 
 he inquired, " What shall be the reward of my 
 obedience ?" " My Lord," replied the prophet, 
 " will give thee in the life to come, gardens of 
 eternal verdure, and palaces of gold and jew- 
 els." But the king answered, "I stand not in 
 need of thy promises, for I can even in this 
 world build me gardens and pleasure-houses of 
 gold, and costly pearls, and jewels." He then 
 built Irem, and called it the City of Columns, 
 for each of its palaces rested on a thousand col- 
 umns of rubies and emeralds, and each column 
 was a hundred cubits high. He next construct- 
 ed canals, and planted gardens teeming with the 
 finest fruit-trees and the fairest flowers. 
 
 * Hud is probably the Eber of the Scriptures, whom the Rab- 
 bis esteem as a prophet, and the founder of a celebrated school 
 of divinity. 
 
56 THE LOST TRIBES OF HUD AND THAMUD. 
 
 When all was completed with prodigal mag- 
 nificence, Shaddad said, " I am now in actual pos- 
 session of all that Hud has promised me for the 
 life to come." But when he would have made 
 his entrance into the city, Allah concealed it 
 from him and his followers, nor has it since been 
 seen by man, save once in the reign of Maccavia. 
 
 The king and his people then wandered 
 through the wilderness in rain and tempest, and 
 at last sought shelter in caves. But Allah caused 
 them to fall in, and only Hud escaped. 
 
 The destruction of this tribe induced their 
 kinsmen, the Thamudites, who numbered sev- 
 enty thousand warriors, to choose the regions 
 between Syria and Hedjaz as their abode, for 
 they also feared to be destroyed, and hoped to 
 secure themselves against the wrath of Allah by 
 building their houses in the rocks. Djundu Eben 
 Omer, the king of the Thamudites, built him a 
 palace there, whose splendor had never been 
 equaled on earth, and the high-priest Kanuch 
 erected a similar one for himself But their 
 most costly and most perfect building was the 
 temple. In it there stood an idol of the finest 
 gold, and adorned with precious stones : it had 
 a human face, a lion's figure, a bull's neck, and 
 a horse's feet. One day, when Kanuch, after 
 his prayers, had fallen asleep in the temple, he 
 heard a voice which said, " Truth shall appear, 
 
THE HIGFI-PRIESTS. 57 
 
 and delusion shall vanish." He sprang to his 
 feet in terror, and rushed toward the idol, but 
 lo ! it was lying on the ground, and beside it lay 
 the crown which had fallen from its head. Ka- 
 nuch cried for help ; the king and his viziers 
 hastened to the spot, restored the idol to its place, 
 and replaced the crown on its head. But the 
 occurrence made a deep impression on the high- 
 priest's mind. His faith in the idol failed, and 
 his zeal to serve it cooled. The king soon dis- 
 covered the change that had passed within him, 
 and one day sent both his viziers to apprehend 
 and to examine him. But scarcely had his mes- 
 sengers left the royal palace when they were 
 struck blind, and were unable to find Kanuch's 
 dwelling. Mean while, Allah sent two angels, 
 who carried the high-priest to a distant valley 
 unknown to his tribe, where a shady grotto, 
 supplied with every convenience of life, was 
 prepared for him. Here he hved peaceably in 
 the service of the one God, and secure against 
 the persecutions of Djundu, who in vain sent out 
 messengers in every direction to discover him. 
 The king gave up, at length, all hope of his cap- 
 ture, and appointed his own cousin, Davud, as 
 high-priest in Kanuch's stead. But on the third 
 day after his inauguration, Davud came to the 
 king in haste, and reported that the idol had 
 again fallen from its place. The king once more 
 
58 THE BIHD FROM PARADISE. 
 
 restored it, and Iblis cried from the idol, " Be 
 steadfast in my worship, and resist all the temp- 
 tations into which some innovators would lead 
 you." On the following feast-day, when Davud 
 was about to offer two fat bulls to the idol, they 
 said to him, with a human voice, " Why will you 
 offer us, whom Allah has endued with life, as a 
 sacrifice to a dead mass of gold, which your 
 own hands have dug from the earth, though Al- 
 lah has created it ? Destroy, O Allah, so sinful 
 a people !" At these words the bulls fled, nor 
 were the swiftest riders of the king able to over- 
 take them. Yet it pleased Allah, in his wisdom 
 and long suffering, to spare the Thamudites still 
 longer, and to send to them a prophet who 
 should labor by many wonders to convince them 
 of the truth. 
 
 Ragwha, the wife of Kanuch, had not ceased 
 to mourn since the flight of her husband ; yet in 
 the third year, Allah sent to her a bird from 
 Paradise, to conduct her to his grotto. This 
 bird was a raven, but its head was as white as 
 snow, its back was of emerald, its feet were of 
 crimson, its beak was like the clearest sunbeam, 
 and its eyes shone like diamonds, only its breast 
 was black, for the curse of Noah, which made 
 all ravens entirely black, had not fallen on this 
 sacred bird. It was the hour of midnight when 
 it stepped into Ragwha's dark chamber, where 
 
SALIH. 59 
 
 she lay weeping on a carpet, but the glance of 
 its eyes lit up the chamber as if the sun had sud- 
 denly risen therein. She rose from her couch, 
 and gazed with wonder on the beautiful bird, 
 which opened its mouth and said, " Rise and 
 follow me, for Allah has pitied thy tears, and 
 will unite thee to thy husband." She rose and 
 followed the raven, which flew before her, chang- 
 ing the night into day by the light of its eyes, 
 and the morning star had not yet risen when 
 she arrived at the grotto. The raven now cried, 
 " Kanuch, arise, and admit thy wife," and then 
 vanished. 
 
 Within a year after their reunion she gave 
 birth to a son, who was the very image of Seth, 
 and the light of prophecy shone on his brow. 
 His father called him Salih (the pious), for he 
 trusted to bring him up in the faith of the one 
 only God, and in piety of life ; but soon after 
 Salih's birth Kanuch died, and the raven from 
 Paradise came again to the grotto to take back 
 Ragwha and her son to the city of Djundu, 
 where Salih grew rapidly in mind and body, to 
 the admiration of his mother, and of all who 
 came to visit them ; and at the age of eighteen 
 he was the most powerful and handsome, as well 
 as the most gifted youth of his time. 
 
 It then came to pass that the descendants of 
 Ham undertook an expedition against the Tha- 
 
60 SALIH. 
 
 mudites, and were to all appearance on the point 
 of destroying them. Their best warriors had 
 already fallen, and the rest were preparing for 
 flight, when Salih suddenly appeared on the bat- 
 tle-field at the head of a few of his friends, and 
 by his personal valor and excellent mana3uvres 
 wrested the victory from the enemy, and routed 
 them completely. This achievement secured to 
 him the love and gratitude of the more virtuous 
 part of his tribe, but the king envied him from 
 this day, and sought after his life. Yet as often 
 as the assassins came to Salih's dwelling to slay 
 him by the king's command, their hands were 
 paralyzed, and were only restored by Salih's in- 
 tercession with Allah. In this wise, the believ- 
 ers in Salih and his invisible God gradually in- 
 creased, so that there was soon formed a com- 
 munity of forty men, who built a mosque, in 
 which they worshiped in common. 
 
 One day the king surrounded the mosque with 
 his soldiers, and threatened Salih and his adhe- 
 rents with death unless Allah should save them by 
 a special miracle. Salih prayed, and the leaves 
 of the date-tree that grew before the mosque 
 were instantly changed to scorpions and adders, 
 which fell upon the king and his men, while two 
 doves which dwelt on the roof of the mosque ex- 
 claimed, " Believe in Salih, for he is the prophet 
 and messenger of Allah." To this twofold won- 
 
THE SLEEP. 61 
 
 der a second and third one were added, for at 
 Salih's prayer the tree resumed its former shape, 
 and some of the Thamudites who had been kill- 
 ed by the serpents returned to life again. 
 
 But the king continued in unbelief, for Iblis 
 spoke from the mouth of the idol, calling Sahh a 
 magician and a demon. 
 
 The tribe was then visited by famine, but this 
 also failed to convert them. When Salih beheld 
 the stubbornness of the Thamudites, he prayed 
 to Allah to destroy so sinful a people. 
 
 But he too, like his father, was carried by an 
 angel to a subterraneous cave in sleep, and slept 
 there twenty years. On waking, he was about 
 to go into the mosque to perform his morning 
 devotions, for he imagined that he had slept only 
 one night ; but the mosque lay in ruins ; he then 
 went to see his friends and followers, but some 
 of them were dead ; others, in the idea that he 
 had abandoned them or been secretly slain, had 
 gone to other countries, or returned to idolatry. 
 Salih knew not what to do. Then appeared to 
 him the angel Gabriel, and said, " Because thou 
 hast hastily condemned thy people, Allah has 
 taken from thee twenty years of thy life ; and 
 thou hast passed them sleeping in the cave.* 
 
 * The idea of a prophet's intercession with God is of Scrip- 
 tural origin. Abraham and Moses interceded with God, the one 
 for Sodom, the other for his people ; and, according to the He- 
 
 F 
 
62 THE REPROOF. 
 
 But rise and preach again. Allah sends thee 
 here Adam's shirt, Abel's sandals, the tunic of 
 Sheth, the seal of Idris,' the sword of Noah, and 
 the staff of Hud, with all of which thou shalt 
 perform many wonders to confirm thy words." 
 On the following day, the king, and priests, and 
 heads of the people, attended by many citizens, 
 went in procession to a neighboring chapel, in 
 which an idol, similar to that of the temple, was 
 worshiped. Salih stepped between the king 
 and the door of the chapel ; and when the king 
 asked him who he was, for Salih's appearance 
 had so changed during the twenty years which 
 he had spent in the cavern that the king did not 
 recognize him, he answered, " I am Salih, the 
 messenger of the one only God, who, twenty 
 years ago, preached to thee, and showed thee 
 many clear proofs of the truth of my mission. 
 But since thou, as I perceive, still persistest in 
 idolatry, 1 once more appear before thee in the 
 name of the Lord, and by his permission offer to 
 
 brew legend, the Jews, on hearing Isaiah denouncing the judg- 
 ments of God, threatened to put him to death, because he had not 
 sought to turn away His wrath, as Moses had done under similar 
 circumstances. Our Savior's parable of the gardener, who beg- 
 ged another year's respite for the unfruitful tree, is on the same 
 principle. So is also Christ's reproof to his disciples, when they 
 would have called down fire from Heaven. The punishment of 
 Salih, therefore, however prettily introduced, must, like every 
 other truth of the Koran, be referred to the knowledge which the 
 Moslem had of the Scriptures.— £ T. 
 
THE TEST. 63 
 
 perform before thine eyes any miracle thou may- 
 est desire in testimony of my prophetic calHng." 
 
 The king took counsel with Shihab his broth- 
 er, and Davud his high-priest, who stood neai 
 him. Then said the latter, " If he be the messen- 
 ger of Allah, let a camel come forth from this 
 rocky mountain, one hundred cubits high, with 
 all imaginable colors united on its back, with 
 eyes flaming like lightning, with a voice like 
 thunder, and with feet swifter than the wind." 
 When Salih declared his readiness to produce 
 such a camel, Davud added, " Its fore legs must 
 be of gold, and its hind legs of silver, its head 
 of emerald, and its ears of rubies, and its back 
 must bear a silken tent, supported on four dia- 
 mond pillars inlaid with gold." Salih was not 
 deterred by all these additional requirements ; 
 and the king added, " Hear, O Salih ! if thou be 
 the prophet of Allah, let this mountain be cleft 
 open, and a camel step forth with skin, hair, 
 flesh, blood, bones, muscles, and veins, like other 
 camels, only much larger, and let it immediately 
 give birth to a young camel, which shall follow 
 it every where as a child follows its mother, and 
 when scarcely produced, exclaim, ' There is 
 but one Allah, and Salih is his messenger and 
 prophet.' " 
 
 " And will you turn to Allah if I pray to him, 
 and if he perform such a miracle before your 
 eyes ?'' 
 
64 GREEDY SKEPTICS. 
 
 "Assuredly!" replied Davud. "Yet must 
 this camel yield its milk spontaneously, and the 
 milk must be cold in summer and warm in 
 winter." 
 
 " Are these all your conditions ?" asked Salih. 
 
 " Still farther " continued Shihab ; " the milk 
 must heal all diseases, and enrich all the poor ; 
 and the camel must go alone to every aouse, 
 calling the inmates by name, and filling all their 
 empty vessels with its milk." 
 
 " Thy will be done !" replied Salih. "Yet I 
 must also stipulate that no one shall harm the 
 camel, or drive it from its pasture, or ride on it, 
 or use it for any labor." 
 
 On their swearing to him to treat the camel 
 as a holy thing, Salih prayed : " O God ! who 
 hast created Adam out of the earth, and formed 
 Eve from a rib, and to whom the hardest things 
 are easy, let these rocks bring forth a camel, 
 such as their king has described, for the conver- 
 sion of the Thamudites." 
 
 Scarcely had Salih concluded his prayer, 
 when the earth opened at his feet, and there 
 gushed forth a fountain of fresh water fragrant 
 with musk : the tent which had been erected for 
 Adam in Paradise descended from heaven, and 
 thereupon the rocky wall which supported the 
 eastern side of the temple groaned like a woman 
 in travail ; a flight of birds descended, and filling 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Dr. Weil has stated, in his Introduction to 
 these Legends, that he chiefly extracted then> 
 from original Arabic records, which are still re- 
 ceived by Mohammedans as the inspired biog- 
 raphies of the ancient patriarchs and prophets. 
 
 It must still farther be added that the leading 
 ideas of these Mohammedan legends, /. e., their 
 prominent historical narratives, and the doc- 
 trines and precepts which they either state ex- 
 pressly or imply, are contained in the Koran. 
 In some instances it gives their minutest partic- 
 ulars. Indeed, it would seem as if these legends 
 formed part, at least, of what the founder of the 
 Mohammedan fliith terms " the mother of the 
 book," indicating that they preceded his Koran 
 in order of time, and embodied the germ of that 
 faith which he subsequently developed. 
 
 This idea is suggested by the learned German 
 compiler, and is corroborated by the fact that 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 the legends were unknown to the Arabs before 
 Mohammed began to preach, while in the Ko- 
 ran he refers to them as already familiar to his 
 hearers. 
 
 But, be this as it may, it is certain that the 
 fact of their leading ideas being found in the 
 Koran invests them with divine authority to the 
 faithful Moslem, for it is a primary article of his 
 creed that every thing contained in the Koran 
 is of Allah. On first reading these legends, it 
 therefore occurred to the writer that they might 
 be a valuable acquisition, as an epitome of Mo- 
 hammedan theology and morals. And their 
 peculiar character, their constant allusion to 
 scriptural facts, with which most Bible readers 
 strongly identify themselves, their novel, and 
 gorgeous, and often sublime inventions, invest- 
 ing them at once with the fidelity of historical 
 detail, and the freshness and fascination of Ori- 
 •ental fiction, seem to fit them especially for pop- 
 ular instruction. If it be asked what benefit 
 may be derived from promulgating the tenets of 
 a professedly erroneous system, it is replied that 
 a distinction ought to be observed between the 
 false systems that hnve ceased to bo believed. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 and those which are still maintained as divine 
 truths by any portion of mankind. 
 
 It may be questioned whether the former 
 ought at all to be taught, although there are 
 reasons why even the exploded mythology of 
 the ancients should be known ; but respecting 
 the second class, to which the religion of Mo- 
 hammed belongs, there should be but one opin- 
 ion. 
 
 Our Redeemer has committed to us, in part, 
 the propagation of his holy faith, by which alone 
 he declares that mankind shall attain to that ho- 
 liness, peace, and glory for which they have 
 been created. The exhibitfon, therefore, in the 
 stewards of the Gospel, of a false religion, in 
 which, as in the case before us, one hundred and 
 twenty millions of our immortal race are at this 
 moment staking their all, can not but be impor- 
 tant, at once to awaken within us feelings of 
 deep and active charity for these benighted mul- 
 titudes, and to furnish us with the requisite in- 
 telligence for effectually combating their griev- 
 ous errors with the weapons of truth. 
 
 Should the public feel any interest in this 
 work, the translator proposes, in a future vol- 
 A2 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 ume, to discuss the legendary principle at some 
 length, and to show the analogy of its practical 
 working in the Jewish, the Mohammedan, and 
 Roman Catholic systems of religion. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Mohammed has been frequently reproached 
 with having altered and added most arbitr^irily 
 to the religious history of the Jews and Christ- 
 ians, two important considerations not being 
 sufficiently borne in mind. In the first place, 
 it is probable that Mohammed learned only late 
 in life to write, or even to read the Arabic, and 
 he was unquestionably ignorant of every other 
 spoken or written language, as is sufficiently ap- 
 parent from historical testimony : hence he was 
 unable to draw from the Old and New Testa- 
 ments for himself, and was entirely restricted to 
 oral instruction from Jews and Christians. 
 
 Secondly, Mohammed himself declared both 
 the Old and New Testaments, as possessed by 
 the Jews and Christians of his time, to have been 
 falsified ; and, consequently, his own divine mis- 
 sion could be expected to agree with those writ- 
 ings only in part. But the turning-point on 
 which the greater portion of the Koran hinges 
 — the doctrine of the unitij of God, a doctrine 
 which he embraced with the utmost consistency, 
 and armed with which he appeared as a prophet 
 before the pagan Arabs, who were addicted to 
 
Vlll INTRUUUCTIOiX. 
 
 the most diversified Polytheism — appeared to 
 him much obscured in the Gospels, and he was 
 therefore forced to protest against their genu- 
 ineness. 
 
 But with regard to the writings of the Jews 
 of the Old Testament, which he had received 
 from 'the mouth of his Jewish contemporaries, 
 he w^as induced to believe, or, at least, pretend- 
 ed to believe, that they too had undergone many 
 changes, inasmuch as Ismael, from whom he 
 was sprung, was evidently treated therein as a 
 step-child, or as the son of a discarded slave, 
 whereas Abraham's paternal love and solicitude, 
 as w^ell as the special favor of the Lord, were 
 the exclusive portion of Isaac and his descend- 
 ants. The predictions respecting the Messiah, 
 too, as declared in the writings of the Prophets, 
 appeared to him incompatible with the faith in 
 himself as the seal of the Prophets. Moreover, 
 Mohammed was probably indebted for his reli- 
 gious education to a man who, abandoning the 
 religion of Arabia, his native country, had sought 
 refuge first in Judaism, and then in Christianity, 
 though even in the latter he does not seem to 
 have found perfect satisfaction. This man, a 
 cousin of his wife Kadidja, urged forward by an 
 irresistible desire after the knowledge of truth, 
 but, as his repeated apostasies would serve to 
 show, being of a skeptical nature, may have dis- 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 covered the errors that had crept into all the 
 religious system of his time; and having ex- 
 tracted from them that which was purely Divine, 
 and freed it from the inventions of men, may 
 have propounded it to his disciple, who, deeply 
 affected hy its repeated inculcation, at length 
 felt within himself a call to become the restorer 
 of the old and pure religion. A Judaism with- 
 out the many ritual and ceremonial laws, which, 
 according to Mohammed's declaration, even 
 Christ had been called to abolish, or a Christian- 
 ity w^ithout the Trinity, crucifixion, and salvation 
 connected therewith — this was the creed which, 
 in the early period of his mission, Mohammed 
 preached with unfeigned enthusiasm. 
 
 It would be out of place here to exhibit in 
 detail the rapidly-changing character both of 
 Mohammed and his doctrines ; but what has 
 been said appeared indispensable by way of in- 
 troduction to the legends in this work. With 
 the exception of a few later additions, these le- 
 gends are derived from Mohammed himself. 
 Their essential features are found even in the 
 Koran, and what is merely alluded to there is 
 carried out and completed by oral traditions. 
 Hence these legends occupy a twofold place in 
 Arabic literature. The whole circle of the tra- 
 ditions, from Adam to Christ, containing, as they 
 do in the view of Mussulmans, real and undis- 
 
X INfTKODUCTluX. 
 
 puted matters of fact, which are connected with 
 the fate of all nations, forms the foundation of 
 the universal history of mankind ; while, on the 
 other hand, they are especially made use of as 
 the biography of the Prophets who lived before 
 Mohammed. It is therefore highly important 
 to ascertain the ground from which the source 
 of these legends has sprung, and to show the 
 transformation which they underwent in order 
 to serve as the fulcrum for the propagation of 
 the faith in Mohammed. 
 
 Respecting the origin of these legends, it will 
 appear, from what has been said, that, with the 
 exception of that of Christ, it is to be found in 
 Jewish traditions, where, as will appear by the 
 numerous citations from the Midrash, they are 
 yet to be seen. Many traditions respecting the 
 Prophets of the Old Testament are found in the 
 Talmud, which w^as then already closed, so that 
 there can be no doubt that Mohammed heard 
 them from Jews, to whom they were known, 
 either by Scripture or tradition. For that these 
 legends were the common property both of 
 Jews and Arabs can not be presumed, inasmuch 
 as Mohammed communicated them to the Arabs 
 as something new, and specially revealed to 
 himself; and inasmuch as the latter actually 
 accused him of having received instruction from 
 foreigners. Besides Warraka. who died soon 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 after Mohammed's first appearance a?s a proph- 
 et, we know of two other mdividuals, who were 
 well versed in the Jewish writings, and with 
 whom he lived on intimate terms, viz., Abd Al- 
 lah Ibn Salam, a learned Jew, and Salman the 
 Persian, who had long lived among Jews and 
 Christians, and who, before he became a Mus- 
 sulman, was successively a Magian, Jew, and 
 Christian. The monk Bahira, too, whom, how- 
 ever, according to Arabic sources, he only met 
 once, on his journey to Bozra, was a baptized 
 Jew. All these legends must have made a deep 
 impression on a religious disposition like that of 
 Mohammed, and have roused within him the 
 conviction that at various times, when the de- 
 pravity of the human race required it, God se- 
 lected some pious individuals to restore them 
 once more to the path of truth and goodness. 
 And thus it might come to pass that, having no 
 other object than to instruct his contemporaries 
 in the nature of the Deity, and to promote their 
 moral and spiritual improvement, he might de- 
 sire to close the line of the Prophets with him- 
 self 
 
 But these legends the more especially further- 
 ed his object, inasmuch as in all of them the 
 Prophets are more or less misunderstood and 
 persecuted by the infidels, but, with the aid of 
 God, are made to triumph in the end. They 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 were therefore intended by him to serve as a 
 warning to his opponents, and to edify and com- 
 fort his adherents. But the legend of Abraham 
 he must have seized and appropriated with pe- 
 cuHar avidity, on account of its special use as a 
 weapon both against Jews and Christians, while, 
 at the same time, it imparted a certain luster to 
 all the nations of Arabia descending through 
 Ismael from Abraham. 
 
 It is difficult to find out with precision how 
 much of this last legend was known in Arabia 
 before Mohammed ; but it is probable, that as 
 soon as the Arabs became acquainted with the 
 Scriptures and traditions of the Jews, they em- 
 ployed them in tracing down to Mohammed the 
 origin both of their race and of their temple. 
 But that they possessed no historcal information 
 respecting it will appear from me fact that, not- 
 withstanding their genealogical skill, they con- 
 fess themselves unable to trace Mohammed's 
 ancestry beyond the twentieth generation. It 
 is, however, quite evident, not only that the le- 
 gends of Abraham and Ismael, which related 
 much that was favorable to the latter, concern- 
 ing which the Bible was silent, but that all the 
 others in like manner were more or less changed 
 and amplified by Mohammed, and adapted to 
 his own purposes. We are, however, inclined 
 to ascribe these modifications to the men by 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 whom he was surrounded rather than to him- 
 self; for we consider him, at least during the 
 period of his mission, as the mere tool of certain 
 Arabian reformers rather than an independent 
 prophet, or, at all events, more as a dupe than 
 a deceiver. Yet to him unquestionably belongs 
 the highly poetical garb in which we find these 
 legends, and which was calculated to attract 
 and captivate the imaginative minds of the Arabs 
 much more than the dull Persian fables narrated 
 by his opponents. 
 
 In the legend of Christ, it is not difficult to 
 discover the views of a baptized Jew. He ac- 
 knowledges in Christ the living Word, and the 
 Spirit of God, in contradistinction to the dead 
 letter and the empty ceremonial into which Ju- 
 daism had then fallen. In the miraculous birth 
 of Christ there is nothing incredible to him, for 
 was not Adam, too, created by the word of the 
 Lord ? He admits all the miracles of the Gos- 
 pel, for had not the earlier prophets also worked 
 miracles? Even in the Ascension he finds 
 nothing strange, for Enoch and Elias were also 
 translated to heaven. But that a true prophet 
 should place himself and his mother on a level 
 with the Most High God is repugnant to his 
 views, and he therefore rejects this doctrine as 
 the blasphemous invention of the priests. He 
 refuses also, in like manner, to believe the Cru- 
 B 
 
Xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cifixion, because it appears to him to reflect 
 upon the justice of God, and to conflict with the 
 history of former prophets, whom He had de- 
 Uvered out of every danger.* " No man shall 
 suffer for the sins of his neighbor," says the Ko- 
 ran : hence, though Christ might have followed 
 out his designs without the fear of death, it 
 seemed to him impossible that the Lord should 
 have permitted Christ, the innocent, to die in so 
 shameful a manner for the sins of other men. 
 But he regards as a Savior every prophet who 
 by divine revelation, and an exemplary and pi- 
 ous life, restores man to the way of salvation 
 which Adam had abandoned at his fall ; and 
 such a savior he believed himself to be. 
 
 Now, as the legend of Abraham was valuable 
 to Mohammed on account of the pure and sim- 
 ple lesson which it inculcated, as well as for its 
 connection with the sacred things of Mecca, so 
 he valued the legend of Christ especially for its 
 promise of the Paraclete, which he believed, or 
 at least proclaimed himself to be, and to which 
 appellation the meaning of his own name at 
 least furnished him with a better claim than 
 some others who had arrogated it to themselves 
 
 * The reader is reminded of what our Savior says of all the 
 righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous 
 Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, the son of Barachias. who per- 
 • i«hp(] hptwppn the temple and thp altar — E. T. 
 
THE MIRACLE. 65 
 
 their beaks with the water of the fountain, sprin- 
 kled it over the rock, and lo ! there was seen 
 the head of the camel, which was gradually 
 followed by the rest of its body ; when it stood 
 upon the earth, it was exactly as it had been 
 described by the king, and it cried out imme- 
 diately, " There is no God but Allah ; Salih is 
 his messenger and prophet." The angel Gabriel 
 then came down and touched the camel with 
 his flaming sword, and it gave birth to a young 
 camel which resembled it entirely, and repeated 
 the confession that had been required. The 
 camel then went to the dwellings of the people, 
 calling them by name, and filling every empty 
 vessel with its milk. On its way all animals 
 bowed before it, and all the trees bent their 
 branches to it in reverence. 
 
 The king could no longer shut his heart to 
 such proofs of God's almightiness and Salih's 
 mission: he fell on the prophet's neck, kissed 
 him, and said, " I confess there is but one God, 
 and that thou art his messenger !" 
 
 But the brother of the king, as well as Davud 
 and all the priesthood, called it only sorcery and 
 delusion, and invented all kinds of calumnies 
 and falsehoods to retain the people in unbelief 
 and idolatry. Meanwhile, since the camel, by 
 constantly yielding its milk and praising Allah 
 as often as it went down to the water, made 
 V2 
 
G6 THE PERJURY. 
 
 daily new converts, the chiefs of the infidels re- 
 solved to kill it. But when many days had 
 passed before they ventured to approach it, 
 Shihab issued a proclamation, that whosoever 
 should kill the mountain camel should have his 
 daughter Ranjan to wife. Kadbar, a young 
 man who had long loved this maiden, distin- 
 guished as she was for grace and beauty, but 
 without daring to woo her, being only a man 
 of the people, armed himself with a huge sword, 
 and, attended by Davud and some other priests, 
 fell upon the camel from behind while it was 
 descending to the waters, and wounded it in its 
 hoof. 
 
 At that moment all nature uttered a frightful 
 shriek of woe. The little camel ran moaning 
 to the highest pinnacle of the mountain, and 
 cried, " May the curse of Allah light upon thee, 
 thou sinful people !" Salih and the king, who 
 had not quitted him since his conversion, went 
 into the city, demanding the punishment of Kad- 
 bar and his accomplices. But Shihab, who had 
 in the mean time usurped the throne, threatened 
 them with instant death. Salih, flying, had 
 only time to say that Allah would wait their 
 repentance only three days longer, and on the 
 expiration of the third day would annihilate 
 them like their brethren the Aaadites. His 
 threat was fulfilled, for thev were irreclaimable. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION. 67 
 
 Already on the next day the people grew as 
 yellow as the seared leaves of autumn ; and 
 wherever the wounded camel trod, there issued 
 fountains of blood from the earth. On the sec- 
 ond day their faces became red as blood ; but 
 on the third they turned black as coal, and on 
 the same day, toward nightfall, they saw the 
 camel hovering in the air on crimson wings, 
 whereupon some of the angels hurled down 
 whole mountains of fire, while others opened the 
 subterraneous vaults of fire which are connected 
 with hell, so that the earth vomited forth fire- 
 brands in the shape of camels. At sunset, all 
 the Thamudites were a heap of ashes. Only 
 Salih and King Djundu escaped, and wandered 
 in company to Palestine, where they ended their 
 days as hermits. 
 
ABRAHAM. 
 
 ABRAHAM. 
 
 Soon after the death of Salih, the prophet 
 Abraham was born at Susa, or, according to 
 others, at Babylon. He was a contemporary of 
 the mighty king, Nimrod, and his birth falls into 
 the year 1081 after the Flood, which happened 
 in 2242 from the Fall. He was welcomed at 
 his birth by the angel Gabriel, who immediately 
 wrapped him in a white robe. Nimrod, on the 
 night in which Abraham was born — it was be- 
 tween the night of Thursday and Friday morn- 
 ing — heard a voice in his dream which cried 
 aloud, " Woe to them that shall not confess the 
 God of Abraham : the truth has come to light, 
 delusion vanishes !" He also dreamed that the 
 idol which he worshiped had fallen down ; and 
 convened, therefore, on the following morning, 
 all his priests and sorcerers, communicating to 
 them his dream. Yet no one knew how to in- 
 terpret it, or to give any account of Abraham. 
 Nimrod had already once in a dream seen a star 
 which eclipsed the light of the sun and moon, 
 and had, therefore, been warned by his sorcerers 
 of a boy who threatened to deprive him of his 
 throne, and to annihilate the people's faith in him ; 
 for Nimrod caused himself to be worshiped as 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF ABRAHAM. 69 
 
 God. Yet, seeing that since that dream he had 
 commanded every new-born male to be slain at 
 its birth, he did not think there was any need 
 for farther apprehension. Abraham alone was 
 saved of the children who were born at that time 
 by a miracle of heaven, for his mother had re- 
 mained so slender during her whole pregnancy 
 that no one had thought of it, and when her hour 
 came she fled to a cave beyond the city, where, 
 aided by the angel Gabriel, she was secretly de- 
 livered. In this cave Abraham remained con- 
 cealed during fifteen months, and his mother 
 visited him sometimes to nurse him. But he had 
 no need of her food, for Allah commanded water 
 to flow from one of Abraham's fingers, milk from 
 another, honey from the third, the juice of dates 
 from the fourth, and butter from the fifth. On 
 stepping, for the first time, beyond the cave, and 
 seeing a beautiful star, Abraham said, " This is 
 my God, which has given me meat and drink in 
 the cave." Yet anon the moon rose in full 
 splendor, exceeding the light of the star, and he 
 said, " This is not God ; I will worship the moon." 
 But when, toward morning, the moon waxed 
 more and more pale, and the sun rose, he ac- 
 knowledged the latter as a divinity, until he also 
 disappeared from the horizon. He then asked 
 his mother, " Who is my God ?" and she replied, 
 " It is I." 
 
70 GHALIL ALLAH. 
 
 " And who is thy God ?" he inquired farther. 
 
 « Thy father." 
 
 " And who is my father's God ?" 
 
 " Nimrod !" 
 
 " And Nimrod's God ?" 
 
 She then struck him on the face, and said, 
 " Be silent !" He was silent, but thought within 
 himself, " I acknowledge no other god than Him 
 who has created heaven and earth, and all that 
 is in them." When he was a little older, his 
 father, Aser, who w as a maker of idols, sent him 
 out to sell them ; but Abraham cried, " Who 
 will buy what can only do him harm, and bring 
 no good ?" so that no one bought of him. One 
 day, when all his townsmen had gone on a pil- 
 grimage to some idol, he feigned sickness, and 
 remaining alone at home, destroyed two-and- 
 seventy idols, which were set up in the temple. 
 It was then that he obtained the honorable sur- 
 name of Chalil Allah (the friend of God). But 
 on the return of the pilgrims he was arrested, 
 and brought before Nimrod ; for suspicion soon 
 rested upon him, both on account of his stay at 
 home, and the contemptuous reflections on the 
 worship of idols in which he was known to in- 
 dulge. Nimrod condemned him to be burned 
 alive as a blasphemer.* The people of Babel 
 
 * The Jewish legend respecting Abraham's contempt of idola- 
 try and his sentence to be burned alive is as follows : " Terah 
 
THE PILE. 71 
 
 then collected wood for a pile during a whole 
 month, or, according to some of the learned, dur- 
 ing forty days, and at that time knew of no 
 more God-pleasing work than this : so that if 
 any one was sick, or desired to obtain any favor 
 from his gods, he vowed to carry a certain quan- 
 
 was an idolater, and, as he went one day on a journey, he appoint- 
 ed Abraham to sell his idols in his stead. As often as a purchaser 
 came, Abraham inquired his age, and when he replied, ' I am fifty 
 or sixty years old,' he said, ' Woe to the man of sixty who would 
 worship the work of a day !' so that the purchasers went away 
 ashamed. 
 
 " One day a woman came with a bowl of fine flour, and said, 
 ' Set it before them ;' but he took a staff and broke all the idols iu 
 pieces, and placed the staff in the hands of the largest of them. 
 When his father returned, he inquired, 'Who has done this?' 
 Abraham said, ' Why should I deny it ? there was a woman here 
 with a bowl of fine flour, and she directed me to set it before 
 them. When I did so, every one of them would have eaten first ; 
 then arose the tallest, and demolished them with the staff.' Te- 
 rah said, ' What fable art thou telling me ? Have they any under- 
 standing?' 
 
 " Abraham replied, ' Do not thy ears hear what thy lips utter?' 
 
 *' Whereupon Terah took him and delivered him to Nimrod, 
 who said to Abraham, ' Let us worship the fire !' 
 
 " ' Rather the water that quenches the fire.' 
 
 " ' Well, the water.' 
 
 " ' Rather the cloud which carries the water.' 
 
 " ' Well, the cloud.' 
 
 " ' Rather the wind that scatters the cloud.' 
 
 " ' Well, the wind.' 
 
 *• * Rather man, for he endures the wind.' 
 
 " ' Thou art a babbler,' replied the king. ' I worship the fire, 
 and will cast thee into it. May the God whom thou adorest de- 
 liver thee thence !' 
 
 *' Abraham was thrown into a heated furnace, but was saved." — 
 Vide Geiger, i., p. 124. 
 
72 THE MIRACLE. 
 
 tity of wood upon his recovery, or on the fulfill- 
 ment of his wish. The women were especially 
 active ; they washed, or did other manual work, 
 for hire, and bought wood with their earnings. 
 When at last the pile had attained a height of 
 thirty cubits and a breadth of twenty, Nimrod 
 commanded it to be set on fire. Then there 
 mounted on high such a mighty flame, that many 
 birds in the air were consumed by it ; the smoke 
 which arose darkened the whole city, and the 
 crackling of the wood was heard at the distance 
 of a day's journey. Then Nimrod summoned 
 Abraham, and asked him again, ** Who is thy 
 God ?" 
 
 " He that has power to kill and to make alive 
 again," Abraham replied. He thereupon con- 
 jured up a man from the grave who had died 
 many years ago, and commanded him to bring 
 a white cock, a black raven, a green pigeon, and 
 a speckled peacock. When he had brought 
 these birds, Abraham cut them into a thousand 
 pieces, and flung them in four different direc- 
 tions, retaining only the four heads in his hands. 
 Over these he said a prayer, then called each 
 bird by name, and behold, the little pieces came 
 flying toward him, and, combining as they had 
 been, united themselves to their heads. The 
 birds lived as before, but he who had been raised 
 from the dead at Abraham's command, descend- 
 ed again into the grave. 
 
SYMPATHY. 73 
 
 Nimrod then caused two malefactors to be 
 brought from prison, and commanded one of 
 them to be executed, but pardoned the other, 
 saying, " I also am God, for I too have the dis- 
 posal of life and death." However childish this 
 remark was, for he only had the power of remit- 
 ting the sentence of a living man, not of restoring 
 the dead to life, Abraham did not object, but, in 
 order to silence him at once, said, " Allah causes 
 the sun to rise in the east ; if thou be Allah, let 
 it for once rise in the west." But, instead of re- 
 plying, Nimrod commanded his servants to fling 
 Abraham into the fire, by means of an engine 
 which Satan himself had suggested to him. 
 
 At the same instant, the heaven with all its 
 angels, and the earth with all its creatures, cried 
 as with one voice, "God of Abraham ! thy friend, 
 who alone worships thee on earth, is being thrown 
 into the fire ; permit us to rescue him." The 
 angel that presideth over the reservoirs was 
 about to extinguish the flames by a deluge from 
 on high, and he that keepeth the winds to scat- 
 ter them by a tempest to all parts of the world; 
 but Allah, blessed be his name ! said, " I permit 
 every one of you to whom Abraham shall cry 
 for protection to assist him ; yet if he turn only 
 to me, then let me by my own immediate aid 
 rescue him from death."* Then cried Abra- 
 
 ♦ The Midrash, p. 20, says, " When the wicked Nimrod cast 
 
 G 
 
74 DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 
 
 ham from the midst of the pile, " There is no God 
 besides thee ; thou art supreme, and unto thee 
 alone belong praise and glory !" The flame had 
 already consumed his robe, when the angel 
 Gabriel stepped before him and asked, " Hast 
 thou need of me ?" 
 
 But he replied, " The help of Allah alone is 
 what I need !" 
 
 " Pray, then, to him, that he may save thee !" 
 rejoined Gabriel. 
 
 "He knows my condition," answered Abra- 
 ham. 
 
 All the creatures of the earth now attempted 
 to quench the fire : the lizard alone blew upon 
 it, and, as a punishment, became dumb from that 
 hour. 
 
 At Allah's command, Gabriel now cried to the 
 fire, " Become cool, and do Abraham no harm 1" 
 To these last words Abraham was indebted for 
 his escape ; for at the sound of Gabriers voice 
 it grew so chill around him that he was well-nigh 
 freezing, and the cold had therefore to be dimin- 
 ished again. The fire then remained as it was, 
 burning on as before, but it had miraculously 
 lost all its warmth ; and this was not only so 
 
 Abraham into the furnace, Gabriel said, ' Lord of the world, suf- 
 fer me to save this saint from the fire !' but the Lord replied, 'I 
 am the only one supreme in my world, and he is supreme in his ; 
 it is meet, therefore, that the supreme should save the supreme.' " 
 
THE I'RINCESS. 75 
 
 with Abraham's pile, but with all fires lighted on 
 that day throughout the whole world. 
 
 Allah then caused a fountain of fresh water 
 to spring up in the midst of the fire, and roses 
 and other flowers to rise out of the earth at the 
 spot where Abraham was lying. He likewise 
 sent him a silken robe from Paradise, and an an- 
 gel in human shape, who kept him company 
 during seven days ; for so long he remained in 
 the fire. These seven days Abraham, in later 
 times, frequently called the most precious of his 
 fife. 
 
 His miraculous preservation in the pile be- 
 came the cause of his marriage with Radha, the 
 daughter of Nimrod ; for on the seventh day af- 
 ter Abraham was cast into the fire, she prayed 
 her father for permission to see him. Nimrod 
 endeavored to dissuade her from it, and said, 
 " What canst thou see of him ? He has long 
 ere now been changed into ashes." Yet she 
 ceased not to entreat him, until he suffered her 
 to go near the pile. There she beheld Abra- 
 ham, through the fire, sitting quite comfortable in 
 the midst of a blooming garden. Amazed, she 
 called out, " O Abraham, does not the fire con- 
 sume thee ?" He replied, " Whoever keeps Al- 
 lah in his heart, and the words, ' In the name of 
 Allah the All-merciful,' on his tongue, over him 
 has fire no power." 
 
76 NIMROD S TOWER. 
 
 Whereupon she begged his permission to ap- 
 proach him ; but he said, " Confess that there is 
 but one only God, who has chosen me to be his 
 messenger !" As soon as she had made this con- 
 fession of her faith, the flames parted before her, 
 so that she was able to reach Abraham un- 
 harmed. But when she returned to her father, 
 and told him in what condition she had found the 
 prophet, and sought to convert him to his faith, 
 he tormented and tortured her so cruelly, that 
 Allah commanded an angel to deliver her from 
 his hands, and conduct her to Abraham, who 
 had meanwhile left the city of Babel. 
 
 Still Nimrod was far from being reclaimed ; 
 he even resolved to build a lofty tower, where- 
 with, if possible, to scale the heavens, and to 
 search therein for the God of Abraham. The 
 tower rose to a height of five thousand cubits ; 
 but as heaven was still far off', and the workmen 
 were unable to proceed farther with the build- 
 ing, Nimrod caught two eagles and kept them 
 upon the tower, feeding them constantly with 
 flesh. He then left them to fast for several days, 
 and when they were ravenous with hunger, he 
 fastened to their feet a light, closed palanquin, 
 with one window above and another below, and 
 seated himself in it with one of his huntsmen. 
 The latter took a long spear, to which a bit of 
 flesh was attached, and thrust it through the up- 
 
THE BLOOD-STAINED ARROW. 77 
 
 per window, so that the famishing eagles flew 
 instantly upward, bearing the palanquin aloft. 
 When they had flown toward heaven during a 
 whole day, Nimrod heard a voice, which cried 
 to him, "Godless man, whither goest thou?" 
 Nimrod seized the bow of his huntsman, and dis- 
 charged an arrow, which forthwith fell back 
 through the window stained with blood, and this 
 abandoned man believed that he had wounded 
 the God of Abraham. 
 
 But as he was now so far from the earth that 
 it appeared to him no larger than an egg, he or- 
 dered the spear to be held downward, and the 
 eagles and the palanquin descended. 
 
 Respecting the blood which was seen on Nim- 
 rod's arrow, the. learned are not agreed as to 
 whence it came : many contend it was the blood 
 of a fish which the clouds had carried with them 
 from the sea, and adduce this circumstance as 
 the reason why fish need not be slaughtered.* 
 Others suppose that Nimrod's arrow had struck 
 a bird which was flying still higher than the 
 eagles. When Nimrod, in the swell of triumph, 
 once more reached the pinnacle of his tower, 
 Allah caused it to fall in with such frightful 
 
 * The laws of the Mohammedans, and of the Jews especially, 
 regulate scrupulously the mode in which clean animals are to be 
 slain ; what part is to receive the mortal wound ; how it is to be 
 inflicted ; the knife to be used ; and the formula of prayer to be 
 uttered. But no such laws exist in regard to fish. — E. T. 
 
 G2 
 
78 THE ARMY OF FLIEr?. 
 
 noise, that all people were beside themselves 
 from terror, and every one spoke in a different 
 tongue. Since that period the languages of men 
 vary, and, on account of the confusion arising 
 from this circumstance, the capital of Nimrod 
 was called Babel (the confusion). 
 
 As soon, however, as Nimrod had recovered 
 himself, he pursued Abraham with an army 
 which covered the space of twelve square miles. 
 Allah then sent Gabriel unto Abraham to ask 
 him by what creature he should send him de- 
 liverance ? Abraham chose the fly ; and Al- 
 lah said, " Verily, if he had not chosen the fly, 
 an insect would have come to his aid, seventy 
 of which are lighter than the wing of a fly." 
 
 The exalted Allah then summoned the king 
 of flies, and commanded him to march with his 
 host against Nimrod. He then collected all the 
 flies and gnats of the whole earth, and with them 
 attacked Nimrod's men with such violence, that 
 they were soon obliged to take to flight, for they 
 consumed their skin, and bones, and flesh, and 
 picked the eyes out of their heads. Nimrod 
 himself fled, and locked himself up in a thickly- 
 walled tower; but one of the flies rushed in with 
 him, and flew round his face during seven days, 
 without his being able to catch it, the fly return- 
 ing again and again to his lip, and sucking it so 
 long that it began to swell. It then flew up 
 
DEATH OF NIMROD. 79 
 
 into his nose, and the more he endeavored to get 
 it out, the more deeply it pressed into it, until it 
 came to the brain, which it began to devour. 
 Then there remained no other means of relief 
 to him than to run his head against the wall, or 
 to have some one strike his forehead with a 
 hammer. But the fly grew continually larger 
 until the fortieth day, when his head burst open, 
 and the insect, which had grown to the size of a 
 pigeon, flew out, and said to the dying Nimrod, 
 who even now would not come to repentance, 
 " Thus does Allah, whenever he pleases, permit 
 the feeblest of his creatures to destroy the man 
 who will not believe in him and in his messen- 
 ger." The tower, in which Nimrod was, then 
 tumbled in upon him, and he must roll about un- 
 der its ruins until the day of the resurrection. 
 
 After Nimrod's death, many persons, whom 
 the fear of the king had prevented, turned to the 
 only God, and to Abraham his messenger. The 
 first were his nephew Lot, the son of Haran, and 
 Lot's sister Sarah, whom Abraham afterward 
 married. She bore a perfect resemblance to 
 her mother Eve, to whom Allah had given two 
 thirds of all beauty, while the whole human race 
 have to be satisfied with the remaining third, and 
 even of this quota Joseph alone obtained one 
 third. 
 
 Sarah was so beautiful that Abraham, who, in 
 
80 BEAUTY OF SARAH. 
 
 order to proclaim the true faith, was obliged to 
 make many journeys to Palestine, Syria, Egypt, 
 and Arabia, found it necessary to carry her with 
 him in a chest. One day he was arrested on the 
 banks of the Jordan by a publican, to whom he 
 was obliged to give tithe of all that he carried 
 with him. Abraham opened all his chests but 
 the one in which Sarah was confined ; and when 
 the publican proceeded to search it too, Abra- 
 ham said, " Suppose it to be filled with silks, and 
 let me pay the tithe accordingly." But the of- 
 ficer commanded him to open it. Abraham 
 begged him again to pass it unopened, and offer- 
 ed to give tithe as if it were filled with gold and 
 jewels. Still the other insisted on his seeing the 
 contents of the chest ; and, when he beheld Sa- 
 rah, he was so dazzled by her beauty, that he ran 
 forthwith to the king, reporting what had hap- 
 pened. 
 
 The king immediately summoned Abraham, 
 and inquired of him, " Who is the maiden whom 
 thou earnest with thee ?" Abraham, from fear 
 of being put to death if he avowed the truth, re- 
 plied, " She is my sister !" At the same time he 
 told no falsehood,* for in his mind he meant, 
 
 * The learned reader must be struck with the strong likeness 
 existing between the moral of the Moslems and those of the San- 
 chez, the Escobars, the Tambourins, and the Molinas. The Bi- 
 ble says, indeed, " Abraham said to Pharaoh, ' She is my sister ;' " 
 but it does not justify him by adding that he told no falsehood.— 
 E. T. 
 
II AG All AND ISMAEL. 81 
 
 " She is my sister in the faith." When the king 
 heard this, he took her with him to his palace. 
 Abraham stood full of despair before it, not 
 knowing what to do, when Allah caused the 
 walls of the palace to become transparent as 
 glass, and Abraham saw how the king, as soon 
 as he had seated himself with Sarah on a divan, 
 desired to embrace her. But at that instant his 
 hand withered, the palace began to shake, and 
 threatened to fall. The king fell on the ground 
 from dread and fright, and Sarah said to him, 
 " Let me go, for I am the wife of Abraham." 
 
 Pharaoh thereupon summoned Abraham, and 
 reproached him for his untruth. The latter then 
 prayed for him, and Allah healed the king, who 
 now gave Abraham many rich presents, and, 
 among others, an Egyptian slave by the name 
 of Hagar.* She bore him a son, whom he 
 called Ismael. But as Sarah was barren, and 
 the more jealous since the light of Mohammed 
 already shone on Ismael's forehead, she demand- 
 ed of Abraham to put away Hagar and her son. 
 He was undecided, until commanded by Allah 
 to obey Sarah in all things. Yet he entreated 
 
 ♦ The Midrash, fol. 21, says that Hagar was given as a slave to 
 Abraham by her father Pharoah, who said, " My daughter had 
 better be a slave in the house of Abraham than mistress in any 
 other." Elimelech, in like manner, and for the same reason, gave 
 his daughter as a bondmaid to Abraham, after he had seen the 
 wonders which were done for Sarah's sake. 
 6 
 
82 EAR-RINGS. 
 
 her again not to cast off her bondmaid and her 
 son. But this so exasperated her, that she de- 
 clared she would not rest until her hands had 
 been imbrued in Hagar's blood. Then Abra- 
 ham pierced Hagar's ear quickly, and drew a 
 ring through it, so that Sarah was able to dip 
 her hand in the blood of Hagar without bringing 
 the latter into danger. 
 
 From that time it became a custom among 
 women to wear ear-rings. 
 
 Sarah now suffered Hagar to remain yet a 
 few years longer with her ; but when she had 
 borne Isaac, and observed that Abraham loved 
 him less than Ismael, her jealousy awoke afresh, 
 and she now insisted on Hagar's removal. Abra- 
 ham then went with her and Ismael on his way, 
 and the angel Gabriel guided them into the Ara- 
 bian desert, to the place where afterward the 
 holy temple of Mecca was built. This place 
 had been dedicated to the worship of Allah even 
 before Adam's birth.* For when Allah made 
 known to the angels his resolve of creating man, 
 and they said, " Wilt thou fill the earth with sin- 
 ful creatures ?" Allah was so wroth at their dis- 
 suasion, that the angels, to reconcile Him, walk- 
 
 ♦ The sanctity which the Moslem attaches to places is akin to 
 the feeling in the church of the Pharisees before Christ, and of 
 Rome at present. But the Savior reproves it by those words, 
 " Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there 
 am 1 in the midst of them."' — Matt., xviii , 20.— E. T 
 
THE KAAIJA, 83 
 
 ed, singing praises, seven times round His throne. 
 Allah pardoned them, but said, " Build me forth- 
 with, in a direct line downward to the earth, a 
 temple, which the sinners may one day encom- 
 pass, that they also may obtain mercy, even as 
 ye have now encircled my throne, and been for- 
 given." Allah afterward gave to Adam a dia- 
 mond of Paradise, which is now called the black 
 stone ; for it afterward grew black by the un- 
 clean touch of the heathen, but will one day rise 
 with eyes and a tongue, to bear testimony to 
 those who have touched it in their pilgrimage.* 
 This jewel was originally an angel, appointed 
 to watch over Adam, that he might not eat of 
 the forbidden tree ; but, on account of his neg- 
 lect, was changed into a stone. At the time of 
 the flood Allah lifted up this temple into heaven ; 
 yet the winds blew Noah's ark seven times round 
 the spot where it had stood. 
 
 After having accompanied Hagar and Ismael 
 unto Mecca, Abraham returned again to Sarah, 
 in Syria, leaving the former, at Gabriel's com- 
 mand, to themselves, provided with a few dates 
 and a bottle of water. But these provisions 
 were soon exhausted, and the whole region was 
 waste, arid, and uninhabited. When Hagar and 
 
 * The black stone of the Kaaba is to this day an object of great 
 veneration with the Mussulmans, and every pilgrim visiting the 
 temple kisses it repeatedly— -E. T, 
 
84 THE SETTLERS OF MECCA. 
 
 Ismael were suffering from hunger and thirst, 
 the former ran seven times from Mount Susa to 
 Marwa,* calling upon Allah for relief: the an- 
 gel Gabriel then appeared to her, and stamped 
 upon the earth with his foot, and behold, there 
 started up a fountain, which is still known as the 
 fountain of Semsem.f But at that time its wa- 
 ters were as sweet as honey and as nutritious as 
 milk, so that Hagar was unwilling again to leave 
 these regions. 
 
 After some time there came two Amalekites 
 to her, who were seeking a camel which had 
 strayed there, and, finding good water, they in- 
 formed their tribe thereof, which had encamped 
 a few hours westward. They settled with her, 
 and Ismael grew up among them ; but Abraham 
 visited him every month, riding on Barak, his 
 miraculous horse, which carried him in half a 
 day from Syria to Mecca. 
 
 When Ismael had attained the age of thirteen 
 years, Abraham heard a voice in his dream, 
 which cried, " Sacrifice Ismael thy son." 
 
 The Jews, and even many Mussulmans, do 
 indeed maintain that it was his son Isaac whom 
 Abraham offered ; but the true believers reject 
 
 * The pilgrims to Mecca still run seven times from Mount Susa 
 to Marwa, frequently looking round and stooping down, to imitate 
 Hagar when seeking for water. — E. T. 
 
 t This fountain is within the Kaaba : its water is brackish, 
 though bomewhat less so than the uUier water of Mecca. — E. T. 
 
THE DREAM. 85 
 
 this opinion, inasmuch as Mohammed called him- 
 self the son of two men who had been set apart 
 as sacrifices, meaning thereby Ismael and his 
 own father, Abd Allah, whom his grand-father, 
 Abdul Mattalib, intended to offer in fulfillment of 
 a vow, but, by the decision of a priestess, re- 
 deemed with a hundred camels. 
 
 When Abraham awoke, he was in doubt 
 whether he should regard his dream as a Di- 
 vine command or as the instigation of Satan. 
 But, when the same dream was yet twice re- 
 peated, he dared not to hesitate any longer, and 
 therefore took a knife and a rope, and said to 
 Ismael, " Follow me !" 
 
 When Iblis saw this, he thought within him- 
 self, " An act so well pleasing to Allah I must 
 seek to prevent," and he assumed the form of a 
 man, and, going to Hagar, said to her, " Know- 
 est thou whither Abraham has gone with thy 
 son ?" Hagar answered, " He has gone into 
 the forest to cut wood." 
 
 " It is false," replied Iblis ; " he intends to 
 slaughter thy son." 
 
 " How is this possible ?" rejoined Hagar ; 
 " does he not love him as much as I ?" 
 
 " Yea," continued Iblis, " but he believes that 
 Allah has commanded it." 
 
 " If it be so," rejoined Hagar, " let him do 
 what he believes pleasing to Allah." 
 H 
 
8b THE TEMPTER. 
 
 When Iblis could effect nothing with Hagar, 
 he betook himself to Ismael, and said, " Know- 
 est thou for what end this wood which thou 
 hast gathered is to serve ?" 
 
 Ismael replied, " It is for our use at home." 
 
 *' No !" rejoined Iblis ; " thy father designs to 
 offer thee as a sacrifice, because he dreamed 
 that Allah had commanded him," 
 
 " Well," replied Ismael, " if it be so, let him 
 fulfill on me the will of Allah." 
 
 Iblis then turned to Abraham himself, and 
 said, " Sheik, whither goest thou ?" 
 
 "To cut wood." 
 
 " For what purpose ?" 
 
 Abraham was silent ; but Iblis continued, " I 
 know thou designest to offer up thy son, be- 
 cause Iblis has suggested it to thee in a dream ;" 
 but at these words Abraham recognized Iblis, 
 and flinging at him seven pebbles, a ceremony 
 since observed by every pilgrim, he said, " Get 
 thee gone, enemy of Allah ; I will act accord- 
 ing to the will of my Lord." Satan went away 
 enraged, but stepped yet twice more in a differ- 
 ent form into Abraham's way, seeking to stag- 
 ger his resolve. Abraham discovered him each 
 time, and each time flung at him seven pebbles.* 
 
 * The Midrash, p. 28, says, " Abraham left Sarah early in the 
 morning, while she slept ; but Satan placed himself in his way 
 as an aged man, and said, ' Whither goest thon '* 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF ISMAET,. 87 
 
 When they came to Mina, upon the spot 
 where Ismael was to be offered, the latter said 
 to Abraham, " Father, bind me tightly, that I 
 may not resist, and thrust back thy robe, that 
 it may not be sprinkled with my blood, lest my 
 mother mourn at the sight of it. Sharpen thy 
 knife well, that it may kill me quickly and easi- 
 ly, for, after all, death is hard. When thou 
 reachest home again, greet my mother, and 
 lake this robe to her as a memento." 
 
 Abraham obeyed weepingly the will of his 
 son, and was just on the point of slaying him, 
 
 " ' I desire to pray.' 
 
 "' But to what purpose are wood and knife?' 
 
 " * I may remain absent some days, and must needs prepare 
 my food.' 
 
 " ' Should a man like thee slay his son who was given him in 
 old age ? how wilt thou answer for it in the day of judgment V 
 
 " ' God has commanded me.' 
 
 ^'He then presented himself to Isaac in the form of a youth, 
 and said, ' Whither goest thou ?' 
 
 " ' To be instructed by my father in virtue and knowledge.' 
 
 " ' During thy lifetime or after death ? for he verily designs to 
 slay thee.' 
 
 '"It matters not ; I shall follow him.' 
 
 «' He went to Sarah, and asked her, ' Where is thy husband '' 
 
 " ' He has gone to his business !' 
 
 " ' And thy son V 
 
 " ' He is with him !' 
 
 <' ' Didst thou not resolve that he should not go beyond thy 
 door alone ?' 
 
 '' ' He must pray with his father.' 
 
 ^' ' Thou shalt not see him again !' 
 
 " * The Lord do unto my son according to His will '' " 
 
88 
 
 THE INVISIBLE COLLAR. 
 
 when the portals of heaven were opened, and 
 the angels looked on and cried, " Well does this 
 man deserve to be called the friend of Allah !" 
 
 At this moment the Lord placed an invisible 
 collar of copper round Ismael's neck, so that 
 Abraham, spite of his utmost exertions, was un- 
 able to wound him. But when he put his knife 
 to Ismael's neck a third time, he heard a voice, 
 which cried, " Thou hast fulfilled the command 
 which was imparted to thee in thy dream !" 
 
 At this call he raised his eyes, and Gabriel 
 stood before him with a fine horned ram, and 
 said, " Slaughter this ram as the ransom of thy 
 son." 
 
 This ram was the same which Abel offered, 
 and which, in the mean time, had pastured in 
 Paradise.* 
 
 The sacrifice over, Abraham returned to Syr- 
 ia, but Ismael remained with his mother among 
 the Amalekites, of whom he took a wife. 
 
 One day Abraham desired to visit him ; but 
 Ismael was engaged in the chase, and his wife 
 was alone at home. Abraham greeted her, but 
 she did not return his salutation. He prayed 
 
 * Rabbi Elieser teaches : the ram came from the mountain. 
 Rabbi Jehoshua : an angel brought it from Paradise, where it pas- 
 tured under the tree of eternal life, and drank from the brook 
 which flows beneath it. The ram diffused its perfume through- 
 out the whole world. It was brought into Paradise on the even- 
 ing of the sixth day of the creation.— ikfidrasA, p. 28. 
 
HOSPITALITY. 89 
 
 her to admit him for the night, but she refused 
 iis prayer; he then demanded something to eat 
 and to drink, and she answered, " I have nothing 
 but some impure water." Then Abraham left 
 her, and said, " When thy husband returns, greet 
 him, and say, he must change the pillars of his 
 house." When Ismael came home to inquire 
 whether any one had been with her during his 
 absence, she described Abraham, and told what 
 he had enjoined upon her. By her description 
 Ismael recognized his father, and his words he 
 interpreted, that he should separate himself from 
 his wife, which he soon did. 
 
 Not long after this, the Djorhamides wander- 
 ed from Southern Arabia to the regions of Mec- 
 ca, and drove out the Amalekites, who by their 
 vicious courses had called down on themselves 
 the punishment of Allah. Ismael married the 
 daughter of their king, and learned of them the 
 Arabic tongue. This woman, too, Abraham 
 once found alone, and, on his greeting her, she 
 returned his salutation kindly, rose up before 
 him, and bade him welcome. On his inquiring 
 how it fared with her, she replied, " Well, my 
 lord. We have much milk, good meat, and 
 fresh water." 
 
 "Have you any corn?" inquired Abraham. 
 
 " We shall obtain that too, by Allah's will. 
 But we do not miss it. Only alight, and come in 1" 
 H2 
 
90 IIOSPITALITV, 
 
 " Allah bless you !" said Abraham ; " but I 
 can not tarry ;" for he had given a promise to 
 Sarah not to enter Hagar's house. 
 
 " Suffer me, at least, to wash thy feet," said 
 the wife of Ismael, " for thou art indeed covered 
 with dust." 
 
 Abraham then placed first his right foot,* and 
 
 * This legend, which has reference to Ismael, and which, it 
 might be supposed, was of Arabic origin, and invented to account 
 for the sanctity of the second curious stone of the Kaaba, is found 
 in the Midrash, p. 27 : 
 
 " Ismael married a wife of the daughters of Moab, and her name 
 was Asia. After three years Abraham went to visit his son, 
 having sworn previously to Sarah not to alight from his camel. 
 He came toward noon to Ismael's dv^^elling, in which his wife was 
 alone. 
 
 " ' Where is Ismael V 
 
 " ' He is gone into the desert with his mother to gather dates 
 and some other fruits.' 
 
 " ' Give me a little bread and water, for I am fatigued with trav- 
 eling through the wilderness.' 
 
 " ' I have neither bread nor water.' 
 
 "'When Ismael returns^ home, tell him that he change the 
 door-posts of his house, for they are not worthy of him.' 
 
 " As soon as Ismael came, and she reported all that had hap- 
 pened, he understood what Abraham had meant, and sent her 
 away. 
 
 " Hagar then brought him a wife from her father's house : her 
 name was Fatima. 
 
 " After three years Abraham visited his son again, after having 
 again sworn to Sarah that he would not alight at his house. 
 
 " He arrived this time, too, at Ismael's dwelling toward noon, 
 and found Fatima quite alone. But she brought him immediately 
 all that he desired. Then Abraham prayed for Ismael to the Lord, 
 and his house was filled with gold and goods. 
 
 " When Ismael returned, and learned from Fatima what had 
 happened, he rejoiced greatly, and knew that Abraham's parental 
 lovf- for him was not yet extinct." — Midrash, p. 28 
 
THE FOOT-PRINT. THE KAAB.A, 91 
 
 then his left, upon a stone which lay before Is- 
 mael's house, and suffered himself to be washed. 
 This stone was afterward employed in the tem- 
 ple, and the prints of Abraham's feet are visible 
 upon it to this day. 
 
 After she had washed him, Abraham said, 
 " When Ismael returns, tell him to strengthen the 
 pillars of his house !" 
 
 As soon as Ismael came home, his wife related 
 to him what had happened to her with a stran- 
 ger, and what message he had left. 
 
 Ismael inquired of his appearance ; and when, 
 from her answers, he recognized who it was, he 
 rejoiced greatly, and said, " It was my father 
 Abraham, the friend of Allah, who was doubtless 
 well satisfied with thy reception, for his words 
 signify nothing else than that I should bind thee 
 more closely to me." 
 
 When Abraham was a hundred and ten years 
 old, Allah commanded him, in a dream, to follow 
 after the Sakinah; that is, a zephyr with two 
 heads and two wings. 
 
 Abraham obeyed, and journeyed after the 
 wind, which was changed into a cloud, at Mec- 
 ca, on the spot where the temple still stands. A 
 voice then called to him, " Build me a temple on 
 the spot where the cloud is resting." 
 
 Abraham began to dig up the earth, and dis- 
 covered the foundation-stone which Adam had 
 
92 ALEXANDEIl THE GREAT. 
 
 laid. He then commanded Ismael to bring the 
 other stones required for the building. But the 
 black stone, which since the flood had been con- 
 cealed in heaven, or, according to the opinion 
 of some of the learned, on Mount Abu Kubeis, 
 the angel Gabriel brought himself This stone 
 was even at that time so white and brilliant, that 
 it illuminated during the night the whole sacred 
 region belonging to Mecca. 
 
 One day, while Abraham was engaged with 
 Ismael in the building of the temple, there came 
 to him Alexander the Great, and asked what he 
 was building; and when Abraham told him it 
 was a temple to the one only God, in whom he 
 believed, Alexander acknowledged him as the 
 messenger of Allah, and encompassed the tem- 
 ple seven times on foot. 
 
 With regard to this Alexander, the opinions 
 of the learned vary. Some believe him to have 
 been a Greek, and maintain that he governed the 
 whole world ; first, like Nimrod before him, as 
 an unbeliever, and then, like Solomon after him, 
 as a believer. 
 
 Alexander was the lord of light and darkness : 
 when he went out with his army the light was 
 before him, and behind him was the darkness, 
 so that he w^as secure against all ambuscades, 
 and by means of a miraculous white and black 
 standard, he had also the power to transform the 
 
ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 93 
 
 clearest day into midnight darkness, or black 
 night into noonday, just as he unfurled the one 
 or the other. Thus he was unconquerable, since 
 he rendered his troops invisible at his pleasure, 
 and came down suddenly upon his foes. He 
 journeyed through the whole world in quest of 
 the fountain of eternal life, of which, as his sacred 
 books taught him, a descendant of Sam (Shem) 
 was to drink, and become immortal. But his 
 vizier, Al-kidhr, anticipated him, and drank of a 
 fountain in the farthest west, thus obtaining eter- 
 nal youth ; and when Alexander came it was 
 already dried up, for, according to the Divine 
 decree, it had been created for one man only. 
 His surname, the Two-cornered, he obtained, 
 according to some, because he had wandered 
 through the whole earth unto her two corners 
 in the east and west ; but, according to others, 
 because he wore two locks of hair which re- 
 sembled horns ; and, according to a third opinion, 
 his crown had two golden horns, to designate 
 his dominion over the empires of the Greeks and 
 Persians. But, lastly, it is maintained by many, 
 that one day, in a dream, he found himself so 
 close to the sun that he was able to seize him at 
 his two ends in the east and west, and was 
 therefore tauntingly called the Two-cornered. 
 
 The learned are similarly divided respecting 
 the time in which he lived, his birthplace, parent- 
 
94 PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 age, and residence. Most of them, however, 
 believe that there were two sovereigns of this 
 name among the kings of antiquity : the elder of 
 these, who is spoken of in the Koran, was a de- 
 scendant of Ham, and contemporary of Abra- 
 ham, and journeyed with Al-kidhr through the 
 whole earth in search of the fountain of eternal 
 life, and was commissioned by Allah to shut up 
 behind an indestructible wall the wild nations of 
 Jajug and Majug, lest they should have extirpa- 
 ted all the other inhabitants of the world. The 
 younger Alexander was the son of Philip the 
 Greek, one of the descendants of Japhet, and a 
 disciple of the wise Aristotle at Athens. 
 
 But let us return to Abraham, who, after his 
 interview with Alexander and Al-kidhr, contin- 
 ued the building of the temple until it had attain- 
 ed a height of nine, a breadth of thirty, and a 
 depth of twenty-two cubits. He then ascended 
 the Mount Abu Kubeis ,and cried, "O ye in- 
 habitants of the earth, Allah commands you to 
 make a pilgrimage to this holy temple. Let his 
 commandment be obeyed !" 
 
 Allah caused Abraham's voice to be heard by 
 all men both living and uncreated ; and all, even 
 the children still in their mothers' womb, cried 
 with one voice, " We obey thy commandment, 
 O Allah !" Abraham, together with the pilgrims, 
 then performed those ceremonies which are yet 
 
DCATH OF ABKAHAM. 95 
 
 observed to this day, appointed Ismael as the 
 lord of the Kaaba, and returned to his son Isaac 
 in Palestine. 
 
 When the latter attained the age of manhood, 
 Abraham's beard became gray, which astonish- 
 ed him not a little, since no man before him had 
 ever turned gray.* But Allah had performed 
 this wonder that Abraham might be distinguish- 
 ed from Isaac. For as he was a hundred years 
 old when Sarah bore Isaac, the people of Pales- 
 tine derided him, and doubted of Sarah's inno- 
 cence ; but Allah gave to Isaac such a perfect 
 resemblance of his father, that every one who 
 saw him was convinced of Sarah's conjugal 
 fidelity. But, to prevent their being mistaken 
 for each other, Allah caused gray hairs to grow 
 on Abraham as a mark of distinction; and it is 
 only since that time that the hair loses its dark 
 colour in old age. When Abraham had attain- 
 ed to the age of two hundred, or, as some main- 
 tain, of a hundred and five-and-seventy years, 
 Allah sent to him the Angel of Death in the 
 
 * When Sarah weaned her son, Abraham made a feast. Then 
 said the heathen, " Behold this aged couple, who have taken up 
 a child from the streets, pretending it was their own, and to ob- 
 tain credit more easily, have given a feast in its honor." But the 
 Lord made Isaac so strikingly to resemble, &c. Also, in p. 15, 
 among the wonders which were don-e in honor of Abraham, is 
 enumerated his turning gray. And again, p. 30, " Before Abra- 
 ham, there was no special mark of old age," &c. — Midrash, p. 27, 
 15, 30. 
 
96 THE SEPULCHER OF CHALIL. 
 
 form of an aged man. Abraham invited him 
 to a meal ; but the Angel of Death trembled so 
 much, that, before he could put a morsel into 
 his mouth, he besmeared therewith his forehead, 
 eyes, and nose. Abraham then inquired, " Why 
 tremblest thou thus ?" 
 
 "From age," replied the Angel of Death. 
 " How old art thou ?" 
 "One year older than thyself!" 
 Abraham lifted up his eyes to heaven, and ex- 
 claimed, " O Allah ! take my soul to thee before 
 I fall into such a state !" 
 
 " In what manner w^ouldst thou like to die, 
 friend of Allah ?" inquired the Angel of Death. 
 
 " I should like to breathe out my life at the mo- 
 ment when I fall down before Allah in prayer." 
 The angel remained with Abraham until he 
 fell down in prayer, and then put an end to his 
 life. 
 
 Abraham was buried by his son Isaac, near 
 Sarah, in the cave of Hebron. For many ages 
 the Jews visited this cave, in which also Isaac 
 and Jacob were afterward -buried. The Christ- 
 ians subsequently built a church over it, which 
 was changed into a mosque when Allah gave 
 this country unto the Mussulmans. But Hebron 
 was called Kirjath Abraham (the city of Abra- 
 ham), or simply Chalil (Friend), and is knowm 
 by that name unto this day. 
 
JOSEPH. 
 
 Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the 
 son of Abraham, was from his childhood the dar- 
 Hng of his father ; and as he Uved with an aunt 
 at a distance from his home, Jacob's constant 
 longing for him added much to the fervor of his 
 parental love. When he was only six years of 
 age, his aunt became so much attached to him, 
 that, in order to prevent her ever being obliged 
 to part with him, she invented the following ex- 
 pedient. She took the family girdle which she, 
 being the first-born, had inherited from Abraham 
 through Isaac (it was the same which Abraham 
 wore on his loins when thrown into the pile), 
 girded Joseph with it, and accused him of theft, 
 so that, according to the laws of those days, he 
 became her slave for life. It was not until after 
 her death that he returned again to the house of 
 his father, and was naturally treated by him 
 with greater care and tenderness than his elder 
 brothers. Moreover, he was his eldest son by 
 Rachael, the only one of his wives whom he 
 had truly loved. 
 
 One morning Joseph told his father that he 
 had seen in a dream how he and his brothers 
 had each set a twig in the earth, and how those 
 7 I 
 
98 DREAMS. 
 
 of his brothers withered, while his began to 
 bloom, and shaded theirs with its foliage and 
 blossoms. Jacob was so absorbed with the 
 meaning of this dream, that he left a poor man 
 who stood before him holding out his hand for 
 alms unobserved, and allowed him to depart 
 without a gift. It was this transgression that 
 brouofht on him all those sufferino^s bv which he 
 
 O CD ^ 
 
 was soon to be visited. On the following morn- 
 ing Joseph again related to his father : " I have 
 dreamed that the sun, moon, and the eleven stars 
 bowed down to me." Jacob could now no lon- 
 ger remain in doubt as to the meaning of these 
 dreams ; he perceived in them Joseph's future 
 greatness, but recommended him not to speak of 
 them to his brothers, who had long since envied 
 him for the greater tenderness of his father. 
 But, although Jacob knew the sentiments of his 
 sons toward Joseph, yet was he one day per- 
 suaded by them to send him with them to the 
 pasture. Scarcely were they alone in the open 
 field, when they began to beat and to mock him. 
 He would have sunk under their ill treatment if 
 Allah had not filled the heart of his brother Ju- 
 dah with compassion toward him. Judah said, 
 " Do not kill your brother ; if we but regain the 
 undivided love of our father, we have attained 
 our object. Let us therefore cast him into a pit 
 till a caravan passes, and then sell him as a 
 
ENVY. 99 
 
 slave." Judah's advice was taken, and Joseph, 
 stripped of his garments, • was cast into a pit, 
 where he must have been drowned had not Al- 
 lah caused the angel Gabriel to place a large 
 stone under his feet. Gabriel at the same time 
 was instructed to illumine the pit by a jewel, and 
 to cry, " Joseph, the time will come when thou 
 shalt call thy brothers to account, without their 
 suspecting it." The brothers then left the pit, 
 but before returning home they slaughtered a 
 lamb, and besmeared Joseph's upper garment 
 with its blood, which can not be distinguished 
 from that of man. They then said to their fa- 
 ther, " While we were engaged in our occupa- 
 tions, there came a wolf and tore Joseph, who 
 had remained with the stores ; and, on seeking 
 him afterward, we found this upper garment, 
 which we recognized as his." 
 
 " How," said Jacob, " shall I believe that a 
 wolf has devoured my son, while there is not a 
 single rent in this garment?" (for the brothers 
 had forgotten likewise to damage the garment). 
 " Besides," he added, " there has no wolf been 
 seen in these regions for many years." 
 
 " We imagined, indeed, that thou wouldst not 
 give credence to our words," said one of his 
 sons ; " but let us search for the wolf," he con- 
 tinued, turning to his brothers, " in order to con- 
 vince our father of the truth of our statemei^t," 
 
100 THE WOLF. 
 
 They then provided themselves with all kinds 
 of implements of the chase, and scoured the 
 whole region round about, until they at last 
 found a large wolf, which they caught alive, and 
 accused it before Jacob as Joseph's murderer ; 
 but Allah opened the mouth of the wolf, and he 
 said, 
 
 " Believe not, O son of Isaac ! the accusation 
 of thy envious sons. I am a wolf from a foreign 
 country, and have long been wandering about to 
 seek my young one, which one morning I miss- 
 ed on waking. How should I, who am mourn- 
 ing the loss of a wild beast, bereave the prophet 
 of Allah of his son ?" 
 
 Jacob then delivered the wolf from the hands 
 of his sons, and sent them away again, so as not 
 to have their faces before his eyes ; only Benja- 
 min, his youngest son, he kept with him. The 
 ten brothers thereupon returned to the pit in 
 which they had left Joseph, and arrived at the 
 very moment when he was freed by some Be- 
 douins, who, on their march from Madjan to 
 Egypt, had sought to draw water from this pit, 
 but had brought up Joseph instead, who clung 
 to their bucket. '• This youth," said Judah to the 
 leader of the caravan, ere Joseph could utter a 
 word, "is our slave, w^hom we have confined in 
 this pit on account of his disobedience. If you 
 will take him with you to Egypt, and sell him 
 
JUriEFH SULU INTO EGYPT. 101 
 
 there, you may buy him from us at a moderate 
 rate." The leader of the caravan was greatly 
 rejoiced at this offer, for he knew well that so 
 beautiful a youth would .bring him much gain. 
 He bought him, therefore, for a few drachms ; 
 and Joseph did not break silence, for he feared 
 that his brothers might put him to death if he 
 contradicted them. Trusting in Allah, he jour- 
 neyed quietly with the Bedouins until he was 
 passing the grave of his mother. There his 
 grief overpowered him, and, casting himself on 
 the ground, he wept and prayed. The leader 
 of the caravan struck him, and would have drag- 
 ged him away by force, when suddenly a black 
 cloud overspread the sky, so that he started back 
 affrighted, and prayed Joseph so long to forgive 
 him, till the darkness again disappeared. 
 
 The sun was declining when the caravan en- 
 tered the capital of Egypt, which w^as then gov- 
 erned by Rajjan, a descendant of the Amalekites. 
 But Joseph's face shone brighter than the noon- 
 day sun, and the singular light which it diffused 
 attracted all the maidens and matrons to their 
 windows and terraces. On the following day 
 he was exposed for sale before the royal palace. 
 The richest women of the city sent their hus- 
 bands and guardians to buy him ; but they were 
 outbidden by Potiphar, the treasurer of the king, 
 who was childless, and designed to adopt Joseph 
 I 2 
 
102 ZLLEICHA. 
 
 as his son. Zuleicha, the wile of Potiphar, le- 
 ceived Joseph kindly, and gave him new robes ; 
 she Hkewise appointed him a separate summer- 
 house for his abode, because he refused to eat 
 with the Egyptians, preferring to Hve on herbs 
 and fruits. Joseph Hved six years as Potiphar's 
 gardener, and, although Zuleicha loved him pas- 
 sionately since his first entrance into her house, 
 she conquered her feelings, and was satisfied to 
 regard him from her kiosk as he performed his 
 labors in the garden. But in the seventh year 
 Zuleicha became lovesick : her cheeks grew 
 pale, her gaze was lifeless, her form was bent, 
 and her whole body consumed away. When 
 no physician was able to heal her, her nurse 
 said one day, " Zuleicha, confess that it is not thy 
 body, but thy soul, which suffers in secret ; sor- 
 row is preying on thy health. Confide in thy 
 nurse, who has fed thee with her own substance, 
 and fostered thee since thy infancy like a moth- 
 er. My advice may, perhaps, be useful." 
 
 Zuleicha then threw^ herself into the arms of 
 her aged friend, and avowed her love to Joseph, 
 and her fruitless endeavors during six years to 
 conquer it. 
 
 " Be of good cheer," said the matron to Zulei- 
 cha ; " thou hast done more than others of thy 
 sex, and art therefore excusable. Be thyself 
 again ; eat, drink, dress to advantage, take thy 
 
THE PRISON. lOS 
 
 bath, that thy former beauty return ; then shall 
 Joseph's love surely exceed thy own. Besides, 
 is he not thy slave ? and from mere habit of obe- 
 dience he will gratify all thy wishes." 
 
 Zuleicha followed her advice. In a short time 
 she w^as as blooming and healthful as before ; 
 for she thought that only a favorable opportunity 
 was needed to crown her wishes with success. 
 
 But Joseph resisted all her allurements ; and 
 when she at length found that all her efforts to 
 lead him astray were in vain, she accused him 
 before her husband Potiphar, who threw him 
 into prison ; but Allah, who knew his innocence, 
 changed the dark cell in which he was confined 
 to a bright and cheerful abode. He also com- 
 manded a fountain to spring up in the midst 
 thereof, and a tree rose at his door, which gave 
 him shade and pleasant fruit. 
 
 Joseph, who was soon universally known and 
 feared for his w^isdom and the skill which he 
 possessed to interpret dreams, had not been long 
 in prison when the following circumstance oc- 
 curred : The King of the Greeks, who was then 
 at war with Egypt, sent an ambassador to Raj- 
 jan, ostensibly with the design of negotiating for 
 peace, but in reality only to seek the means of 
 slaying this heroic king. The ambassador ad- 
 dressed himself to a Grecian matron who had 
 for many years lived in Egypt, and asked her 
 
104 THE GREEK AMBASSADOR. 
 
 advice. " I know of no better means," said the 
 Grecian to her countryman, " than to bribe either 
 the king's chief cook or his butler to poison him." 
 The ambassador made the acquaintance of them 
 both, but, finding the chief cook the most tract- 
 able, he cultivated a closer intimacy with him, 
 until he succeeded at last, by means of a few 
 talents of gold, in determining him to poison the 
 king. 
 
 As soon as he supposed that he had secured 
 the object of his mission, he prepared for his 
 departure, but previously visited his country- 
 woman, with the intention of communicating to 
 her the chief cook's promise ; but, as she was 
 not alone, he could merely say that he had evey 
 reason to be gratified with his success. These 
 words of the ambassador soon reached the king's 
 ears ; and as they could not be referred to his 
 ostensible mission, since the negotiations for 
 peace, on account of which he alleged that he 
 had come, were entirely broken off, and the war 
 had already recommenced, some secret or other 
 was suspected. The Grecian was led before 
 the king, and tortured, until she confessed all that 
 she knew ; and as Rajjan did not know which 
 of them was guilty, he commanded that both the 
 chief cook and butler should mean while be put 
 into the same prison where Joseph was languish- 
 ing. One morning they came to him, and said, 
 
THE SINGULAR INTERPRET ATION. 105 
 
 " We have heard of thy skill in the interpretation 
 of dreams ; tell us, we pray thee, what we may 
 expect from our dreams of last night." The 
 butler then related that he had pressed out 
 grapes, and presented the wine to the king. But 
 the chief cook said that he had carried meats in 
 a basket in his hand, when the birds came and 
 devoured the best of them.. Joseph exhorted 
 them first of all to faith in one God, and then 
 foretold the butler's restoration to his former 
 office, but to the chief cook he predicted the gal- 
 lows. As soon as he finished his speech, both 
 of them burst out in laughter, and derided him, 
 for they had not dreamed at all, and merely 
 meant to put his skill to the test. But Joseph 
 said to them, " Whether your dreams have been 
 real or invented, I can not say ; but what I have 
 prophesied is the judgment of Allah, which can 
 not be turned aside." He was not mistaken. 
 The spies of the king soon found out that the 
 Greek ambassador had had frequent interviews 
 with the. chief cook, while he had seen the butler 
 but once ; the former was therefore condemned 
 to death, but the latter reinstated in his office. 
 
 On leaving the prison, Joseph entreated the 
 butler to remember him, and to obtain his free- 
 dom from the king. The butler did not remem- 
 ber him ; but the ti'ee before his door withered, 
 and his fountain was dried up, because, instead 
 
106 RELEASE UF JOSEPH. 
 
 of trusting in Allah, he had relied upon the help 
 of a feeble man.* He was seven years in prison, 
 when one morning he saw the butler again. He 
 came to lead him before the king, who had had 
 a dream which no one was able to interpret. 
 But Joseph refused to appear unless he had first 
 convinced the king of his innocence. He then 
 related the cause of his imprisonment to the but- 
 ler, who brought his answer to the king, and the 
 latter immediately summoned Zuleicha and her 
 friends. They confessed that they had falsely 
 accused Joseph. Rajjan then sent a writing, 
 which not only restored him to liberty, but even 
 declared the imprisonment which he had endured 
 to have been unjust, and the result of a calumni- 
 ous charge.f 
 
 Joseph then put on the robes which Rajjan 
 had sent him, and was conducted to the royal 
 palace, where the king had assembled about him 
 all the nobles, the priests, the astrologers, and 
 soothsayers of Egypt. 
 
 " I saw in my dream," said the king,- as soon 
 
 * The Midrash says, " Joseph remained yet two years in prison, 
 because he had asked the chief butler to remember him." 
 
 t " Potiphar's wife looked so ill, that her friends inquired what 
 she complained of. She related her adventure with Joseph, and 
 they said, * Accuse him before thy husband, that he may be put 
 in prison.' She entreated her friends to accuse him likewise to 
 their husbands. They did so ; and their husbands came to Pot- 
 iphar complaining of Joseph's audacious demeanor toward their 
 wives," &,c.— Midrash, p. 45. 
 
JOSEPH'S ELEVATION. 107 
 
 as Joseph was near him," seven lean kine, which 
 devoured seven fat ones; and seven blasted 
 ears, which consumed seven rank and full ones. 
 Canst thou tell me what this dream signifies ?" 
 
 Joseph replied, " Allah will grant to thy king- 
 dom seven plentiful years, which shall be suc- 
 ceeded by seven years of famine. Be therefore 
 provident, and during the first seven years let 
 as much grain be collected and stored up as 
 shall be required for the maintenance of thy sub- 
 jects during the seven years that shall follow." 
 
 This interpretation pleased the king so well, 
 that he made Joseph the high steward of his do- 
 minions in Potiphar's stead. 
 
 He now traveled through the country buying 
 the grain, which, on account of the great abund- 
 ance, was sold on most moderate terms, and 
 built store-houses every where, but especially m 
 the capital. One day, while riding out to in- 
 spect a granary beyond the city, he observed 
 a beggar in the street, whose whole appearance, 
 though most distressing, bore the distinct traces 
 of former greatness. Joseph approached her 
 compassionately, and held out to her a handful 
 of gold. But she refused, and said, sobbing 
 aloud, " Great prophet of Allah, I am unworthy 
 of thy gift, although my transgression has been 
 the stepping-stone to thy present fortune." 
 At these words, Joseph regarded her more 
 
108 
 
 FAMINE IJV EGYPT. 
 
 closely, and behold, it was Zuleicha, the wife of 
 his lord. He inquired after her husband, and 
 was told that he had died of sorrow and poverty- 
 soon after his deposition. 
 
 On hearing this, Joseph led Zuleicha to a rel- 
 ative of the king, where she was treated like a 
 sister, and she soon appeared to him as bloom- 
 ing and youthful as at the time of his entrance 
 into her house. He asked her hand from the 
 king, and married her with his permission, and 
 she bore him two sons before the frightful years 
 of famine, during which the Egyptians were 
 obliged to sell to Rajjan, first their gold, their 
 jewelry, and other costly things, for corn ; then 
 their estates and slaves, and at last their own 
 persons, their wives and children. 
 
 Yet not only in Egypt, but even in the ad- 
 jacent countries, a great famine prevailed. 
 
 In the land of Canaan, too, there was no more 
 corn to be found, and Jacob was forced to send 
 all his sons save Benjamin to buy provisions in 
 Egypt. He recommended them to enter the 
 capital by the ten different gates, so as not to 
 attract the evil eye by the beauty of their ap- 
 pearance, and to avoid public attention.* 
 
 * Jacob said to his sons, " Do not enter by one gate, because 
 of the evil eye." Joseph expected his brothers, and therefore com- 
 manded the keepers of the gates to report every day the names of 
 arriving strangers. One day the tjrst keeper brought him the name 
 of Reuben ; the second the name of Simeon ; and so on, until he 
 
THE SPIEvS. 109 
 
 Joseph recognized his brothers, and called 
 them spies, because they had come to him sep- 
 arately, though, according to their own confes- 
 sion, they were brothers. But when, to excul- 
 pate themselves, they explained to him the pe- 
 culiar circumstances of their family, and, to jus- 
 tify their father's carefulness, they spoke of a lost 
 brother, Joseph grew so angry, that he refused 
 them the desired provisions, and demanded of 
 them to bring down their brother Benjamin with 
 them ; and, to be certain of their return, he de- 
 tained one of them as a hostage. 
 
 A few weeks after they returned again with 
 Benjamin. 
 
 Jacob was in<l<*^d unwilling to let his youngest 
 son depart, for he feared lest a misfortune similar 
 to that of Joseph's would befall him : yet, to 
 escape from famine, he was obliged to yield at 
 last. 
 
 Joseph now directed that the corn which they 
 had desired should be measured to them, but 
 gave orders to his steward to conceal a silver 
 cup in Benjamin's sack, to seize them as thieves 
 
 had received the name of Asher, Jacob's tenth son. He then com- 
 manded all the store-houses but one to be closed, and said to the 
 keeper of that, " If such and such men come, let them he taken 
 and brought before me." 
 
 " You are spies," said he to his brothers when they stood before 
 him, •' otherwise you would have entered the city by the same 
 gate."— Midr ash, p 46, 47. 
 
 K 
 
110 BENJAMIN. 
 
 at the gate of the city, and to lead them back to 
 his palace. 
 
 " What punishment." demanded Joseph of the 
 brethren, " is due to him that has stolen my 
 cup?" 
 
 " Let him be thy slave," replied the sons of 
 Jacob, certain that none of them was capable of 
 committing: so disn:raceful an act. But when 
 their sacks were opened, and the cup was found 
 in Benjamin's, they cried to him, " Woe to thee ! 
 what hast thou done ? Why hast thou followed 
 the example of thy lost brother, who stole the 
 idol of Laban his grand-father, and the girdle 
 of his aunt?" 
 
 Still, as they had sworn to their father not to 
 step before his face without Benjamin, they 
 prayed Joseph to keep one of their number as 
 his slave in Benjamin's stead. But Joseph in- 
 sisted on retaining Benjamin, and Reuben said 
 therefore to his brothers, " Journey to our father, 
 and tell him all that has befallen us; but I. who 
 am the eldest of you, and have vowed unto him 
 to sacrifice my life rather than to return without 
 Benjamin, will remain here until he himself shall 
 recall me. He will probably acknowledge that 
 such an accident could not have been foreseen, 
 and that, if our brother had been known to us 
 as a thief, we should not have pledged ourselves 
 for him." 
 
JACOB LOSES HIS SIGHT. Ill 
 
 But Jacob would not credit the story of his 
 returning sons, and feared that they had now 
 acted toward Benjamin as they had formerly 
 done toward Joseph. He burst into tears, and 
 wept till the light of his eyes was extinguished : 
 his grief for Joseph also revived afresh, though 
 he had never ceased to trust to the fulfillment of 
 his dream. 
 
 But now the brothers returned the third time 
 into Eg3^pt, determined to free Benjamin by 
 force, for they were so powerful that they could 
 engage single-handed with whole hosts of war- 
 riors. Judah especially, when excited to wrath, 
 would roar like a lion, and kill the strongest men 
 with his voice ;* nor could he be pacified until 
 one of his kinsmen touched the prickly bunch of 
 
 * " When Joseph would have shut up Simeon, his brothers of- 
 fered him their assistance, but he declined it. Joseph command- 
 ed seventy vahant men to put him in chains ; but when they ap- 
 proached him, Simeon roared so loud that the seventy fell down 
 at his feet and broke their teeth. Joseph said to his son Manas- 
 seh, who was standing at his side, ' Chain thou him.' Manasseh 
 struck him a single blow, and bound him instantly ; so that Sime- 
 on exclaimed, ' Certainly this was the blow of a kinsman !' Again, 
 when Joseph sent Benjamin to prison, Judah cried so loud, that 
 Chushim, the son O'f Dan, heard him in Canaan, and responded. 
 Joseph feared for his life, for Judah was so enraged that he wept 
 blood. Some say Judah wore five garments, one over the other ; 
 but when he was angry his heart swelled so much that his five 
 garments burst open. Joseph also cried so terribly, that one of 
 the pillars of his house fell in, and was changed into sand. Then 
 Judah said, 'He is valiant, like one of us.' " — Midrash, p. 46, 47 
 
112 THE RECOGNITION. 
 
 hair which, on such occasions, protruded from 
 his neck. 
 
 However, they once more endeavored by en- 
 treaty to move Joseph to set Benjamin free ; but 
 when they spoke of their father's love for him, 
 he inquired, "What, then, has become of Jo- 
 seph ?" 
 
 They said, " A wolf has devoured him." 
 
 But Joseph took his cup into his hand, and 
 feigning to prophesy out of it, cried, " It is false; 
 you have sold him." 
 
 When they denied this charge, Joseph told 
 Zuleicha to give him the parchment which Ju- 
 dah had with his own hand given to the Bedouin 
 when they sold him ; and he showed it to them. 
 
 " We had a slave whose name was Joseph," 
 sa,idJudah; and he grew so enraged that he 
 was on the point of roaring aloud ; but his voice 
 failed him, for Joseph had beckoned to his son 
 Ephraim to touch his bunch of hair, which was 
 so long that it nearly trailed on the ground. 
 When his brothers saw this, there remained no 
 doubt to them of their standing before Joseph, 
 for they could have no other kinsman in Egypt. 
 They therefore fell down before him and cried, 
 " Thou art our brother Joseph ; forgive us !" 
 
 " You have nothing to fear from me," replied 
 Joseph, " and Allah, the merciful, will also be 
 gracious and pardon you. But rise, and go up 
 
JOSEPH DESIRES TO DIE A MOSLEM. 113 
 
 quickly to our father, and bring him hither. 
 Take my garment with you ; cast it over his 
 face, and his bhndness will pass away." 
 
 Scarcely had they left the capital of Egypt 
 when the wind carried the fragrance of Joseph's 
 garment to their father, and when Judah, who 
 was hastening in advance of his brothtis, gave 
 it to him, his eyes were opened again.* They 
 now departed together for Egypt. Joseph came 
 out to meet them, and, having embraced his fa- 
 ther, exclaimed, " Lord, thou hast now fulfilled 
 my dreams, and given me great power ! Cre- 
 ator of heaven and earth, be thou my support in 
 this world and the future ! Let me die the death 
 of a Moslem, and be gathered to the rest of the 
 pious !" 
 
 Neither Jacob nor Joseph left Egypt any 
 more ; and both ordained in their testaments 
 that they should be buried in Canaan by the side 
 of Abraham, which was also done. May the 
 peace of Allah be with them ! 
 
 * The Jewish legend relates, that when the brothers learned 
 Joseph's safety, they were unwilling to communicate it to their 
 father, fearing the violent effects of sudden joy. 
 
 But the daughter of Asher, Jacob's grand-child, took her harp 
 and sung to him the story of Joseph's life and greatness ; and her 
 beautiful music calmed his spirit. Jacob blessed her, and she was 
 taken into Paradise without having tasted death.— E. T. 
 
 .8 K 2 
 
MOSES AND AARON. 
 
 When the time had come in which Allah 
 again designed to send a prophet on the earth, 
 Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had three dreams in 
 one night. In his first dream he heard a voice 
 which called, " Pharaoh, repent ! The end of 
 thy dominion is at hand, for a youth of a foreign 
 tribe shall humble thee and thy people before the 
 whole world." The king awoke, disturbed by 
 his dream, but after a short time he fell asleep 
 again, and there appeared to him a lion, which 
 threatened to tear a man in pieces. The man 
 was only armed with a rod, but stood still calmly 
 until the lion rushed on him, when he struck it a 
 single blow with his rod, and flung it dead into 
 the Nile. The king awoke, more disturbed than 
 before, and was only able to sleep again toward 
 morning ; but scarcely had he closed his eyes,, 
 when he saw Asia, his virtuous wife, riding 
 through the air on a winged horse. The horse 
 flew toward heaven ; but she cried to him a last 
 farewell, whereupon the earth split open under 
 liis feet, and swallowed him up. Pharaoh sprung 
 up from his couch as soon as he awoke, and 
 summoned Haman, his vizier, commanding him 
 to call together immediately all the magicians, 
 
PHAllAOH AND THE ASTROLOGERS. 1J5 
 
 the soothsayers, and astrologers of his capital. 
 When they, many thousands in number, were 
 assembled in the largest hall of the royal palace, 
 Pharaoh ascended the throne, and told his dreams 
 with a tremulous voice ; but, although their in- 
 terpretation was clear to every one in the whole 
 assembly, no one ventured to avow the truth 
 unto the king. Yet the latter divining from their 
 ghastly looks what was passing within them, 
 commanded the chief of the astrologers not to 
 conceal any thing, and assured him beforehand 
 of his grace, though he should predict the worst. 
 " Most mighty king !" said the chief of the as- 
 trologers, a man ofnine-and-ninety years of age, 
 whose silvery beard reached down to his breast, 
 " it never was so difficult to thy servant to obey 
 thy commands as at the present moment, when 
 I am forced to predict to thee the greatest ca- 
 lamity. One of thy slaves of the daughters of 
 Israel will bear a son, or has perhaps already 
 borne him, who shall hurl thee and thy people 
 into the lowest abyss." At these words Pharaoh 
 began to weep aloud : he tore his crown from 
 his head, I'ent his robes, and struck his breast 
 and face with clinched fists. All who were 
 present wept with him ; yet no one presumed to 
 speak a word of consolation. At last Haman, 
 the vizier, stepped forward and said, " Great 
 king, my fidelity and attachment are known to 
 
1 16 THE MASSACRE. 
 
 thee. Pardon, therefore, thy slave, if he has the 
 boldness to blame thy dejection, and to suggest 
 a plan which will frustrate the fulfillnrient of thy 
 visions. As yet the povs^er is in thy hand, and, 
 if thou wilt but use it unsparingly, so shalt thou 
 put to shame all the interpreters of thy dream. 
 Let all the children that are born this year, and 
 all women that are with child, be immediately 
 put to death, and thou mayest defy the appre- 
 hended peril."* Pharaoh follow^ed this cruel 
 counsel. Seven thousand children of one year 
 and under were strangled forthwith, and as many 
 women with child thrown into the Nile.f 
 
 One night, when Amram, an Israelite, who 
 
 * "Here the Mussulman legend differs from the Talmud, ac- 
 cording to which Bileam gave this counsel. Job was silent ; and 
 Jethro, the king's third counselor, endeavored to dissuade the 
 king from violence. Bileam was therefore destroyed by the 
 Israelites. Job was led into temptation, and suffered greatly for 
 his silence ; but Jethro, who, on account of his clemency, was 
 forced to flee into Midian, was rewarded by becoming the father- 
 in-law of Moses." — Midrash, p. 52, 
 
 t "In the year 130 after the settlement of the Israelites in 
 Egypt, Pharaoh dreamed of an aged man who was holding a bal- 
 ance in his right hand. In one of its scales he placed all the 
 sages and nobles of Egypt, and a little Iamb in the other ; and it 
 outweighed them all. 
 
 " Pharaoh was amazed at the weight of the lamb, and told his 
 dream on the following morning to his attendants. They were 
 terrified ; and one of them said, ' This dream forebodes a great af- 
 fliction which one of the children of Israel will bring upon Egypt. 
 If it please the king, let us issue a royal edict, commanding every 
 male child of Hebrew parents to be slain at its birth.' The king 
 did as he was advised."— MdrasA, p. 51. 
 
THE ASTROLOGER. 117 
 
 was one of Pharoah's viziers, was as usual in at- 
 tendance on the king, the angel Gabriel appeared 
 to him bearing on one of his wings Johabed, 
 Amram's wife, the daughter of Jaser. He laid 
 her down near Pharaoh, who was sunk in a deep 
 sleep, and snored like a slaughtered bull ; and 
 Gabriel said to Amram, " The hour is come when 
 the messenger of Allah shall appear !" He van- 
 ished after having spoken these words, and left 
 Johabed with Amram until the rising of the 
 morning star. Then he carried her back on his 
 wings to her dwelling before Pharaoh awoke. 
 
 That night the king had the same dreams 
 again which had so much disturbed him before. 
 
 As soon as he awoke he summoned Amram, 
 and again commanded him to convene the in- 
 terpreters of dreams. But he had scarcely ut- 
 tered the word, when the chief of the astrolo- 
 gers begged for admittance. Pharaoh wel- 
 comed him, and inquired what had led him so 
 early to the palace. 
 
 " Regard for thy throne and for thy life," an- 
 swered the astrologer. " I read last night in the 
 stars that the lad who shall one day deprive 
 thee of life and empire has been conceived. I 
 could therefore scarcely await the morning star 
 to inform thee of this sad occurrence. Possibly 
 thou mayest succeed in discovering the man 
 who. notwithstanding thy prohibition and thy 
 
118 VAIN PRRrAUTIONS. 
 
 sage precautions, has found means of frustrating 
 thy design." 
 
 Pharaoh was the rather disposed to credit the 
 astrologer, since the repetition of his dream in- 
 dicated the same. He therefore reproached 
 Amram for not having adopted better measures, 
 which might have rendered impossible the trans- 
 gression of his commands. 
 
 But Amram said, " Pardon thy servant if he 
 venture to doubt the infalUbihty of this master's 
 interpretation, but the measures which I have 
 adopted, and executed under my own inspection, 
 are of that sort, that on this occasion it is quite in- 
 comprehensible to me. Yesterday, as soon as I 
 had left the royal palace, I betook myself to the 
 other side of the river, and, summoning all the 
 men of Israel, threatened with death him who 
 should under any pretext whatever remain be- 
 hind. Nevertheless, to make sure that, if any 
 one had I'emained concealed in his dwelling, he 
 should still be separated from his wife, I com- 
 manded all women to be shut up in another quar- 
 ter of the city, which, like the camp of the men, I 
 surrounded with troops, so that no one was able 
 to go in or out. Mean while, I will so act as if I 
 were persuaded of this astrologer's statement. 
 If thou desire it, I will strangle the women, or 
 subject them to severer regulations ; we shall 
 discover the guiltv one, and destroy her." But 
 
THE BIRTH OF MOSES. 119 
 
 Allah infused compassion toward the women of 
 Israel into Pharaoh's heart, and he contented 
 himself with having them more rigidly guarded. 
 But these measures, according to the decision 
 of Allah, proved abortive ; for, as Amram was 
 not permitted to move out of the royal palace, 
 Haman did not in the least suspect Johabed, and 
 made her an exception from the common rule, 
 as she was the vizier's wife. Within a twelve- 
 month from that time Johabed gave birth to a 
 man child, whom she called Musa (Moses). She 
 was delivered without a pain.* 
 
 But the sorrow of her heart was the greater 
 when she east her eyes on the little child, whose 
 face beamed like the moon in her splendor, and 
 thought of his death, which was drawing nigh. 
 Yet Moses rose, and said, "Fear nothing, my 
 mother ; the God of Abraham is with us." 
 
 In the night when Moses was born the idols 
 
 * On these words, "And she saw that the child was fair," 
 the Midrash offers the following reflection : " The learned main- 
 tain that at the birth of Moses there appeared a light which, 
 shone over the whole world, for in the account of the creation 
 we have the same phrase : ' The Lord saw the light that it was 
 good.'" 
 
 It is somewhat difficult to apprehend the precise point of the 
 Rabbis. At the creation of the light it is said God saw the light 
 that it was good. The subject of which it was predicated that it 
 was good, then shone over the whole world. Hence it is argued, 
 that, as the same predicate is applied to Moses's face, it must fol- 
 low ihat it shone with similar brightness. This is no bad speci- 
 nif )f Eabbinical loffic — E. T. 
 
120 MOSES IN THE OVEN. 
 
 in all the temples of Egypt were dashed down. 
 Pharaoh heard a voice in his dream, which called 
 to him, " Turn to the only God, the Creator of 
 heaven and earth, or thy destruction is inevita- 
 ble." In the morning the astrologer appeared 
 again, and announced to Pharaoh the birth of 
 the lad who would one day be his destruction. 
 Haman now commanded all the dwellings of the 
 Israelitish women to be searched afresh, and 
 made no exception even with Johabed's, fearing 
 lest some other woman might have concealed 
 her child therein. Johabed had gone out when 
 Haman entered her house, but had previously 
 hid her child in the oven, and laid much wood 
 before it. Finding nothing in the whole house, 
 Haman commanded the wood in the oven to be 
 lighted, and went away, saying, " If there be a 
 child concealed there, it will be consumed." 
 When Johabed returned, and saw the blazing 
 fire, she uttered a frightful cry of woe : but Mo- 
 ses called to her, "Be calm, my mother; Allah 
 has given the fire no power over me." But as 
 the vizier frequently repeated his visits, and Jo- 
 habed feared lest he might one day have the 
 wood removed instead of lighting the oven, she 
 resolved to intrust her child to the Nile rather 
 than to expose it to the danger of being dis- 
 covered by Haman. She obtained, therefore, a 
 little ark from Amram, laid Moses in it, and car- 
 
PROVIDENCE. 121 
 
 ried it to the river at midnight ; but, passing a 
 sentinel, she was stopped, and asked what the 
 ark contained which she carried under her arm. 
 At that instant the earth opened under the sen- 
 tinel's feet, and ingulfed him up to his neck ; 
 and there came a voice out of the earth, which 
 said, '' Let this woman depart unharmed ; nor 
 let thy tongue betray what thy eyes have seen, 
 or thou art a child of death." The soldier shut 
 his eyes in token of obedience, for his neck was 
 already so compressed that he could not speak, 
 and as soon as Johabed had passed on, the earth 
 vomited him forth again. When she arrived at 
 the place on the shore where she designed to 
 conceal the ark among the rushes, she beheld a 
 huge black serpent: it was Iblis, who placed 
 himself in her way in this form, with the inten- 
 tion of staggering her resolve. Affrighted, she 
 started back from the vile reptile; but Moses 
 called to her from the ark, "Be without fear, 
 my mother ; pass on : my presence shall chase 
 away this serpent." At these words Iblis van- 
 ished. Johabed, then opening the ark once 
 more, pressed Moses to her heart, closed it, and. 
 weeping and sobbing, laid it among the reeds, 
 in hopes that some compassionate Egyptian 
 woman would come and take it up. But as she 
 departed, she heard a voice from heaven ex- 
 claim, " Be not cast down, O wife of Amram ! 
 L 
 
122 THE CURE OF THE SEVEN PRINCESSES. 
 
 we will bring back thy son to thee ; he is the 
 elected messenger of Allah." 
 
 To manifest the weakness of human machi- 
 nations against that which the Kalam has written 
 on the heavenly tablets of Fate, Allah had or- 
 dained that the child now at the mercy of the 
 floods should be saved by Pharaoh's own family. 
 He commanded, therefore, as soon as Johabed 
 had left the Nile, that the angel who was set 
 over the waters should float the ark in which 
 Moses lay into the canal which united Pharaoh's 
 palace with the river ; for, on account of his 
 leprous daughters, to whom his physicians had 
 prescribed bathing in the Nile, he had con- 
 structed a canal, by which the water of that 
 river was guided into a large basin in the midst 
 of the palace gardens. The eldest of the seven 
 princesses first discovered the little ark, and 
 carried it to the bank to open it. On her re- 
 moving the lid, there beamed a light upon her 
 which her eyes were not able to endure. She 
 cast a veil over Moses, but at that instant her 
 own face, which hitherto had been covered with 
 scars and sores of all the most hideous colors 
 imaginable, shone like the moon in its brightness 
 and purity, and her sisters exclaimed in amaze- 
 ment, " By what means hast thou been so sud- 
 denly freed from leprosy ?"* 
 
 * The dauffhter of Pharaoh went to the river, for she was a lep- 
 
PRESENTIMENT^?. 123 
 
 " By the miraculous power of this child," re- 
 plied the eldest. " The glance which beamed 
 upon me when I beheld it unveiled has chased 
 away the impurity of my body, as the rising 
 sun scatters the gloom of night." 
 
 The six sisters, one after the other, now lifted 
 the veil from Moses's face, and they too became 
 fair as if they had been formed of the finest sil- 
 ver. The eldest then took the ark on her head, 
 and carried it to her mother Asia, relating to 
 her in how miraculous a manner both she and 
 her sisters had been healed. 
 
 Asia took Moses from the ark, and brought 
 him to Pharaoh, followed by the seven princess- 
 es. Pharaoh started involuntarily when Asia 
 entered his chamber, and his heart was filled 
 with dark presentiments; besides, it was not 
 customary for his w^omen to come to him unin- 
 vited. But his face regained its cheerfulness 
 when he beheld the seven princesses, whose 
 beauty now surpassed all their contemporaries. 
 
 " Who are these maidens ?" he inquired of 
 Asia. " Are they slaves whom some tributary 
 prince has sent to me ?" 
 
 er, and not permitted to use warm baths ; but she was healed as 
 soon as she stretched out her hand to the crying infant, whose 
 life she preserved. She said within herself, " He will live to be a 
 man; and whoever preserves a life is like the savior of a world.'' 
 For this cause also she obtained the blessings of the life to come. 
 — Mid rash, p. 51, 
 
124 PRESENTIMENTS. 
 
 " They are thy daughters, and here upon my 
 arm is the physician who has cured them of 
 their leprosy." 
 
 She then narrated to the king how the prin- 
 cesses had found Moses, and how they had 
 recovered from their distemper on beholding 
 him. 
 
 Pharaoh was transported with joy, and for 
 the first time in his life embraced his beloved 
 daughters. But after a little while his features 
 were overcast again, and he said to Asia," This 
 child must not live : who knows whether his 
 mother be not an Israelite, and he the child of 
 whom both my dreams, as well as my astrolo- 
 gers, have foreboded me so much evil ?" 
 
 "Dost thou still believe in idle dreams, the 
 mere whispers of Satan, and in the still more 
 idle interpretations given by men who boast of 
 reading the future in the stars ? Hast thou not 
 slain the young mothers of Israel and their chil- 
 dren, and even searched their houses ? Besides, 
 will it not always be in thy power to destroy 
 this fragile being? Meanwhile, take it to thy 
 palace, in gratitude for the miraculous cure of 
 thy daughters." 
 
 The seven princesses seconded the prayers 
 of Asia, until Pharaoh relented, permitting the 
 child to be brought up in the royal palace. 
 Scarcely had he pronounced the words of grace, 
 
MOSES BROUGHT Ul' IN THE PALACE. 125 
 
 when Asia hastened back to her apartments 
 with the child, and sent for an Egyptian nurse ; 
 but Moses thrust her away, for it was not the 
 will of the Highest that he should receive nour- 
 ishment from a worshiper of idols.* Asia com- 
 manded another nurse to be brought ; but her 
 also, as well as a third one, Moses would not 
 embrace. On the following morning the queen 
 made known that any woman, who would en- 
 gage to nurse a strange child for a handsome 
 remuneration, should repair to the royal palace. 
 After this the entire court of the castle was filled 
 with women and maidens, many of whom had 
 come from curiosity only. Among the latter 
 was Kolthum (Miriam), the sister of Moses. 
 When she heard that the child had been found 
 in an ark floating on the water, and that it still 
 refused to take nourishment, she ran quickly and 
 told her mother. Johabed hastened to the pal- 
 ace, and was announced to Asia as a nurse, for 
 the severe regulations against the Israelitish 
 women were now removed. Moses scarcely 
 beheld his mother, when he stretched out his 
 arms toward her, and as he embraced her im- 
 
 * From these words, his sister said to the daughters of Pharaoh, 
 " Shall I call a Hebrew nurse ?" We may conclude that they had 
 taken him (Moses) to all the Egyptian women, but that he re- 
 fused to receive food from them, for he thought, " Shall the lips 
 which are destined to speak with the Shekinah touch that which 
 is unclean?" — Midrash, p. 51. 
 
 L2 
 
126 SllAUOWtf OF COMING EVENTS. 
 
 mediately, she was engaged as a nurse for the 
 space of two years. After the expiration of that 
 time, Asia sent her away with many rich pres- 
 ents, but kept Moses with her, intending to adopt 
 him as her son, since she had no male descend- 
 ants. Pharaoh himself became daily more at- 
 tached to the child, and often spent whole hours 
 together in playing with him. One day — Moses 
 was then in his fourth year — while Pharaoh was 
 playing with him, he took the crown from the 
 king's head, and throwing it on the ground, thrust 
 it away with his foot. The king's suspicion was 
 roused afresh: enraged, he ran to Asia, re- 
 proaching her for having persuaded him to let 
 Moses live, and manifested once more a desire 
 to put him to death ;* but Asia laughed at him 
 
 * In the third year after the birth of Moses, Pharaoh was sit- 
 ting on his throne, the queen was at his right hand, his daughter, 
 holding Moses, at his left, and the princes of Egypt were seated 
 round a table before him. Moses stretched out his hand, took 
 the king's crown, and placed it on his own^head. The courtiers 
 were terrified ; and Bileam the magician said, " Remember, O 
 king ! thy dreams, and their interpretations : this child is doubt- 
 less of the Hebrews, who worship God in their hearts ; and he has, 
 by a movement of his precocious wisdom, laid hold on the govern- 
 ment of Egypt. (Here follow examples from Abraham to Joseph, 
 showing the ambition of the Hebrews to usurp the Egyptian 
 throne.) If it please the king, let us shed this child's blood be- 
 fore he be strong enough to destroy thy kingdom." But the Lord 
 sent an angel in the form of an Egyptian prmce, who said, " If it 
 please the king, let two bowls, the one filled with Shoham stones, 
 the other with burning coals, be presented to the child," &c. — 
 Midrash, p 52. 
 
THE TRIAL. 127 
 
 for permitting the naughtiness of a child to ex- 
 cite in him such gloomy thoughts. 
 
 " Well, then," said Pharaoh, " let us see wheth- 
 er the child has acted thoughtlessly or with re- 
 flection? Let a bowl with burning coals and 
 one with coin be brought. If he seize the former, 
 he shall live ; but if he stretch out his hand to 
 the latter, he has betrayed himself" 
 
 Asia was forced to obey, and her eyes hung 
 in painful suspense on Moses's hand, as if her 
 own life had been at gtake. Endowed with 
 manly understanding, Moses was on the point 
 of taking a handful of the shining coin, when Al- 
 lah, watching over his life, sent an angel, who, 
 against the child's will, directed his hand into 
 the burning coals, and even put one to his mouth. 
 Pharaoh was again reassured, and entreated 
 Asia for forgiveness ; but Moses had burned his 
 tongue, and was a stammerer from that day.* 
 
 When Moses was six years old, Pharaoh one 
 day teased him so much, that in his anger he 
 pushed with his foot so violently against the 
 throne on which Pharaoh sat, that it was over- 
 thrown. Pharaoh fell on the earth, and bled 
 profusely from his mouth and nose. He sprang 
 
 * The Jewish legend accounts from this occurrence for the 
 
 words of Moses in Exodus, chap, iv., ver. 10 : " O my Lord ! I 
 
 am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken 
 
 to thy servant ; but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." 
 
 -E. T 
 
128 THE YOUTH OF MOSES. 
 
 to his feet, and drew his sword against Moses 
 to thrust him through. Asia and the seven prin- 
 cesses were present, yet all their endeavors to 
 calm him were in vain. Then there flew a 
 white cock toward the king, and cried, " Pha- 
 raoh, if thou spill the blood of this child, thy 
 daughters shall be more leprous than before." 
 Pharaoh cast a glance on the princesses ; and 
 as from dread and fright their faces were already 
 suffused with a ghastly yellow, he desisted again 
 from his bloody design, 
 
 Thus Moses grew up in Pharaoh's house, amid 
 every variety of danger, which God, however, 
 warded off in a miraculous manner. One morn- 
 ing — he was then already in his eighteenth year 
 — he was performing his ablutions in the Nile, 
 and prayed to Allah. An Egyptian priest saw 
 him, and observed that he prayed unlike the 
 other Egyptians, who always turn their faces 
 toward Pharaoh's palace, while the eyes of Mo- 
 ses were directed on high. 
 
 "Whom worshipestthou?" inquired the priest, 
 in great astonishment. 
 
 Moses, having finished his prayer, replied, 
 « My Lord !" 
 
 " Thy father Pharaoh ?" 
 
 "May Allah curse thee, and all those who 
 worship the king as God !" 
 
THE PERFIDIOUS BIGOT. 129 
 
 " Thou shalt atone with thy Hfe for this impre- 
 cation. I will forthwith go to thy father, and 
 accuse thee before him." 
 
 Then Moses prayed, " Lord of the waters ! 
 who hast destroyed by the floods the whole hu- 
 man race, save Noah and Audj, let them even 
 now overflow their banks, to ingulf this blas- 
 phemous priest.*' 
 
 He had scarcely pronounced these words, 
 when there arose such waves in the Nile as only 
 the fiercest tempest excites in the mighty ocean. 
 One of them rolled over the shore, and swept 
 away the priest into the stream. 
 
 When he saw his life in danger, he cried out, 
 " Mercy ! O Moses, have mercy ! I swear that 
 I will conceal what I have heard from thee." 
 
 " But if thou break thine oath V 
 
 " Let my tongue be cut out of my mouth." 
 
 Moses saved the priest, and w^ent his way ; 
 but when he came to the royal palace he was 
 summoned before Pharaoh, beside whom sat the 
 priest, who had evidently betrayed him. 
 
 " Whom worshipest thou?" inquired Pharaoh. 
 
 " My Lord," replied Moses, " who gives me 
 meat and drink, who clothes me, and supplies all 
 my wants." Moses thereby intended the only 
 God, the Creator and Preserver of the world, 
 unto whom we are indebted for all things. 
 
 But Pharaoh, according to the will of Allah, 
 9 
 
130 MANSLAUGHTER. 
 
 referred this reply to himself, and commanded 
 that the priest, as a calumniator, should have his 
 tongue cut out, and be hanged before the palace. 
 Having attained the age of manhood, Moses 
 frequently conversed with the Israelites during 
 his excursions, and listened eagerly to their ac- 
 counts of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but espe- 
 cially of Joseph, for his mother had long ere this 
 revealed to him the secret of his birth. One day 
 he beheld how a Kopt was most cruelly treating 
 an Israelite, by name Samiri. The latter im- 
 plored his protection, and Moses struck the 
 Egyptian a blow which stretched him lifeless on 
 the earth. On the following morning Samiri 
 was again striving with an Egyptian, and prayed 
 Moses again to help him ; but the latter reproach- 
 ed him for his quarrelsome disposition, and raised 
 his hand threateningly against him. When Sa- 
 miri saw this, he said, " Wilt thou kill me as thou 
 didst the Kopt yesterday ?" The Egyptian who 
 was present heard it, and accused Moses of mur- 
 der before Pharaoh. The king directed that he 
 should be delivered to the relations of the slain; 
 but one of the royal household, a friend of Moses, 
 informed him immediately of Pharaoh's sentence, 
 and he succeeded in making his escape in time. 
 
 Moses wandered many days through the wil- 
 derness, until Allah sent him an angel in the form 
 
THE FLIGHT. 131 
 
 of a Bedouin, who guided him into Midian, where 
 the faithful priest Shuib (Jethro) dwelt, in the 
 midst of idolaters. The sun was declining when 
 he arrived before a well at the outskirts of the 
 little town, and there stood Lija and Safurja, the 
 two daughters of Shuib, with their flocks.* 
 
 " Why do you not water your cattle," in- 
 quired Moses, " since the night will soon over- 
 take you?" 
 
 " We do not venture to do so," replied Lija, 
 " until the other shepherds, w^ho hate us and our 
 father, have first watered theirs." 
 
 * According to the Jewish legend, there intervened many years 
 between the flight of Moses from Egypt and his arrival in Midian : 
 these years, they say, he spent in Ethiopia, where Bilaam had 
 gone before him; and while the king of that country made war 
 against Syria and other nations, he (Bilaam) treacherously seized 
 on the capital, fortifying it with ditches and walls on three sides, 
 and guarding the fourth by venomous serpents. The king return- 
 ed, and had laid siege to this city during nine years without suc- 
 ceeding in capturing it, when Moses arrived in his camp. He ad- 
 vised him to take all the storks' eggs from the neighboring forests, 
 to rear the young, and having withheld their food from them for 
 some days, to send them against the serpents. The king did so ; 
 the storks destroyed the serpents, and the city was taken ; but 
 Bilaam escaped through an opposite gate, and again excited Pha- 
 raoh against the people of Israel. The Ethiopians made Moses 
 their first vizier, and afterward their king, giving to him the de- 
 ceased king's widow in marriage. But as she was an idolater, he 
 refused to treat her as his wife, nor did he participate in the re 
 ligious observances of the people : the queen therefore accused 
 him publicly, and proposed her own son to reign in his stead ; but 
 Moses fled to Midian ; and Jethro, fearing the Ethiopians, im- 
 prisoned him during ten years without giving him any food ; but 
 Zipora secretly supplied him with bread and water, &c, 
 
182 rniVALRY. 
 
 Then Moses himself led their cattle to the well, 
 and said, " If any of the shepherds has aught 
 against you, I myself will see to the matter." 
 The maidens yielded ; nor did any of the shep- 
 herds, who assembled around, dare to oppose 
 Moses, for his holy appearance filled them with 
 awe. 
 
 When Shuib, astonished at the unusually early 
 return of his daughters, heard from them that a 
 stranger had watered their cattle, he sent Safur- 
 ja to the w^ell to invite him to his house. But 
 Moses, although suffering with hunger, did not 
 touch the refreshments that were set before him , 
 and when Shuib inquired why he rejected his 
 hospitality, he replied, " I am not of those who 
 accept a reward for any good deed that they 
 have done." 
 
 " In like manner, I," replied Shuib, " am not 
 of those who show hospitality only to their bene- 
 factors. My house is open to every stranger ; 
 and as such, not as the protector of my daugh- 
 ters, thou mayest accept my invitation." 
 
 Moses then ate till he was satisfied, and re- 
 lated during his repast what had befallen him in 
 Egypt. 
 
 " As thou mayest not return to thy home," 
 said Shuib, when he had come to the conclusion 
 of his narrative, " remain with me as my shep- 
 herd, and, after serving me eight or ten years 
 
'I lit: KOI). 13y 
 
 faithfully, 1 will give thee my daughter Safurja 
 to wife." 
 
 Moses accepted this offer, and pledged him- 
 self to eight years' service, but added that he 
 should cheerfully remain two years longer, if he 
 had nothing to complain of; and he abode ten 
 years with him. On the morning following his 
 arrival, he accompanied the daughters of Shuib 
 to the pasture ; but as he had fled from Egypt 
 without a staff, Safurja brought to him the mirac- 
 ulous rod of her father, which had served for the 
 support and defense of the prophets before him.* 
 Adam had brought it with him from Paradise : 
 after his death it passed into the hands of Sheth ; 
 after that it went to Idris, then to Noah, Salih, 
 and Abraham. Moses was thirty years old 
 when he entered the service of Shuib, and thir- 
 ty-eight on his marriage with Safurja. In his. 
 
 * The rod of Moses was created on the sixth day, and given to 
 Adam while yet in Paradise : he left it to Enoch, and he gave it 
 to Shem ; from him it descended to Isaac and Jacob. The latter 
 took it with him into Egypt, and before his death presented it to 
 Joseph. When he died it was taken, with the rest of his goods, 
 to Pharaoh's house, where Jethro, being one of the king's magi- 
 cians, saw it ; and taking it with him to Midian, he planted it in 
 his garden, where no one w^as able to approach it until the arrival 
 of Moses. He read the mysterious words written upon the staff, 
 and took it without difficulty from the ground. Jethro, who saw 
 this, exclaimed, " This is the man who shall deliver Israel !" and 
 gave him his daughter Zipora. With this staff Moses kept Je- 
 thro's flock during forty years, without being attacked by wild, 
 beasts and without losing any from his fold.— 3/idrtts/i, p. 53. 
 
 M 
 
134 THE xMIo»10.\. 
 
 fortieth year he determined to return to Egypt, 
 in order to inquire after his relatives and breth- 
 ren in the faith. It was a cold and stormy day 
 when he drew near to Mount Thur, on which a 
 bright fire was blazing ; and he said to his wife, 
 "Rest here in the valley; I will see what this 
 flame signifies, and bring thee a few brands on 
 my return." But when Moses came near the 
 fire, he heard a voice out of the midst of the 
 burning and yet unconsumed bush exclaim, 
 " Take off thy shoes, for thou art in the presence 
 of thy Lord, who manifests himself to thee as 
 The Light, to sanctify thee as his prophet, and 
 to send thee to Pharaoh, whose unbelief and 
 cruelty are so great, that long ere this the 
 mountains would have crushed him, the seas 
 have swallowed him up, or the flames of heaven 
 consumed his soul, if I had not determined to 
 give in his person a proof of my omnipotence 
 unto the whole W'orld." 
 
 Moses fell down and said, " Lord, I have slain 
 an Egyptian, and Pharaoh will put me to death 
 if I appear before him ; besides, my tongue has 
 been paralyzed since my infancy, so that I am 
 not able to speak before kings." 
 
 " Fear not, son of A mram !" replied the voice 
 from the fire. " If thy Lord had not watched 
 over thee, thou wouldst have been changed into 
 dust even before thy birth ; but as regards thy 
 
THE SIGN. 135 
 
 imperfect speech, it shall not prevent the exer- 
 cise of thy calling, for I give to thee thy brother 
 Aaron as vizier, who shall communicate my will 
 to Pharaoh. 
 
 *' Go fearlessly to Pharaoh ; the staff which is 
 in thy hand shall protect thee from violence. 
 Thou canst persuade thyself of it if thou wilt but 
 lay it down on the earth." 
 
 Moses threw away his staff, and behold ! it 
 was changed into a large living serpent. He 
 would have fled from it, but the angel Gabriel 
 held him back, and said, " Lay hold of it ; it can 
 do thee no harm." Moses stretched out his hand 
 toward it, and it once more was changed into a 
 staff. Strengthened by this miracle, he was 
 about to return to Safurja to pursue with her his 
 way to Egypt ; but the angel Gabriel said to 
 him, " Thou hast now higher duties than those 
 of a husband. By command of Allah, I have 
 already taken back thy wife to her father, but 
 thou shalt fulfill thy mission alone." 
 
 On the night that Moses was treading Egyp- 
 tian ground, there appeared unto Aaron, who had 
 succeeded his father Amram as vizier to Phara- 
 oh, an angel with a crystal cup filled with the 
 rarest old wine ; and said, as he handed him the 
 cup, " Drink, Aaron, of the wine which the Lord 
 has sent thee in token of glad tidings. Thy 
 
136 AARON. 
 
 brother Moses has returned to Egypt : God has 
 chosen him to be his prophet, and thee to be his 
 vizier. Arise, and go to meet him." 
 
 Aaron instantly left Pharaoh's chamber, in 
 which he, as once his father before him, was 
 obhged to watch, and went beyond the city to- 
 ward the Nile. But when he reached the bank 
 of the stream, there was not a single boat at 
 hand to ferry him over. Suddenly he beheld a 
 light at a distance ; and on its nearer approach 
 he discovered a horseman, who flew toward him 
 with the speed of the wind. It was Gabriel 
 mounted on the steed Hizam, which shone like 
 the purest diamond, and whose neigh ings were 
 celestial songs of praise. Aaron's first thought 
 was that he was pursued by one of Pharaoh's 
 men, and he was on the brink of easting himself 
 into the Nile ; but Gabriel made himself known 
 in time to prevent him, and lifted him on his 
 winged horse, which carried them both to the 
 opposite bank of the Nile. Here Moses was 
 standing ; and as soon as he beheld his brother, 
 he cried aloud, " Truth- has come, and falsehood 
 has fled !" Gabriel then placed Moses also be- 
 side him, and set him down before the house of 
 his mother ; but Aaron he carried back into the 
 royal palace, and when Pharaoh awoke, his 
 vizier was again at his post. Moses spent the 
 remainder of that night and the whole of the 
 
THE MGHT VISIT. 137 
 
 next day with his mother, to whom he was 
 obliged to rehite all that had befallen him in a 
 foreign land since the day of his flight from 
 Egypt. The second night he spent with Aaron 
 in Pharaoh's chamber. All the doors of the pal- 
 ace, however fast they were closed, opened of 
 their own accord as soon as he touched them 
 with his rod, and the guards standing before 
 them became as if petrified. But when they re- 
 ported in the morning what they had seen, and 
 the porter who came in with his keys to open 
 the doors of the palace found them wide open, 
 while neither door nor lock exhibited any mark 
 of violence, and nothing of the costly things 
 scattered through the various saloons were miss- 
 ing, Haman said to Pharaoh, " Aaron, who has 
 watched by thee, must explain this matter ; for, 
 as thy chamber has likewise been opened, the in- 
 truder can have had no other object than to con- 
 verse with him."* 
 
 * Rabbi Meier says, " Pharaoh's palace had 400 gates, 100 on 
 each side ; and before each gate stood 60,000 tried warriors." It 
 was therefore necessary for Gabriel to introduce Moses and Aaron 
 by another way. On seeing them, Pharaoh said, " Who has ad- 
 mitted them ?" He summoned the guards, and commanded some 
 of them to be beaten, and others to be slain. But as Moses and 
 Aaron returned the next day again, the guards, when called in, 
 said, " These men are sorcerers, for they certainly have not come 
 in through the gates." On the same page it is said, " Before the 
 gate of the royal palace were two lionesses, which did not suffer 
 any one to pass through without the express command of Pharadi, 
 and they would have rushed upon Moses ; but he-raised his staff, 
 
 M2 
 
138 THE "denouement." • 
 
 Pharaoh immediately summoned Aaron be- 
 fore him, and threatening him with the rack, de- 
 manded who his nightly visitor had been. Aaron, 
 in the conviction that Allah w^ould not leave his 
 prophet in the power of an infidel king, avowed 
 that it was his brother Moses who had been 
 with him. Pharaoh immediately sent Haman 
 with a detachment of the royal body-guard into 
 Moses's dwelling, in order to bring him to judg- 
 ment in the presence of all the viziers and high 
 officers of state, who were forthwith ordered to 
 assemble in the grand hall. He himself presided 
 on his throne, which was entirely of gold, and 
 adorned with the most costly pearls and dia- 
 monds. When Moses stepped into the judg- 
 ment hall, Pharaoh swooned away, for he recog- 
 nized in him the child that had been saved by 
 his daughters, and now feared him the more, in- 
 asmuch as he knew that he was Aaron's brother, 
 and consequently an Israelite. But he soon re- 
 covered, on their sprinkling him with rose-wa- 
 ter, and with his consciousness also returned his 
 former stubbornness of heart. Pretending never 
 
 their chains fell off, and they followed him joyfully into the pal 
 ace, as a dog follows his master after a long separation," &c 
 And again, " The 400 gates of the palace were guarded by bears 
 lions, and other ferocious beasts, who suffered no one to pass un 
 less they fed them with flesh. But when Moses and Aaron came 
 they gathered about them, and licked the feet of the prophets, aC' 
 companying them to Pharaoh." — Midrash, p. 44, 45. 
 
THE ROBE OF HONOR. 139 
 
 to have seen him before, he inquired, " Who art 
 thou?" 
 
 "I am the servant of Allah, and his messenger." 
 
 " Art thou not Pharaoh's slave ?" 
 
 " I acknowledge no other lord than the only 
 Allah." 
 
 " To whom art thou sent ?" 
 
 " To thee, in order to admonish thee to faith 
 in Allah and in me his messenger, and to lead 
 forth the Israelites out of thy country." 
 
 " Who is the Allah in whose name thou speak- 
 est to me ?" 
 
 " The only One, the Invisible, who hath creat- 
 ed heaven and earth, and all that in them is." 
 
 Pharaoh then turned to Aaron, and inquired 
 of him, " What thinkest thou of the words of 
 this foolhardy man?" 
 
 "I believe in the only God, whom he pro- 
 claims, and in him as his messenger." 
 
 On hearing this, Pharaoh said to Haman, 
 " This man has ceased to be my vizier : take off 
 forthwith his robe of honor !" 
 
 Haman then took his purple robe from him, 
 and he stood ashamed, for the upper part of his 
 body was uncovered. Moses cast over him his 
 woolen garment ; but, as he was not accustom- 
 ed to such coarse raiment, he trembled in all his 
 limbs. At that moment the ceiling of the hall 
 was opened, and Gabriel flung a robe round 
 
140 THE MEtitJENGEK UF ALLAH. 
 
 Aaron glittering with so many diamonds that 
 all who were present were dazzled, as if the 
 lightning had flashed through the darkest night. 
 Pharaoh admired this robe, which had not a 
 single seam, and inquired of his treasurer what 
 might be its value. 
 
 " Such a garment," replied the troubled treas- 
 urer, " is priceless, for the meanest of the jewels 
 is worth ten whole years' revenue of Egypt. 
 Such diamonds I have never beheld in any ba- 
 zar, nor are the like to be found among all the 
 treasures that have been amassed in this palace 
 from the earliest times. None but sorcerers can 
 obtain possession of such jewels by Satanic arts." 
 
 " Ye are then sorcerers !" said Pharaoh to 
 Moses and Aaron. "Be it so. I esteem sor- 
 cerers highly, and will make you the heads of 
 this fraternity, if ye will swear not to use your 
 art to my prejudice." 
 
 " The Lord of the distant east and west," re- 
 joined Moses, " has sent me as a prophet unto 
 thee, in order to convert thee. We are no sor- 
 cerers." 
 
 " And wherewithal wilt thou prove thy mis- 
 sion ?" 
 
 Moses flung his staff" on the ground, and in- 
 stantly it was changed into a serpent as huge as 
 the largest camel. He glanced at Pharaoh 
 with fire-darting eyes, and raised Pharaoh's 
 
HARDNESS OF HEART. 141 
 
 throne aloft to the ceiling, and opening his jaws, 
 cried, "If it pleased Allah, I could not only- 
 swallow up thy throne, with thee and all that 
 are here present, but even thy palace and all 
 that it contains, without any one perceiving the 
 slightest change in me." 
 
 Pharaoh leaped from his throne, and adjured 
 Moses, by Asia his wife, to whom he was in- 
 debted for life and education, to protect him 
 against this monster. At the mention of Asia's 
 name, Moses felt compassion toward Pharaoh, 
 and called the serpent to him. The serpent 
 placed the throne in its proper position, and 
 stepped like a tender lamb before Moses. He 
 put his hand into his jaws, and seized him by 
 his tongue, whereupon he once more became a 
 staff. But scarcely was this peril warded off 
 from Pharaoh, when his heart again opened to 
 the whispers of Satan, and instead of lending 
 his ear to Moses, he demanded of the viziers to 
 counsel him what he should do. 
 
 " Let the heads of these two rebels be cut off," 
 said Haman, " and fear nothing from them ; for 
 all that they represent as divine wonders is 
 nothing but idle delusion." 
 
 " Do not follow this counsel, mighty king !" 
 cried Hiskil, the treasurer : " think of the con- 
 temporaries of Noah, and the nations of Aad 
 and Thamud. They also believed Noah, Hud, 
 
142 SEVENTY THOUSAND SORCERERS. 
 
 and Salih, the prophets whom Allah had sent, 
 to be demons and deceivers, until the wrath of 
 Allah fell on them, destroying them and their 
 possessions by fire and water." 
 
 But now uprose Haman's predecessor, a hoary 
 man of a hundred and twenty years of age, and 
 said, " Permit me also, O king of kings ! before 
 I descend to the grave, to impart to thee my 
 opinion. What king can boast of having so 
 many magicians in his kingdom as thou? I 
 therefore hold it to be the wisest plan that thou 
 fix on a day in which they all may assemble to- 
 gether, and have a meeting with Moses and 
 Aaron. If these are nothing but sorcerers, the 
 Egyptian masters of this art will not be a whit 
 inferior to them ; and then thou art still at liber- 
 ty to do with them according to thy high will. 
 But if they put thy sorcerers to shame, then are 
 they indeed the servants of a mightier God, to 
 whom we shall be forced to submit." 
 
 Pharaoh approved of the counsel of his aged 
 vizier, and commanded all the sorcerers of 
 Egypt, seventy thousand in number, to repair 
 to the capital at the expiration of a month. 
 
 When they were assembled, the king com- 
 manded them to choose seventy chiefs from 
 their body, and these seventy were again to be 
 represented by the two most renowned among 
 them, in order to contend in magic arts with 
 
CONTEST AND VICTORY. 143 
 
 Moses and Aaron in the face of the whole peo- 
 ple. Pharaoh's command was punctually obey- 
 ed, and the choice of the magicians fell on Ri- 
 sam and Rejam, two men of Upper Egypt, who 
 were no less esteemed and feared throughout 
 the whole country than Pharaoh himself. 
 
 On an appointed day, Pharaoh, for whom a 
 large silken tent, embroidered with pearls and 
 supported on silver pillars, had been erected, 
 proceeded to a large plain beyond the city, ac- 
 companied by his viziers and the nobles of his 
 kingdom : Risam and Rejam on the one side of 
 the tent, and Moses and Aaron on the other, 
 awaited his commands ; and the whole popula- 
 tion of Egypt was on the field of contest from 
 early dawn, anxious to see which party would 
 obtain the victory. Pharaoh demanded of the 
 two Egyptians to change their rods into ser- 
 pents : this was done, and Haman said to Pha- 
 raoh, " Did not I tell thee that Moses and Aaron 
 were no more than other sorcerers, who deserve 
 chastisement for having abused their art?" 
 
 " Thou art too hasty in thy judgment," said 
 Hiskil. " Let us see first whether Moses will 
 not be able to do still greater things than these." 
 
 At a sign from the king, Moses stepped for- 
 ward and prayed to Allah that he would glorify 
 his name in the face of all Egypt. Allah ihen 
 
144 MARTYRS. 
 
 brought to naught the charm of the Egyptians, 
 which was mere illusion, and it was unto all 
 present as if a dark veil was removed from their 
 eyes ; and they recognized again as staffs what 
 had appeared before as serpents. Moses threw 
 his staff upon the earth, and it became a serpent 
 with seven heads, which did not remain motion- 
 less like those of the magicians, but pursued the 
 two sorcerers with open jaws. They threw 
 themselves to the earth, and exclaimed, " We 
 believe in the Lord of the World, the God of 
 Moses and Aaron." 
 
 Pharaoh cried to them wrathfully, " How dare 
 you confess yourselves to another faith without 
 my permission, simply because these sorcerers 
 are more dexterous than you ? Unless you re- 
 call your words, I shall cause your hands and 
 feet to be cut off, and shall hang you on the gal- 
 lows." 
 
 " Wilt thou punish us," replied the sorcerers, 
 " because we can not deny the signs of Allah ? 
 Behold, we are prepared to yield up our lives 
 in support of our faith." 
 
 Pharaoh, in order to set a terrible example, 
 caused the threatened punishment to be executed 
 on them, and they died the first martyrs to the 
 faith of Moses. 
 
 The king now waxed daily more cruel ; every 
 believer was put to death with the most excru- 
 
THE PLAGUES. 145 
 
 elating tortures. He did not even spare his 
 own daughter, Masheta, the wife of Hiskil, on 
 learning that she no longer honored him as God. 
 She endured with admirable fortitude the death 
 by fire, after seeing all her children slaughtered 
 before her eyes at Pharaoh's command. 
 
 Asia herself was now accused before him of 
 apostasy, and even she was condemned to death ; 
 but the angel Gabriel comforted her with the 
 annunciation that she should hereafter be united 
 with Mohammed in Paradise, and gave her a 
 potion by which she died without pain. 
 
 Pharaoh now conceived, like Nimrod before 
 him, the iniquitous design to war against the 
 God of Moses. He therefore caused a tower to 
 be built, at which fifty thousand men, mostly Is- 
 raelites, were compelled to labor day and night, 
 he himself riding up and down among them to 
 urge on the indolent. But Moses prayed to Al- 
 lah, and the tower fell in, crushing under its ruins 
 all those Egyptians who had committed violence 
 against the Israelites. But even this judgment 
 made only a passing impression on the heart 
 of Pharaoh, for Allah desired to perform still 
 greater wonders before he condemned the soul 
 of the king to eternal hell. Fh'st he visited him 
 with a flood. The Nile overflowed its banks, 
 and the waters rose so high that they reached 
 to the neck of the tallest man. After that, a 
 10 N 
 
146 THE I'LAGLE^. 
 
 host of locusts invaded the land, which not only 
 consumed all provisions, but even copper and 
 iron. Then followed all kinds of disgusting ver- 
 min, which defiled all meats and drinks, and fiHed 
 all garments and beds, so that Pharaoh, however 
 often he might change his raiment, had not a 
 moment's rest. When this plague disappeared, 
 and Pharaoh still resisted the wishes of Moses, 
 all the waters were changed to blood as soon as 
 an Egyptian took them in his hand, but remained 
 unchanged for the Israelites.* 
 
 Finally, many of the Egyptians, especially the 
 more eminent, who had strengthened Pharaoh 
 in his unbelief, were turned into stone, together 
 with all their goods. Here, one might see a 
 petrified man, sitting in the bazar, with a balance 
 in his hand ; there, another, marking something 
 with the Kalam, or counting gold ; and even the 
 gate-keeper of the palace stood there turned to 
 stone, holding a sword in his right hand. Omar 
 Ibn Abd Alasisf had in his possession all kinds 
 
 * " All the water kept in vessels was changed into blood ; even 
 the spittle in the mouth of the Egyptians ; for it is written, ' there 
 was blood throughout the land of Egypt.' Rabbi Levi informs 
 us that this plague enriched the Jews ; for if a Jew and an Egyp- 
 tian lived together in the same house, and the Egyptian went to 
 draw water, it was changed into blood ; but if the Jew went, it 
 remained pure. Drinking out of the same vessel, the Jew ob- 
 tained water, and the other blood ; but if the latter bought it of a 
 Jew, it remained pure." — Midrash, p. 56. 
 
 t This Omar was the eighth caliph of the house of Omarides. 
 
THE PLAGUEc?. 147 
 
 of petrified fruits of those times, and frequently 
 showed them to his guests as a warning against 
 unbehef. At Moses's prayer, Allah revived tiie 
 petrified men ; but when Pharaoh refused afresh 
 to permit the Israelites to depart, there burst out 
 upon the land so thick a darkness, that whoever 
 happened to be standing could not sit down, and 
 whoever happened to be sitting had no power to 
 rise. Thereupon the Nile was dried up, so that 
 man and beast died of thirst. On this occasion, 
 Pharaoh himself ran to Moses, and adjured him 
 to pray for him once more, that the water might 
 flow back into the Nile. For the last time Mo- 
 ses prayed for him, and the Nile was not only 
 filled to its banks, but there also streamed from 
 it a little brook, which followed Pharaoh whither- 
 soever he went, so that at any moment he was 
 able to supply with water both man and beast. 
 But instead of turning to Allah, the king made 
 use of this special favor also as a means of in- 
 ducing the people to reverence him still as 
 God. 
 
 The long-suffering of the Lord was now ex- 
 hausted, and the king was himself to pronounce 
 his sentence, and to choose the manner of death 
 which his wickedness had deserved. Gabriel 
 assumed the appearance of a noble Egyptian, 
 
 He ascended the throne in the 99th year of the Hegira, and was 
 previously governor of Egypt. 
 
148 THE SENTENCE. 
 
 and accused before Pharaoh one of his slaves, 
 who, in his absence, had proclaimed himself the 
 lord of the house, and constrained the other do- 
 mestics to serve him. " This impostor," said 
 Pharaoh, " deserves to die." 
 
 " How shall I put him to death ?" 
 
 " Let him be thrown into the water." 
 
 " Give me a written warrant." 
 
 Pharaoh commanded an instrument to be 
 drawn up, according to which any slave who 
 usurped the honors of his master was to be 
 drowned. 
 
 Gabriel left Pharaoh, and gave Moses the 
 command to quit Egypt with his people. Pha- 
 raoh pursued them with his host, and enclosed 
 them on all sides, so that there remained no other 
 way of escape to Israel than toward the Red 
 Sea. Hemmed in between the Egyptians and 
 the sea, they fell with reproaches upon Moses, 
 who had brought them into this dangerous po- 
 sition ; but he raised his staff toward the waters, 
 and instantly there were twelve paths opened 
 through the sea for the twelve tribes of Israel, 
 each of which was separated from the rest by a 
 lofty, yet quite transparent wall. 
 
 When Pharaoh reached the sea-shore, and 
 beheld the dry paths in the midst of the sea, he 
 said to Haman, " Now Israel is lost to us, for 
 even the waters seem to favor their flight." 
 
THE DEATH-WARRANT. 149 
 
 But Haman replied, " Are not those paths 
 opened likewise for us ? We shall soon over- 
 take them with our horse." 
 
 Pharaoh took the path in which Moses march- 
 ed with the tribe of Levi ; but his steed grew 
 restiff, and was unwilling to go forward. Then 
 mounted Gabriel, in human form, on the horse 
 Ramka, and rode in before Pharaoh. This 
 horse was so beautiful, that as soon as the king's 
 steed saw him, he plunged in behind. 
 
 But when Pharaoh and his whole host were 
 in the sea, the angel Gabriel turned to the king, 
 and showed him the warrant of the previous 
 day, bearing the royal seal, and said, "Frail 
 mortal, who didst desire to be worshiped as 
 God ! behold, thou hast condemned thyself to 
 die by water." At these words, the twelve 
 walls tumbled in, the floods burst forth, and 
 Pharaoh and all that followed him perished in 
 the waters. But in order to convince both the 
 Egyptians who had remained behind, as well 
 as the Israelites, of Pharaoh's death, Allah com- 
 manded the waves to cast his body, first on the 
 western and then on the eastern shore of the 
 Red Sea. 
 
 But now Moses had no less to contend ngainst 
 
 the Israelites than formerly against Pharaoh ; 
 
 for they seemed unable to tear themselves from 
 
 the service of idols, notwithstanding all the 
 
 'N 2 
 
150 THE GOLDEN CALF. 
 
 wonders of the only Lord, which he had per- 
 formed. 
 
 Yet as long as he tarried with them they pre- 
 sumed not to demand an idol ; but when Allah 
 called him to himself on Mount Sinai, they 
 threatened Aaron, whom he had left behind as 
 his representative, with death, if he would not 
 give them an idol. 
 
 Samiri now admonished them to bring all 
 their gold, including even the ornaments of their 
 women, and cast it into a copper caldron, under 
 which a strong fire was lighted. As soon as 
 the gold was melted, he flung into it a handful 
 of sand, which he had taken up from under the 
 hoof of Gabriel's horse, and lo ! there was form- 
 ed out of it a calf, which ran up and down like 
 a natural one. 
 
 " Here is your Lord, and the Lord of Moses!" 
 then cried Samiri; "this God we will worship!"* 
 
 While the Israelites, notwithstanding the ad- 
 monition of Aaron, had abandoned Allah, the 
 angel Gabriel uplifted Moses so high into the 
 heavens that he heard the scribbling of the Ka- 
 1am which had just received the command to 
 
 * According to tUe Rabbinical legends, Samael (Satan) rushed 
 into the calf, and groaned so loudly that the Israelites believed it 
 living. The Rabbis also maintained that it was not Aaron, but 
 some other person (some say Micah), who made the calf, — Vide 
 Seigpr, p, 167, 
 
THE CnOSEX PEOPLE. 151 
 
 engrave the Decalogue for him and for his peo- 
 ple on the eternal tablets of Fate. 
 
 But the higher Moses rose, the stronger grew 
 his desire to behold Allah himself in his glory. 
 
 Then commanded Allah all the ansfels to sur- 
 round Moses, and to commence a song of praise. 
 Moses swooned away, for he was wanting in 
 strength both to behold these hosts of shining 
 forms as well as to hear their thrilling voic-cs. 
 
 But when he came to himself again, he con- 
 fessed that he had asked a sinful thing, and re- 
 pented. He then prayed to Allah that he would 
 make his people the most excellent of the earth. 
 But Allah replied, "The Kalam has already 
 marked down as such the people of Mohammed, 
 because they shall fight for the true faith until it 
 cover the whole earth." 
 
 "Lord," continued Moses, "reward tenfold 
 the good deeds of my people, and visit sin but 
 once ; let also each good intention, though not 
 carried into effect, obtain a recompense, but 
 pass by each evil thought unpunished." 
 
 " These are privileges," replied Allah, " ac- 
 corded to those only who believe in Mohammed, 
 in whose name even Adam prayed to me. Ad- 
 monish, therefore, thy people to faith in him. for 
 he shall rise first on the day of the resurrection 
 from his grave, and enter into Paradise at the 
 head of all the prophets. He also shall obtahi 
 
152 THE WANDERING JEW. 
 
 the grace of revealing to his people the com- 
 mandment of the five daily prayers and the fast 
 of Ramadhan."* 
 
 When Moses returned again to his own peo- 
 ple, and f )und them worshiping before the golden 
 calf, he fell upon Aaron, caught him by the beard, 
 and was on the point of strangling him, when 
 Aaron swore that he was innocent, and pointed 
 out Samiri as the prime mover of this idolatry. 
 
 Moses then summoned Samiri, and would 
 have put him to death instantly, but Allah di- 
 rected that he should be sent into banishment. 
 
 Ever since that time he roams like a wild 
 beast throughout the world ; every one shuns 
 him, and purifies the ground on which his feet 
 have stood, and he himself, whenever he ap- 
 proaches men, exclaims, " Touch me not T 
 
 Yet, before Moses expelled him Irom the gamp 
 of the Israelites at Allah's command, he caused 
 the calf to be broken into pieces, and having 
 ground it to dust, forced Samiri to defile it. It 
 was then put into water, and given the Israelites 
 to drink. 
 
 After Samiri's removal, Moses prayed Allah 
 
 * It is well known that the Mussulmans keep a yearly fast, 
 which lasts from sunrise to sunset for a whole month. And they 
 even exceed the Jews in strictness, for they not only take neither 
 meat nor drink, but also abstain from smoking during the fast. 
 As their year is lunar, the month of Ramadhan falls at every sea- 
 son of the year. 
 
THE EXPIATION. 153 
 
 to have mercy on his people ; but Allah replied, 
 " I can not pardon them, for sin yet dwells in 
 their inward parts, and will only be washed 
 away by the potion which thou hast given them." 
 
 On returning to the camp, Moses heard woe- 
 ful shriekings. Many of the Israelites, with 
 ghastly faces and with bodies frightfully swollen, 
 cast themselves down before him, and cried, 
 " Moses, help us ! the golden calf is tearing our 
 vitals ; we will repent, and die cheerfully, if Al- 
 lah will but pardon our sin." Many repented 
 really of their sins ; but from others only pain 
 and the fear of death had extorted these ex- 
 pressions of repentance. 
 
 Moses commanded them, therefore in the 
 name of Allah, to slay each other. 
 
 Then there rose a darkness, like unto that 
 which Allah had sent upon Pharaoh. The in- 
 nocent and reclaimed .hewed with the sword to 
 the right and to the left, so that many slew their 
 nearest kinsmen; but Allah gave their swords 
 power over the guilty only. Seventy thousand 
 worshipers of idols had already fallen, when 
 Moses, moved by the cries of women and chil- 
 dren, implored God once more for mercy. 
 
 Instantly the heavens grew clear, the sword 
 rested, and all the remaining sick were healed. 
 
 On the following day Moses read unto them 
 the Law, and admonished them to obey scru- 
 
154 THE LAW. MOUNT SINAI. 
 
 pulously its prescriptions. But many of the peo- 
 ple exclaimed, " We shall not submit to such a 
 code." The laws especially obnoxious to them 
 were those which regulated the revenge of blood, 
 and punished the pettiest theft with the loss of 
 the hand. At that instant, Mount Sinai became 
 vaulted over their heads, excluding the very 
 light of heaven from them, and there cried a 
 voice from the rocks, " Sons of Israel, Allah has 
 redeemed you from Egypt merely to be the 
 bearers of his laws : if you refuse this burden, 
 wc shall fall in upon you, and thus you shall be 
 compelled to support a weightier mass until the 
 day of the resurrection." 
 
 With one voice they then exclaimed, " We 
 are ready to submit to the Law, and to accept 
 it as the rule of our life." 
 
 When Moses had instructed them fully in the 
 Law, and expounded what was pure and what 
 impure, what lawful and what unlawful, he gave 
 the signal to march for the conquest of the prom- 
 ised land of Palestine. 
 
 But, notwithstanding all the wonders of Al- 
 lah, who fed them with manna and quails in the 
 wilderness, and caused twelve fresh fountains to 
 spring out of the rocky ground wherever they 
 encamped, they were still faint-hearted, and 
 w^ould not depart until they had obtained better 
 information respecting the country and its in- 
 habitants through spies. 
 
THE LAND OF GIANTS. 155 
 
 Moses was obliged to yield, and sent a man 
 out of every tribe into Palestine. 
 
 The spies, on their return, related, " We have 
 seen the land which we are to subdue by the 
 sword : it is good and fruitful. 
 
 " The strongest camel is scarcely able to car- 
 ry one single bunch of grapes ; a single ear yields 
 sufficient corn to satisfy a whole family, and the 
 shell of a pomegranate can easily contain five 
 armed men. 
 
 " But the inhabitants of that country and their 
 cities are of a size proportionate to the products 
 of their soil. We have seen men the smallest 
 of whom was six hundred cubits high. They 
 stared at our dwarfish appearance, and derided 
 us. Their houses naturally correspond with 
 their size, and the walls which surround their 
 cities are so high that an eagle rs scarcely able 
 to soar to the summit thereof." 
 
 When the spies had finished their report, they 
 dropped down dead ; only two of them, Joshua, 
 the son of Nun, and Caleb, who had kept silence, 
 remained alive. But the Israelites murmured 
 against Moses, and said, " We shall never fight 
 against such a gigantic people. If thou hast a 
 mind to do so, march alone with thy God against 
 them." 
 
 Thereupon Moses announced to them, in the 
 name of Allah, that by reason of their distrust 
 
156 MOSES AND JOSHUA. 
 
 in the help of Him who had divided the sea for 
 their safety, they were doomed to wander forty 
 years through the wilderness. He then took 
 leave of them, and journeyed, preaching the true 
 faith through the whole earth from east to west, 
 and from north to south. 
 
 When Moses was one day boasting of his wis- 
 dom to his servant Joshua, who accompanied 
 him, Allah said, " Go to the Persian Gulf, where 
 the seas of the Greeks and the Persians com- 
 mingle, and thou shalt there find one of my pious 
 servants who surpasses thee in wisdom." 
 
 "How shall I recognize this wise man?" 
 
 " Take with thee a fish in a basket : it will 
 show thee where my servant lives." 
 
 Moses now departed with Joshua toward the 
 country which Allah had pointed out, and con- 
 stantly carried with him a fish in a basket. On 
 one occasion he laid himself down, quite exhaust- 
 ed, on the sea-shore, and fell asleep. It was late 
 when he awoke, and he hurried on to reach the 
 desired inn ; but Joshua had, in his haste, neg- 
 lected to take the fish with him, and Moses for- 
 got to remind him of it. It was not until the 
 next morning that they missed their fish, and 
 were on the point of returning to the spot where 
 they had rested on the preceding day ; but, on 
 reaching the sea-shore, they beheld a fish gliding 
 
AL CHIDHR. 157 
 
 quite erect on the surface of the water, instead 
 of swimming therein, as fish are wont to do ; 
 they soon recognized it as theirs, and therefore 
 went after it along the shore. After having, for 
 a few hours, followed their guide, it suddenly 
 dived below : they stood still, and thought, 
 " Here the God-fearing man whom we are seek- 
 ing must dwell ;" and soon they descried a cave, 
 over whose entrance was written, " In the name 
 of Allah, the All-merciful and All-gracious." On 
 stepping in, they found a man who appeared in 
 all the bloom and vigor of a youth of seventeen, 
 but with a snow-white beard flowing even to his 
 feet. It was the prophet Chidhr, who, though 
 gifted with eternal youth, was withal endowed 
 with the finest ornament of hoary age. 
 
 After mutual salutation, Moses said, " Accept 
 me as thy disciple, and permit me to accompany 
 thee in thy wanderings through the world, that 
 I may admire the wisdom which Allah has be- 
 stowed on thee." 
 
 " Thou canst not comprehend it, and wilt 
 therefore not remain long with me." 
 
 " If Allah pleases, thou shalt find me both obe- 
 dient and patient. Reject me not !" 
 
 " Thou mayest follow me, yet must thou ask 
 me no question until I shall, of my own accord, 
 explain my actions." 
 
 When Moses had submitted to this condition. 
 
158 MVriTERlES. 
 
 Al Chidhr took him to the shore of the sea, where 
 a vessel was lying at anchor. He took an axe 
 and struck out tw^o planks of the vessel, so that 
 it sank immediately. 
 
 " What dost thou ?" cried Moses : " the men 
 that are in it will now perish." 
 
 " Did I not say," replied Al Chidhr, " thou wilt 
 not long continue patiently with me ?" 
 
 " Pardon me," said Moses ; " I had forgotten 
 my promise." 
 
 Al Chidhr then journeyed farther with him, 
 until they met a beautiful boy, who was playing 
 with shells on the sea-shore. Al Chidhr drew his 
 knife, and cut the throat of the child. 
 
 Moses cried, " Why murderest thou an inno- 
 cent child, who can in no wise have desei-ved 
 death ? Thou hast committed a great crime !" 
 
 " Did I not tell thee," replied Al Chidhr, " thou 
 canst not travel long in my company ?" 
 
 " Pardon me yet this once," replied Moses ; 
 " and if I inquire again, then mayest thou reject 
 me!" 
 
 " They now traveled long to and fro, until 
 they arrived, weary and hungry, in a large city. 
 Yet no one would lodge them, nor give them 
 meat or drink without money. Suddenly Al 
 Chidhr beheld how the walls of a beautiful inn, 
 out of which they had just been driven, threat- 
 ened to fall in ; he then stepped before them, 
 O 
 
EXPLANATION. 159 
 
 and supported them until they stood upright 
 again ; and when he had strengthened them, he 
 went his way. 
 
 Then said Moses to him, " Thou hast now 
 performed a work which would have occupied 
 many masons during several days ; why hast 
 thou not at least demanded a reward, that we 
 might have bought some provisions ?" 
 
 " Now we must separate," said Al Chidhr ; 
 " yet, ere we part, I will explain to thee the mo- 
 tives of my conduct. The vessel which I have 
 damaged, but which may be easily repaired, be- 
 longed to poor men, and formed their only 
 source of maintenance. At the time I struck it, 
 many ships of a certain tyrant were cruising in 
 those seas, capturing every serviceable craft. 
 By me, therefore, these poor sailors have saved 
 their only property. 
 
 " The child whom I have slain is the son of 
 pious parents ; but he himself (I perceived it in 
 his face) was of a depraved nature, and would, 
 in the end, have led his parents into evil. I have 
 therefore preferred to slay him : Allah will give 
 them pious children in his stead. 
 
 "As for the wall of the inn which I have 
 raised up and strengthened, it belongs to two 
 orphans whose father was a pious man. Be- 
 neath the wall there is a treasure hid, which the 
 present owner would have claimed if it had fall- 
 
160 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 en : I have therefore repaired it, that the treas- 
 ure may be left secure until the children shall 
 have grow^n up. 
 
 " Thou seest, then," continued Al Chidhr, " that 
 in all this I have not followed blind passion, but 
 have acted according to the will of my Lord."* 
 
 ♦ This legend is evidently of Jewish origin. It is related re- 
 specting Moses, that while on Mount Sinai, the Lord instructed 
 him in the mysteries of his providence. Moses having complained 
 of the impunity of vice and its success in this world, and the fre- 
 quent sufferings of the innocent, the Lord took him to a rock 
 which projected from the mountain, and where he could overlook 
 the vast plain of the desert stretching at his feet. 
 
 On one of its oases he beheld a young Arab asleep. He awoke, 
 and, leaving behind him a bag of pearls, he sprung into his saddle, 
 and rapidly disappeared from the horizon. Another Arab came to 
 the oasis : he discovered the pearls, took them, and vanished in 
 the opposite direction. 
 
 Now an aged wanderer, leaning on his staff, bent his weary 
 steps toward the shady spot : he laid himself down, and fell asleep. 
 But scarcely had he closed his eyes, when he was rudely roused 
 from his slumber ; the young Arab had returned, and demanded 
 his pearls. The hoary man replied, he had not taken them. The 
 other grew enraged, and accused him of theft. He swore that he 
 had not seen his treasure ; but the other seized him ; a scuffle en- 
 sued ; the young Arab drew his sword, and plunged it into the 
 breast of the aged man, who fell lifeless on the earth. 
 
 " O Lord, is this justice ?" exclaimed Moses, with terror. " Be 
 silent ! Behold, this man, whose blood is now mingling with the 
 wa1;ers of the desert, many years ago, secretly, on the same spot, 
 murdered the father of the youth who has now slain him. His 
 crime remained concealed from men, but vengeance is mine : I 
 will repay !" 
 
 The reader must be struck with the similarity of these fictions 
 and the beautiful poem on the same subject by Barnell, who, if 
 unacquainted with the Arabic legend, may have read the one we 
 have related in Schiller's " Sendung Moses."— JB. T. 
 
THE NORTH. 161 
 
 Moses prayed Al Chidhr once more to pardon 
 him, but did not venture to ask permission to 
 remain with him. 
 
 During the last thirty years Moses had passed 
 through the southern, eastern, and western parts 
 of the earth, and there were yet left to him ten 
 years for wandering in the north, which, not- 
 withstanding: the ferocity of the nations of that 
 region, and the rigidity of its chmate, he visited 
 in every direction nntil he came to the great iron 
 wall which Alexander had erected to protect the 
 inhabitants against the predatory incursions of 
 the nations of Jadjudj and Madjudj. After he 
 had admired this wall, which is cast in one piece, 
 he praised the omnipotence of Allah, and re- 
 traced his steps toward the Arabian desert. 
 
 Nine-and-thirty years had already elapsed 
 since he had separated from his brethren. Most 
 of the Israelites whom he had left in their prime 
 had mean while died, and another generation 
 had risen in their stead. 
 
 Among the few aged men who yet remained 
 was his kinsman Karun (Korah), Ibn Jachar, 
 Ibn Fahitz. He had learned from Moses's sister, 
 Kolthum (Miriam), who was his wife, the sci- 
 ence of alchemy, so that he was able to convert 
 the meanest metal into gold. He was so rich 
 that he built lofty walls of gold round his gar- 
 dens, and required forty mules to carry the keys 
 n 02 
 
162 KORAII. 
 
 of his treasuries when he traveled.* By means 
 of his wealth he had succeeded in acquiring a 
 truly regal influence during Moses's absence. 
 But when, at Moses's return, his importance di- 
 minished, he resolved on his destruction. He 
 therefore visited a maiden whom Moses had 
 banished from the camp on account of her aban- 
 doned courses, and promised to marry her if 
 she would declare before the elders of the con- 
 gregation that Moses had expelled her only be- 
 cause she had refused to listen to his proposals. 
 She promised Korah to act entirely after his 
 will. But when she arrived before the elders 
 with the intention of calumniating Moses, she 
 was not able to prefer her charge. Allah put 
 different words into her mouth : she acknowl- 
 edged her guilt, and confessed that Korah had 
 induced her, by innumerable promises, to bring 
 a false accusation against Moses. Moses pray- 
 ed to Allah for protection against the malignity 
 of his kinsman ; and lo ! the earth opened under 
 the feet of Korah, and devoured him, with all 
 his associates and goods. 
 
 As the fortieth year was hastening to its close, 
 Moses marched with the Iraelites toward the 
 frontier of Palestine. 
 
 But when Jalub Ifn Safum, the king of Balka, 
 
 * The Midrash says, " Korah had 300 white muks, which car- 
 ried the keys of his treasuries. His wealth was his ruin !" 
 
BALAAM. 163 
 
 received intelligence of the approach of the Is- 
 raelites, who had already, in their march, con- 
 quered many cities, he called to him Beliam the 
 sorcerer, the son of Baur, in hopes to be enabled, 
 by his counsel and aid, to withstand the Israel- 
 ites. But an angel appeared to Beliam in the 
 night, and forbade him to accept the invitation 
 of Jalub. When, therefore, the messengers of 
 the king returned to Balka without Beliam, Jalub 
 purchased the most costly jewels, and sent them 
 secretly by other messengers to Beliam's wife, 
 to whom the sorcerer was so much attached as 
 to be quite under her control. Beliam's wife 
 accepted the presents, and persuaded her hus- 
 band to undertake the journey. The king, ac- 
 companied by his viziers, rode out some distance 
 to meet him, and appointed one of the most beau- 
 tiful houses of the city for his abode. Accord- 
 mg to the custom of the country, the guest was 
 provided three days from the royal tables, and 
 the viziers visited him from time to time, with- 
 out speaking, however, of the object for which 
 he had been called to Balka. It was not until 
 the fourth day that he was summoned to the 
 king, and entreated to curse the people of Israel. 
 But Allah paralyzed the tongue of Beliam, so 
 that, notwithstanding his hatred toward the 
 people, he was not able to utter a word of im- 
 precation. 
 
164 THE TEMPTER. 
 
 Wlien the king saw this, he prayed him at 
 least to assist with his counsel against the invad- 
 ing nation. 
 
 "The best means against the Israelites," said 
 Beliam, " who are so terrible only through the 
 assistance of Allah, is to lead them into sin. 
 Their God then forsakes them, and they are un- 
 able to resist any foe. Send, therefore, the 
 most beautiful women and maidens of the capi- 
 tal to meet them with provisions, that they may 
 yield to sin, and then thou shalt easily overcome 
 them." 
 
 The king adopted this counsel ; but Moses 
 was apprised thereof by the angel Gabriel, and 
 caused the first' Israelite who was led into sin to 
 be put to death, and as a warning, commanded 
 his head to be carried on a spear throughout the 
 camp. He then instantly led on the attack : 
 Balka was taken, and the king, with Beliam and 
 his sons, w^ere the first to perish in the fight. 
 Soon after the conquest of Balka, Gabriel ap- 
 peared, and commanded Moses, together with 
 Aaron and his sons, to follow him to a lofty 
 mountain which lay near the city. On reaching 
 the pinnacle of the mountain they beheld a 
 finely-wrought cave, in the midst of which there 
 stood a coffin, with the inscription, " I am des- 
 tined for him whom I fit." Moses desired to 
 lay himself first into it, but his feet protruded ; 
 
THE DEATH OF AARON. 165 
 
 then Aaron placed himself in it, and behold, it 
 fitted him as if his measure had been taken. 
 Gabriel then led Moses and Aaron's sons be- 
 yond the cave, but he himself returned to wash 
 and to bless Aaron, whose soul had mean while 
 been taken by the Angel of Death, When Mo- 
 ses returned to the camp without Aaron, and 
 announced his death to the Israelites who in- 
 quired for his brother, he was suspected of hav- 
 ing murdered him ; many, even, were not afraid 
 to proclaim their suspicions in public. Moses 
 prayed to Allah to manifest his innocence in the 
 presence of all the people, and behold, four an- 
 gels brought Aaron's coffin from the cave, and 
 raised it above the camp of the Israelites, so 
 that every one could see him, and one of the an- 
 gels exclaimed, " Allah has taken Aaron's soul 
 to himself"* Moses, who now anticipated his 
 approaching end, pronounced a long discourse 
 before the Israelites, in which he enforced on 
 them the most important laws. At the close, 
 he warned them against falsifying the Law, 
 which had been revealed to them, and in which 
 the future appearance of Mohammed, in whom 
 they were all to believe, was quite clearly an- 
 nounced. A few days after, while he was read- 
 ing in the Law, the Angel of Death visited him. 
 Moses said, " If thou be commanded to receive 
 
 * In perfect accordance with the Midrash, p. 255. 
 
166 THE DEATH OF MOSES. 
 
 my soul, take it from my mouth, for it was con- 
 stantly occupied with the word of Allah, and 
 has not been touched by any unclean thing." 
 He then put on his most beautiful robes, ap- 
 pointed Joshua his successor, and died at an age 
 of one hundred and twenty, or, as some of the 
 learned maintain, of one hundred and eighty 
 years. The mercy of Allah be with him ! 
 
 Others relate the particulars of Moses's death 
 as follows : When Gabriel announced to him his 
 approaching dissolution, he ran hurriedly to his 
 dwelling, and knocked hastily at the door. His 
 wife Safurija opened it, and beholding him quite 
 pale, and with ruffled countenance, inquired, 
 " Who pursueth thee, that thou runnest hither 
 in terror and lookest dismayed ! Who is it that 
 pursueth thee for debt ?" 
 
 Then Moses answered, " Is there a mightier 
 creditor than the Lord of heaven and earth, or 
 a more dangerous pursuer than the Angel of 
 Death ?" 
 
 " Shall, then, a man who has spoken with Al- 
 lah die?" 
 
 " Assuredly, even the angel Gabriel shall be 
 delivered to death, and Michael and Israfil, with 
 all other angels. Allah alone is eternal, and 
 never dies." 
 
 Safurija wept until she swooned away ; but 
 
THE DEATH OF MOSES. 167 
 
 when she came to herself, Moses inquired, 
 " Where are my children ?" 
 
 " They are asleep." 
 
 " Awake them, that I may bid them a last fare- 
 well." 
 
 Safurija went before the couch of her children, 
 and cried, " Rise, ye poor orphans ; rise, and take 
 leave of your father, for this day is his last in 
 this world and his first in the next." 
 
 The children started from their sleep in af- 
 fright, and cried, " Woe unto us ! who will have 
 compassion upon us when we shall be fatherless ? 
 Who will with solicitude and affection step over 
 our threshold ?" 
 
 Moses was so moved that he wept bitterly 
 
 Then said Allah to him, " Moses, what signify 
 these tears ? Art thou afraid of death, or de- 
 partest thou reluctantly from this world ?" 
 
 " I fear not death, and leave this world with 
 gladness ; but I have compassion on these chil- 
 dren, from whom their father is about to be torn." 
 
 " In whom trusted thy mother when she con- 
 fided thy life to the waters ?" 
 
 " In Thee, O Lord." 
 
 " Who protected thee against Pharaoh, and 
 gave thee a staff' with which thou dividedst the 
 sea ?" 
 
 " Thou, O Lord." 
 
 " Go, then, once more to the sea-shore, lift up 
 
168 THE DEATH OF xMoriEs'. 
 
 thy staff over the waters, and thou shait see an- 
 other sign of my omnipotence." 
 
 Moses followed this command, and instantly 
 the sea was divided, and he beheld in the midst 
 thereof a huge black rock. When he came near 
 it, Allah cried to him, " Smite it with thy staff." 
 He smote it ; the rock was cleft in twain, and 
 he saw beneath it, in a sort of cave, a worm 
 with a green leaf in his mouth, which cried three 
 times, " Praised be Allah, who doth not forget 
 me in my solitude ! Praised be Allah, who hath 
 nourished and raised me up !" The worm was 
 silent ; and Allah said to Aloses, '* Thou seest 
 that I do not forsake the worm under the hidden 
 rock in the sea, and how should I forsake thy 
 children, who do even now confess that God is 
 One, and that Moses is his prophet ?" 
 
 Moses then returned, reproved, to his house, 
 comforted his wife and children, and went alone 
 to the mountain. There he found four men, who 
 were digging a grave, and he inquired of them, 
 " For w^hom is this grave ?" They replied, " For 
 a man whom Allah desires to have with him in 
 heaven." Moses begged permission to assist at 
 the grave of so pious a man. When the work 
 was done, he inquired, ''Have you taken the 
 measure of the dead?" "No," they said, "we 
 have forgotten it ; but he was precisely of thy 
 form and stature : lay thyself in it, that we may 
 
THE UEATH OF MOlSES. 169 
 
 see whether it will fit thee : Allah will reward 
 thy kindness." But when Moses had laid him- 
 self down within it, the Angel of Death stepped 
 before him, and said, " Peace be upon thee, Mo- 
 ses !" 
 
 " Allah bless thee, and have pity upon thee ! 
 Who art thou?" 
 
 " I am the Angel of Death ! Prophet of Allah, 
 and come to receive thy soul." 
 
 " How wilt thou take it " 
 
 " Out of thy mouth." 
 
 *' Thou canst not, for my mouth hath spoken 
 with God." 
 
 " I will draw it out of thine eyes." 
 
 " Thou mayest not do so, for they have seen 
 the light of the Lord." 
 
 " Well, then, I will take it out of thine ears." 
 
 " This also thou mayest not do, for they have 
 heard the word of Allah." 
 
 " I will take it from thy hands." 
 
 "How darest thou? Have they not borne 
 the diamond tablets on which the Law was en- 
 graved ?" 
 
 Allah then commanded the Angel of Death to 
 ask of Ridwhan, the guardian of Paradise, an 
 apple of Eden, and to present it to Moses. 
 
 Moses took the apple from the hand of the 
 Angel of Death to inhale its fragrance, and at 
 that instant his noble soul rose through his nos- 
 
170 HIS SEPULCHER. 
 
 trils to heaven. But his body remained in this 
 grave, which no one knew save Gabriel, Michael, 
 Israfil, and Azrail, who had dug it, and whom 
 Moses had taken for men. 
 
SAMUEL, SAUL, AND DAVID. 
 
 The Israelites lived under Joshua (who was, 
 however, not a prophet, but merely a virtuous 
 prince and valiant chief) conformably to the laws 
 revealed by Moses ; the Lord therefore enabled 
 them to expel the giants from the land of Ca- 
 naan, and at their cry, " Allah is great," the loft- 
 iest walls of fortified cities fell in. ' 
 
 But after Joshua's death they relapsed into all 
 those iniquities on account of which the Egyp- 
 tians had been so severely punished ; wherefore 
 Allah, in order to chastise and to reclaim his peo- 
 ple, sent the giant Djalut (Goliath) against them, 
 who defeated them in numerous engagements, 
 and even took from them the Tabut (the sacred 
 ark of the Covenant), so that the protection of 
 Allah entirely departed from them. 
 
 One day, when the heads of the people were 
 assembled to consult in what manner the mighty 
 Goliath might be resisted, there came a man to 
 them of the family of Aaron : his name was Ish- 
 mawil Ibn Bal (Samuel), and said, " The God of 
 your fathers sent me to you, to proclaim speedy 
 help if you will turn to him, but utter destruc- 
 tion if you continue in your wicked courses." 
 
172 SAMUEL. 
 
 " What shall we do," inquired one of the eld- 
 ers, " to obtain the favor of Allah ?" 
 
 Samuel replied, " You shall worship Allah 
 alone, and oifer no sacrifices unto idols ; nor eat 
 that which has died of itself, nor swine's flesh, 
 nor blood, nor any thing that has not been slaugh- 
 tered in the name of Allah. Assist each other 
 in doing good, honor your parents, treat your 
 wives with kindness, support the widow, the or- 
 phan, and the poor. Believe in the prophets 
 that have gone before me, especially in Abra- 
 ham, for whom Allah turned the burning pile 
 into a garden of delight ; in Ismael, whose neck 
 he rendered invulnerable, and for whom he 
 caused a fountain to spring up in the stony des- 
 ert; and in Moses, who opened with his rod 
 twelve dry paths through the sea. 
 
 " Believe, in like manner, in the prophets that 
 shall come after me ; above all, in Isa Ibn Ma- 
 riam, the spirit of Allah (Christ), and in Moham- 
 med Ibn Abd Allah." 
 
 " Who is Isa ?" inquired one of the heads of 
 Israel. 
 
 " He is the prophet," replied Samuel, " whom 
 the Scriptures point out as the Word of Allah. 
 His mother shall conceive him as a virgin by 
 the will of the Lord and the breath of the angel 
 Gabriel. Even in the womb he shall praise the 
 omnipotence of Allah, and testify to the purity 
 
CHRIST AND MOHAMMED. 173 
 
 of his mother ; but at a later period he shall heal 
 the sick and leprous, raise the dead, and create 
 living birds out of clay. His godless contempo- 
 raries will afflict and attempt to crucify him ; but 
 Allah shall blind them, so that another shall be 
 crucified in his stead, while he, like the prophet 
 Enoch, is taken up into heaven without tasting 
 death." 
 
 " And Mohammed, who is he ?" continued the 
 same Israelite ; " his name sounds so strangely 
 that I do not remember ever having heard it in 
 Israel." 
 
 " Mohammed," Samuel replied, " does not be- 
 long to our people, but is a descendant of Ismael, 
 and the last and greatest prophet, to whom even 
 Moses and Christ shall bow down in the day of 
 the resurrection. 
 
 " His name, which signifies the ' Much-praised- 
 One,' indicates of itself the many excellences 
 for which he is blessed by all creatures both in 
 heaven and on earth. 
 
 " But the wonders which he shall perform are 
 so numerous that a whole human life would not 
 suffice to narrate them. I shall content myself, 
 therefore, with communicating to you but a part 
 of what he shall see in one single night.* 
 
 * The following narrative, which Samuel is made to utter, de- 
 scribes the Night Journey of Mohammed. He revealed it to his 
 followers in the 12th year of his mission ; and though his Arabs 
 were given to the marvellous, yet this staggered even their cre- 
 
 P2 
 
174 THE NIGHT JOURNEY. 
 
 " In a frightfully tempestuous night, when the 
 cock refrains from crowing, and the hound from 
 baying, he shall be roused from his sleep by 
 Gabriel, who frequently appears to him in human 
 form ; but who on this occasion comes as Allah 
 created him, with his seven hundred radiant 
 wings, between each of which is a space which 
 the fleetest steed can scarcely traverse in five 
 hundred years. 
 
 "He shall lead him forth to a spot where 
 Borak, the miraculous horse, the same which 
 Abraham used to mount on his pilgrimages from 
 Syria to Mecca, stands ready to receive him. 
 
 " This horse also has two wings like an eagle, 
 feet like a dromedary ; a body of diamonds, 
 which shines like the sun, and a head like the 
 most beautiful virgin. 
 
 " On this miraculous steed, on whose forehead 
 is engraved ' There is no Lord but Allah, and 
 Mohammed is his messenger,' he is carried first 
 to Medina, then to Sinai, to Bethlehem, and to 
 Jerusalem, that he may pray on holy ground. 
 From thence he ascends by a golden ladder, 
 whose steps are of ruby, of emerald, and hya- 
 cinth, into the seventh heaven, where he is ini- 
 tiated in all the mysteries of creation, and the 
 government of the universe. 
 
 dulity, and would have proved his utter ruin but for the resolute 
 interposition of Abu Bekr. — E. T. 
 
THE NlfiFlT JOURNEY. 175 
 
 " He beholds the pious amid all their felicities 
 in Paradise, and sinners in their varied agonies 
 in hell. Many of them are roaming there like 
 ravenous beasts through barren fields ; they are 
 those who in this life enjoyed the bounties of 
 Allah, and gave nothing thereof to the poor. 
 
 " Others run to and fro, carrying fresh meat 
 m one hand, and corroded flesh in the other ; 
 but as often as they would put the former into 
 their mouths, their hands are struck with fiery 
 rods until they partake of the putrefied morsel. 
 This is the punishment of those who broke their 
 marriage vow, and found pleasure in guilty in- 
 dulgences. 
 
 " The bodies of others are terribly swollen, 
 and are still increasing in bulk : they are such 
 as have grown rich by usury, and whose ava- 
 rice was insatiable. 
 
 " The tongues and lips of others are seized 
 and pinched with iron pincers, as the punish- 
 ment of their calumnious and rebellious speech- 
 es, by which they caused so much evil in the 
 earth. 
 
 " Midway between Paradise and hell is seated 
 Adam, the father of the human race, who smiles 
 with joy as often as the gates of Paradise are 
 thrown open, and the triumphant cries of the 
 blessed are borne forth, but weeps when the 
 gates of hell are unclosed, and the sighs of the 
 damned penetrate to his ear. 
 
176 THE NIGHT JOURNEY. 
 
 " In that night Mohammed beholds, besides 
 Gabriel, other angels, many of whom have sev- 
 enty thousand heads, each head with seventy 
 thousand faces, each face with seventy thousand 
 mouths, and each mouth with seventy thousand 
 tongues, each of w hich praises Allah in seventy 
 thousand languages. He sees, too, the Angel 
 of Reconciliation, who is half fire and half ice : 
 the angel who watches with scowling visage 
 and flaming eyes the treasuries of fire : the An- 
 gel of Death, holding in his hand a huge tablet, 
 inscribed with names, of which he effaces hun- 
 dreds every instant : the angel who keeps the 
 floods, and measures out with an immense bal- 
 ance the waters appointed unto every river and 
 every fountain ; and him, finally, who supports 
 the throne of Allah on his shoulders, and is 
 holding a trumpet in his mouth, whose blast 
 shall one day wake the sleepers from the grave. 
 
 " He is at last conducted through many oceans 
 of light, into the vicinity of the holy throne itself, 
 which is so vast, that the rest of the universe 
 appears by its side like the scales of a coat of 
 armor in the boundless desert. 
 
 " That which shall be revealed to him there," 
 continued Samuel, " is as yet concealed from 
 me ; but this I know : He shall gaze on the glory 
 of Allah at the distance of a bow-shot ; shall 
 then descend to earth by the ladder, and return 
 on Borak to Mecca as rapidly as he came. 
 
 I 
 
SAUL. 177 
 
 "To accomplish this vast journey, including 
 his stay in Medina, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and 
 in heaven, he requires so little time, that a wa- 
 ter vase, which he overturns in rising from his 
 couch, will not have emptied its contents at his 
 return." 
 
 The assembled Israelites listened attentively 
 to Samuel, and w-hen he had finished, they ex- 
 claimed with one voice, " We believe in Allah, 
 and in his prophets which were and are to 
 come ; only pray that He may dehver us from 
 the tyranny of Goliath." 
 
 Samuel prayed and fasted till at length Allah 
 sent an angel, who commanded him to go out 
 of the city, and to proclaim the first man who 
 should meet him king over Israel, since in his 
 reign the Israelites should regain their independ- 
 ence from foreign bondage. 
 
 Samuel did as he was commanded, and met 
 Talut [Saul], the son of Bishr, the son of Ahnun, 
 the son of Benjamin, who was a husbandman 
 of lofty stature, but not otherwise remarkable, 
 though Allah had put much wisdom into his 
 heart. 
 
 He was wandering about in search of a heifer 
 which had broken away from her plough and 
 run at large. Samuel assisted him in her re- 
 covery, and then took Saul home with him, 
 anointed him with oil, and presented iiim to the 
 13 
 
178 SAUL. 
 
 heads of Israel as their king and divinely-com- 
 missioned deUverer. 
 
 But they refused to accept as their king a 
 common peasant, who hitherto had not distin- 
 guished himself in any wise; and they demand- 
 ed a miracle. 
 
 " Allah " replied Samuel, " will, in token of 
 his ratifying this kingly election, restore to you 
 the ark of the covenant." 
 
 From that day the Philistines were visited 
 with the most painful and disgusting leprosy, 
 whose origin no physician could discover, and 
 which no physician could cure. But as the 
 plague fell most heavily on that city where the 
 ark of the covenant, which had been carried in 
 triumph from one place to another, happened to 
 be, no one w'ould retain it any longer, and it 
 was at last left standing in a wagon in the open 
 field. 
 
 Allah then commanded two invisible angels 
 to carry it back into the midst of the camp of 
 Israel, who thereupon no longer hesitated to do 
 fealty unto Saul as their king. 
 
 As soon as he was elected, Saul mustered the 
 host of Israel, and marched against the Philis- 
 tines at the head of seventy thousand men. 
 
 During their march through the wilderness, 
 they were one day in want of water, so that a 
 universal murmuring arose against Samuel and 
 
PEWANt'E. 179 
 
 Saul. Samuel, who was following after the ark 
 of the covenant, prayed to the Lord, and there 
 sprung from out the rocky ground a fountain 
 of water, which was as fresh as snow, as sweet 
 as honey, and as white as milk. But when the 
 soldiers came rushing toward it, Samuel cried, 
 " You have grievously sinned against your king 
 and against your God by reason of discontent 
 and rebellion. Forbear to touch this water, that 
 by abstinence you may atone for your sin !" 
 
 But Samuel's words met with no regard. 
 Only three hundred and thirteen men — as many 
 as fought in the first engagement of the Mussul- 
 mans against the Infidels — mastered their appe- 
 tite, barely refreshing themselves, while all the 
 rest of the army yielded to the temptation, and 
 drank in full draughts from the fountain. 
 
 When Talut beheld this, he disbanded the 
 whole army, and, relying on the aid of Allah, 
 marched against the enemy with the small num- 
 ber of his men who had conquered their desire. 
 
 Among this little band were six sons of a vir- 
 tuous man whose name was Isa. Davud [Da- 
 vid], his seventh son, had remained at home to 
 nurse his aged father. 
 
 But when, for a long time, no engagement took 
 place between Israel and the Philistines, since 
 no one had accepted the challenge to single 
 combat with Goliath, by which a general battle 
 
1»U DAVID. 
 
 was to be preceded, Isa sent also his seventh son 
 into the camp, partly to carry fresh provisions 
 to his brothers, and partly to bring him tidings 
 of their welfare. 
 
 On his way he heard a voice from a pebble 
 which lay in the midst of the road, calling to 
 him, " Lift me up, for I am one of the stones 
 with which the prophet Abraham drove Satan 
 away when he would have shaken his resolve 
 to sacrifice his son in obedience to his heavenly 
 vision." 
 
 David placed the stone, which was inscribed 
 with holy names, in the bag which he wore in 
 his upper garment, for he was simply dressed 
 like a traveler, and not as a soldier. 
 
 When he had proceeded a little farther, he 
 again heard a voice from another pebble, crying, 
 " Take me with thee, for I am the stone which 
 the angel Gabriel struck out from the ground 
 with his foot when he caused a fountain to gush 
 forth in the wilderness for Ismael's sake." 
 
 David took this stone also, and laying it be- 
 side the first, went on his way. But soon he 
 heard the following words proceeding from a 
 third stone : " Lift me up, for I am the stone 
 with which Jacob fought against the angels 
 which his brother Esau had sentout against him." 
 
 David took this stone likewise, and continued 
 his journey without interruption until he came 
 
GOLIATH. 181 
 
 to his brothers in the camp of Israel. On his 
 arrival there, he heard how a herald proclaimed, 
 " Whoever puts the giant Goliath to death shall 
 become Saul's son-in-law, and succeed hereafter 
 to his throne." 
 
 David sought to persuade his brothers to ven- 
 ture the combat with Goliath, not to become the 
 king's son-in-law and successor, but to wipe off 
 the reproach that rested on their people. 
 
 But, since courage and confidence failed them, 
 he went to Saul, and offered to accept the gi- 
 ant's challenge. The king had but little hopes 
 indeed that a tender youth, such as David then 
 was, would defeat a warrior like Goliath ; yet 
 he permitted the combat to take place, for he 
 believed that even if he should fall, his reproach- 
 ful example would excite some others to imitate 
 his heroic conduct. 
 
 On the following morning, when Goliath, as 
 usual, challenged with proud speech the war- 
 riors of Israel, David, in his traveling apparel, 
 and with his bag containing the three stones, 
 stepped down into the arena. Goliath laughed 
 aloud on seeing his youthful antagonist, and said 
 to him, " Rather hie thee home to play with lads 
 of thine own years. How wilt thou fight with 
 me, seeing that thou art even unarmed V 
 
 David replied, " Thou art as a dog unto me, 
 whom one mav best drive awav with a stone ;" 
 
 Q 
 
182 saul's jealousy. 
 
 and before Goliath was yet able to draw his 
 sword from its scabbard, he took the three stones 
 from his bag, pierced the giant with one of them, 
 so that he instantly fell lifeless on the ground, and 
 drove with the second the right wing of the Phi- 
 listines into flight, and their left wing with the 
 third. 
 
 But Saul was jealous of David, whom all Is- 
 rael extolled as their greatest hero, and refused 
 to give him his daughter until he brought the 
 heads of a hundred giants as the marriage gift. 
 But the greater David's achievements were, the 
 more rancorous grew the envy of Saul, so that 
 he even sought treacherously to slay him. Da- 
 vid defeated all his plans ; but he never revenged 
 himself, and Saul's hatred waxed greater by 
 reason of this very magnanimity. 
 
 One day he visited his daughter in David's 
 absence, and threatened to put her to death un- 
 less she gave him a promise, and confirmed it 
 by the most sacred oaths, that she would deliver 
 her husband unto him during the night. 
 
 When the latter returned home, his wife met 
 him in alarm, and related what had happened 
 between her and her father. David said to her, 
 " Be faithful to thine oath, and open the door of 
 my chamber to thy father as soon as I shall be 
 asleep. Allah will protect me even in my sleep, 
 and give me the means of rendering Saul's sword 
 
SAULS JEALOUSY. 183 
 
 harmless, even as Abraham's weapon was im- 
 potent against Ismael, who yielded his neck to 
 the slaughter." 
 
 He then went into his forge, and prepared a 
 coat of mail, which covered the whole upper 
 part of his body from his neck downward. This 
 coat was as fine as a hair, and, clinging to him 
 like silk, resisted every kind of weapon ; for Da- 
 vid had been endowed, as a special favor frorp 
 Allah, with the power of melting iron without 
 fire, and of fashioning it like wax for every con- 
 ceivable purpose, with no instrument but his 
 hand. 
 
 To him we are indebted for the ringed coat 
 of mail, for up to his time armor consisted of 
 simple iron plates. 
 
 David was wrapped in the most peaceful slum- 
 ber, when Saul, guided by his daughter, entered 
 his chamber ; and it was not until his father-in- 
 law haggled the impenetrable mail with his 
 sword as with a saw, bearing on it with all his 
 strength, that David awoke, tore the sword from 
 his hand, and broke it in pieces as if it had been 
 a morsel of bread. 
 
 But after this occurrence, he thought it no 
 longer advisable to tarry with Saul, and there- 
 fore retired to the mountains, with a few of his 
 friends and adherents. Saul made use of this 
 pretext to have him suspected of the people, and 
 
184 SAUL AND DAVID RECONCILED. 
 
 at last, accusing him of treason, marched against 
 him at the head of one thousand soldiers. But 
 David was so endeared to the inhabitants of the 
 mountain, and knew its hiding-places so well, 
 that it was impossible for Saul to take him. 
 
 One night, while Saul was asleep, David left 
 a cave which was quite near to the king's en- 
 campment, and took the signet ring from his fin- 
 ger, together with his arms and a standard 
 which were lying by his side. He then retreat- 
 ed through the cave, which had a double en- 
 trance, and the next morning appeared on the 
 pinnacle of a mountain which stood opposite to 
 the camp of the Israelites, having girt on Saul's 
 huge sword, and waving his standard up and 
 down, and stretching out his finger on which he 
 had placed the king's ring. 
 
 Saul, who could not understand how a thief 
 could have penetrated into the midst of his well- 
 guarded camp, recognized David and the arti- 
 cles which had been taken from him. This new 
 proof of his dexterity and magnanimous dispo- 
 sition overcame at last the king's envy and dis- 
 pleasure ; he therefore dispatched a messenger, 
 who in the royal name begged forgiveness for 
 all the grievances he had inflicted, and invited 
 David to return to his home. 
 
 David was overjoyed at a reconciliation with 
 his father-in-law, and they now lived together in 
 
THE ROYAL DINGER. 185 
 
 peace and harmony until Saul was slain, in a 
 disastrous engagement with the Philistines. 
 
 After Saul's death David was unanimously- 
 elected King of Israel, and by the help of Allah 
 he soon reconquered the Philistines, and extend- 
 ed the boundaries of his kingdom far and wide. 
 
 But David was not only a brave warrior and 
 a wise king, but likewise a great prophet. Allah 
 revealed to him seventy psalms, and endowed 
 him with a voice such as no mortal possessed 
 before him. In height and depth, in power and 
 melody combined, no human voice had ever 
 equaled it. He could imitate the thunders of 
 heaven and the roar of the lion as well as the 
 delicious notes of the nightingale ; nor was there 
 any other musician or singer in Israel as long 
 as David lived, because no one who had once 
 heard him could take pleasure in any other per- 
 formance. Every third day he prayed with the 
 congregation, and sung the psalms in a chapel 
 which was hewn out of the mountain rocks. 
 Then not only all men assembled to hear him, 
 but even beasts and birds came from afar, at- 
 tracted by his wonderful song. 
 
 One day, as he was on his return from prayer, 
 he heard two of his subjects contending which 
 of the two was the greater prophet, Abraham 
 o^' himself. " Was not Abraham," said the one, 
 " saved from the burning pile ?" " Has not Da- 
 Q2 
 
186 PRESUMPTION AND FALL. 
 
 vid,'' replied the other, " slain the giant Djalut?" 
 " But what has David achieved," resumed the 
 first, " that might be compared u^th Abraham's 
 readiness to sacrifice his son ?" 
 
 As soon as David came home, ne fell down 
 before Allah and prayed : " Lord, who hast 
 proved on the pile Abraham's fidelity and obe- 
 dience, grant unto me too an opportunity to 
 show unto my people that my love to thee with- 
 stands every temptation." 
 
 David's prayer was heard: when, three days' 
 afterward, he ascended- his pulpit, he perceived 
 a bird of such beautiful plumage that it attract- 
 ed his whole attention, and he followed it with 
 his eyes to every corner of the chapel, and to 
 the trees and shrubs beyond. He sung fewer 
 psalms than he was wont to do ; his voice failed 
 him as often as he lost sight of this graceful 
 bird, and grew soft and playful in the most sol- 
 emn parts of the worship whenever it reap- 
 peared. 
 
 At the close of the prayers, which, to the as- 
 tonishment of the whole assembly, were conclud- 
 ed on this occasion several hours sooner than 
 usual, he followed the bird, which flew from 
 tree to tree, until he found himself, at sunset, on 
 the margin of a little lake. The bird disappear- 
 ed in the lake, but David soon forgot it ; for in 
 its stend there rose up a female form, whose 
 
REBUKE. 187 
 
 beauty dazzled him like the clearest midday 
 sun. He inquired her name : it was Saja, the 
 daughter of Josu, the wife of Uriah Ibn Haman, 
 who was with the army. David departed, and 
 on his return commanded the chief of his troops 
 to appoint Uriah to the most dangerous post in 
 the vanguard of the army. His command was 
 executed, and soon afterward the death of Uriah 
 was reported. David then wooed his widow, 
 and married her at the expiration of the pre- 
 scribed time. 
 
 On the day after his marriage, there appeared, 
 at Allah's command, Gabriel and Michael in hu- 
 man form before David, and Gabriel said, " The 
 man whom thou seest here before thee is the 
 owner of ninety-nine sheep, while I possess an 
 only one ; nevertheless, he pursues me without 
 ceasing, and demands that I should give up my 
 only sheep to him." 
 
 " Thy demand is unreasonable," said David, 
 " and betrays an unbelieving heart and a rude 
 disposition." 
 
 But Gabriel interrupted him, saying, "Many 
 a noble and accomplished heliever permits him- 
 self more unjust things than this." 
 
 David now perceived this to be an allusion 
 to his conduct toward Uriah ; and, filled with 
 wrath, he grasped his sword,* and would have 
 
 * The Scriptures teach that David gcKnowledged his sin on 
 
188 REBUKE. 
 
 plunged it into Gabriel ; but Michael gave a 
 laud laugh of scorn; and when Gabriel and him- 
 self had ascended above David's head on their 
 angels' wings, he said to David, " Thou hast 
 pronounced thine own sentence, and called thine 
 act that of a barbarous infidel : Allah will there- 
 fore bestow upon thy son a portion of the power 
 which he had originally intended for thee. Thy 
 guilt is so much the greater, since thou prayedst 
 
 Nathan's reproof. The whole narrative is so beautiful, that \ve 
 subjoin it, as given in 2 Sam., xii., 1-8, 13. 
 
 "And the Lord sent Nathan unto David And he came unto 
 him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the 
 one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many 
 flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothmg save one little 
 ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up; and it grew 
 up together with him, and with his children : it did eat of his 
 own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and 
 was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler utito 
 the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his 
 own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto 
 him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man 
 that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled 
 against the man ; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the 
 man that hath done this thing shall surely die ; and he shall re- 
 store the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he 
 had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. 
 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Is- 
 rael, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul ; and I gave 
 thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, 
 and gave thee the house of Israel aiid of Judah ; and ii that had 
 been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and 
 such things. 
 
 " And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the 
 Lord." 
 
that thuLi tiiightst be led into temptation with- 
 out having the power of resisting it." 
 
 At these words the angels vanished through 
 the ceiling ; but David felt the whole burden of 
 his sin. He tore the crown from his head, and 
 the royal purple from his body, and wandered 
 through the wilderness wrapped in simple wool- 
 en garments, and pining with remorse, weeping 
 so bitterly that his skin fell from his face, and 
 that the angels in heaven had compassion on 
 him, and implored for him the mercy of Allah. 
 But it was not until he had spent three full years 
 in penitence and contrition that he heard a voice 
 from heaven, which announced to him that the 
 All-compassionate Allah had at length opened 
 the gate of mercy. Pacified and strengthened 
 by these words of consolation, David soon re- 
 covered his physical powers and his blooming 
 appearance, so that on his return to Palestine no 
 one observed in him the slightest change. 
 
 But, during the king's long absence, many of 
 the rabble, whom he had banished, gathered 
 round his son Absalom, and made him king over 
 Israel. He was therefore compelled, as Absa- 
 lom would not renounce the throne, to make war 
 against him. But no engagement took place ; 
 for when the prince was about to join his forces, 
 Allah commanded the Angel of Death to take 
 him from his horse and hang him on a tree by 
 
190 THE TUBE A\U CELL, 
 
 his long hair, tliat to all tliture time rebellious 
 sons might take warning by his fate. Absalom 
 remained hanging there until one of David's 
 chieftains passed by and slew him with the 
 sword. But, although David soon came to be 
 esteemed and beloved by his people as before, 
 yet, mindful of what had taken place with the 
 two angels, he ventured not again to execute 
 judgment. He had already nominated a kadhi, 
 who was to adjust in his stead all disputes that 
 might arise, when the angel Gabriel brought him 
 an iron tube with a bell, and said, " Allah has 
 beheld thy diffidence with pleasure, and there- 
 fore sends thee this tube and bell, by means of 
 which it will be easy for thee to maintain the 
 law in Israel, and never to pronounce an unjust 
 sentence. Suspend this tube in thy hall of judg- 
 ment, and hang the bell in the midst thereof: 
 place the accuser on one side of it, and the ac- 
 cused on the other, and always pronounce judg- 
 ment in favor of him who, on touching the tube, 
 elicits a sound from the bell." David was greatly 
 delighted at this gift, by means of which he who 
 was in the right was sure to triumph, so that 
 soon no one dared to commit any injustice, since 
 he was certain to be detected by the bell. 
 
 One day, however, there came two men be- 
 fore the judgment seat, one of whom maintained 
 that he had given a pearl into the keeping of the 
 
THE TKIBUNAL. 191 
 
 Other, who now refused to restore it. The de- 
 fendant, on the other hand, swore that he had 
 ah'eady given it back. As usual, David com- 
 pelled them both, one after the other, to touch 
 the tube ; but the bell uttered no sound, so that 
 he did not know which of the two spoke truth, 
 and was inclined to doubt the farther virtue of 
 the bell. But when he had repeatedly directed 
 both to touch the tube, he observed that as often 
 as the accused was to pass the ordeal, he gave 
 his staff to be holden by his antagonist. David 
 now took the staff in his own hand, and sent the 
 accused once more to touch the tube, when in- 
 stantly the bell began to ring aloud. David then 
 caused the staff to be inspected, and behold, it 
 was hollow, and the pearl in question was con- 
 cealed within it. But on account of his thus 
 doubting the value of the tube which Allah had 
 given him, it was again removed to heaven, so 
 that David frequently erred in his decisions, 
 until Solomon, whom his wife Saja, the daughter 
 of Josu, had borne him, aided him with his coun- 
 sel. In him David placed implicit confidence, 
 and was guided by him in the most difficult 
 questions, for he had heard in the night of his 
 birth the angel Gabriel exclaim, "Satan's do- 
 minion is drawing to its close, for this night a 
 child is born, to whom Iblis and all his hosts, to- 
 gether with all his descendants, shall be subject. 
 
192 SuLuMuN. 
 
 The earth, air, and water, with all the creatures 
 that live therein, shall be his servants : he shall 
 be gifted with nine tenths of all the wisdom and 
 knowledge which Allah has granted unto man- 
 kind, and understand not only all the languages 
 of men, but those also of beasts and of birds." 
 
 One day — Solomon was then scarcely thir- 
 teen years of age — there appeared two men be- 
 fore the tribunal, the novelty of whose case ex- 
 cited the astonishment of all present, and even 
 greatly confounded David. The accuser had 
 bought some property of the other, and in clear- 
 ing out a cellar, had found a treasure. He now 
 demanded that the accused should give up the 
 treasure, since he had bought the property with- 
 out it ; while the other maintained that the ac- 
 cuser possessed no right to the treasure, since 
 he had known nothing of it, and had sold the 
 property with all that it contained. After long 
 meditation, David adjudged that the treasure 
 should be divided between them. But Solomon 
 inquired of the accuser whether he had a son, 
 and when he replied that he had a son, he in- 
 quired of the other if he had a daughter, and 
 he also answering in the affirmative, Solomon 
 said, " If you will adjust your strife so as not to 
 do injustice one to the other, unite your children 
 in marriage, and give them this treasure as their 
 dowry." 
 
DEcrsioNs. 193 
 
 On another occasion, there came a husband- 
 man and accused a shepherd whose flock had 
 pastured on the grain of his field. David sen- 
 tenced the shepherd to give part of his flock in 
 restitution to the husbandman ; but Solomon dis- 
 approved of this judgment, and said, "Let the 
 shepherd give up to the husbandman the use of 
 his flock, their work, their milk, and their young 
 ones, until the field shall be restored to the con- 
 dition in which it was at the time of the flock's 
 breaking in, when the sheep shall once more 
 return to their owner." 
 
 David, however, one day observed that the 
 high tribunal over which he presided beheld with 
 displeasure the interference of Solomon in their 
 transactions, although they were obliged to con- 
 fess that his views were always better than their 
 own. The king therefore demanded of them to 
 examine Solomon, in the face of all the great and 
 noble men of his kingdom, in all the doctrines 
 and laws of Moses. " If you have satisfied your- 
 selves," he added, "that my son knows these 
 perfectly, and consequently never pronounces 
 an unjust judgment, you must not slight him by 
 reason of his youth, if his views regarding the 
 application of the law often diflfer from mine and 
 yours. Allah bestows wisdom on whomsoever 
 he pleaseth." 
 
 The lawvers were indeed persuaded of Solo- 
 13 ' Pv 
 
194 THE EXAMINERS EXAMINED. 
 
 mon's erudition ; nevertheless, hoping to con- 
 found him by all manner of subtle questions, 
 and thus to increase their own importance, they 
 accepted David's proposal, and made arrange- 
 ments for a public examination. But their ex- 
 pectations w^ere disappointed ; for, before the 
 last word of any question put to Solomon was" 
 yet pronounced, he had already given a striking 
 answer, so. that all present firmly believed that 
 the whole matter had been arranged beforehand 
 with his judges, and that this examination was 
 instituted by David merely to recommend Solo- 
 mon as his worthy successor to the throne. But 
 Solomon at once effaced this suspicion, when, 
 at the close of this examination he arose, and 
 said to his judges, " You have exhausted your- 
 selves in subtleties in the hope of manifesting 
 your superiority over me before this great as- 
 sembly ; permit me now, also, to put to you a 
 very few simple questions, the solution of which 
 needs no manner of study, but only a little in- 
 tellect and understanding. Tell me what is 
 Every thing, and what is Nothing. Who is 
 Something, and who is less than Nothing?" 
 Solomon waited long ; and when the judge 
 whom he had addressed was not able to answer, 
 he said, " Allah, the Creator, is Every thing, but 
 the world, the creature, is Nothing. The be- 
 liever is Something, but the hypocrite is less 
 
THE EXAMINERS EXAMINED. 195 
 
 than Nothing." Turning to another, Solomon 
 inquired, " Which are the most in number, and 
 which the fewest ? What is sweetest, and what 
 most bitter ?" but as the second judge also was 
 unable to find a proper answer to these ques- 
 tions, Solomon said, " The most numerous are 
 the doubters, and they who possess a perfect 
 assurance of faith are the fewest in number. 
 The sweetest is the possession of a virtuous 
 wife, excellent children, and a respectable com- 
 petency ; but a wicked wife, undutiful children, 
 and poverty are the most bitter." Finally, Sol- 
 omon put the following questions to a third 
 judge: "Which is the vilest, and which the 
 most beautiful? What the most certain, and 
 what the least so?" But these questions also 
 remained unanswered, until Solomon said, " The 
 vilest thing is when a believer apostatizes, and 
 the most beautiful when a sinner repents. The 
 most certain thing is Death and the Last Judg- 
 ment, and the most uncertain, Life and the Fate 
 of the Soul after the resurrection. You per- 
 ceive," he then continued, " it is not the oldest 
 and most learned that are always the wisest. 
 True wisdom is neither of years nor of learned 
 books, but only of Allah, the All-wise." 
 
 Solomon excited by his words the greatest 
 astonishment in all that were present ; and the 
 heads of the people exclaimed with one voice, 
 
196 David's last wish. 
 
 " Blessed be the Lord, who has given to our 
 king a son who in wisdom surpasses all the men 
 of his time, and who is worthy one day to sit on 
 the throne of his father !" 
 
 David, in like manner, thanked Allah for the 
 grace which he had shown to him in Solomon, 
 and now only desired, before his death, to meet 
 with his future companion in Paradise. 
 
 " Thy request is granted !" cried a voice from 
 heaven ; " but thou must go and seek him alone; 
 and, in order to reach his presence, thou must 
 renounce thy earthly pomp, and wander as a 
 poor pilgrim through the world." 
 
 The next day David nominated Solomon as his 
 representative, laid aside his royal robes, wrap- 
 ped himself round with a simple woolen gar- 
 ment, put on his sandals, took a staff in his hand, 
 and left his palace. He now wandered from 
 city to city, and from village to village, inquiring 
 every where for such of the inhabitants as were 
 most distinguished for piety, and endeavoring to 
 make their acquaintance ; but for many weeks he 
 found no one whom he had reason to consider 
 as his destined companion in the life to come. , 
 
 One day, on reaching a village on the shores 
 of the Mediterranean Ocean, there arrived at 
 the same time with him a poorly-clad aged man, 
 who was carrying a heavy burden of wood on 
 his head. The appearance of the hoary man 
 
THE HERMIT. 197 
 
 was SO venerable, that David followed him to 
 see where he lived. But he entered into no 
 house at all, and sold his wood to a merchant 
 who stood at the door of his warehouse, then 
 gave to a poor man who begged him for alms 
 the half of the little money which he had earned, 
 bought with the rest a small loaf of bread, of 
 which also he gave a large portion to a blind 
 woman, who implored the compassion of the 
 faithful, and then returned on his way to the 
 mountain from whence he had come. " This 
 man," thought David, " might well be my com- 
 panion in Paradise ; for his venerable appear- 
 ance, and his actions which I have just witness- 
 ed, testify to a rare piety. I must therefore 
 seek to become better acquainted with him." 
 He then followed the aged man at some dis- 
 tance, until, after a march of several hours over 
 steep mountains, crossed by deep ravines, the 
 latter entered into a cave, which admitted the 
 light of heaven through a crevice of the rock. 
 David remained standing at the entrance of the 
 cave, and heard how the hermit prayed fervent- 
 ly, and then read the Law and the psalms, until 
 the sun had set. He then lighted a lamp, and 
 pronounced the evening prayer, drew from his 
 bag the bread which he had bought, and con- 
 sumed about half thereof 
 
 David, who had hitherto not ventured to dis- 
 R2 
 
198 THE COMPANION IN PARADISE. 
 
 turb the man in his devotions, now stepped into 
 the cave and greeted him. 
 
 " Who art thou ?" said the other, after having 
 returned the salutation ; " for, save the God- 
 fearing Mata Ibn Juhanna, King David's future 
 companion in Paradise, I never saw any human 
 being in these regions." 
 
 David gave his name, and begged for farther 
 particulars respecting Mata. 
 
 But the hermit replied, " I am not permitted 
 to point out to thee his dwelling; but if thou 
 searchest this mountain with attention, it can not 
 escape thee." 
 
 David now wandered up and down for a long 
 time without finding any traces of Mata. He 
 was on the point of returning to the hermit, in 
 hopes of obtaining better directions, when, on an 
 eminence, in the midst of the rocky ground, he 
 discovered a spot which was quite moist and 
 soft. " How singular," thought he, " that just 
 here, on this pinnacle of a mountain, the ground 
 should thus be moistened ! Surely there can be 
 no fountain here !" While he was thus standing 
 absorbed in thought respecting this remarkable 
 phenomenon, there descended on the other side 
 of the mountain a man who was more like an 
 angel than a human being ; his looks were cast 
 down to the earth, so that he did not observe 
 David ; but on the moistened spot he stood still, 
 
DEATH OF DAVID. 199 
 
 and prayed with such fervency that his tears 
 gushed like streams from his eyes. David now 
 understood how it came to pass that the earth 
 was so soaked, and thought, " A man who thus 
 worships his God may well be my companion in 
 Paradise." But he presumed not to address him 
 till he heard how, among other things, he pray- 
 ed, " My God, pardon the sin of King David, 
 and preserve him from farther transgression ! 
 Be merciful to him for my sake, since thou hast 
 destined me to be his companion in Paradise." 
 
 David now went toward him, but on reach- 
 ing his presence he was dead. 
 
 He dug up the soft earth with his staff, wash- 
 ed him with the water that remained in his bot- 
 tle, buried him, and pronounced over him the 
 prayer of death. He then returned to his capi- 
 tal, and found in his harem the Angel of Death, 
 who received him with the words, " Allah has 
 granted unto thee thy request, but now thy life 
 is ended." 
 
 " God's will be done !" replied David, and fell 
 lifeless to the earth. 
 
 Gabriel then descended to comfort Solomon, 
 and to bring him a heavenly robe, in which h^ 
 was to wrap his father. All Israel followed his 
 remains to the entrance of the cave where Abra- 
 ham lies buried. 
 
SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SABA. 
 
 After Solomon had paid the last honors to 
 his father, he was resting in a valley between 
 Hebron and Jerusalem, when suddenly he swoon- 
 ed away. On reviving, there appeared to him 
 eight angels, each of whom had immeasurable 
 wings of every color and form, and thrice they 
 bowed down to him. " Who are you ?" de- 
 manded Solomon, while his eyes were yet half 
 closed. They replied, " We are the angels set 
 over the eight winds. Allah, our Ci'eator and 
 thine, sends us to swear fealty, and to surrender 
 to thee the power over us and the eight winds 
 which are at our command. According to thy 
 pleasure and designs, they shall either be tem- 
 pestuous or gentle, and shall blow from that 
 quarter to which thou shalt turn thy back ; and 
 at thy demand they shall rise out of the earth to 
 bear thee up, and to raise thee above the loftiest 
 mountains." The most exalted of the eight an- 
 gels then presented to him a jewel with this 
 inscription : " To Allah belong greatness and 
 might :" and said, " If thou hast need of us, raise 
 this stone toward heaven, and w^e shall appear 
 to serve thee." As soon as these angels had left 
 him, there came four others, differing from each 
 
THE EXTENT OF :30L0M0N S DOMINION. 201 
 
 other in form and name. One of them resem- 
 bled an immense whale ; the other, an eagle ; 
 the third, a lion ; and the fourth, a serpent. 
 "We are the lords of all creatures living in 
 earth and water," they said, bowing profoundly 
 to Solomon, " and appear before thee at the 
 command of our Lord, to do fealty unto thee. 
 Dispose of us at thy pleasure. We grant to thee 
 and to thy friends all the good and pleasant 
 things with v/hich the Creator has endowed us, 
 but use all the noxious that are in our power 
 against thy foes." The angel who represented 
 the kingdom of birds then gave him a jewel with 
 the inscription, " All created things praise the 
 Lord ;" and said, " By virtue of this stone, which 
 thou needest only to raise above thy head, thou 
 mayest call us at any moment, and impart to us 
 thy commands." Solomon did so instantly, and 
 commanded them to bring a pair of every kind 
 of animal that live in the water, the earth, and 
 the air, and to present them to him. The angels 
 departed quick as lightning, and in the twinkhng 
 of an eye there were standing before him every 
 imaginable creature, from the largest elephant 
 down to the smallest worm ; also all kinds of 
 fish and birds. Solomon caused each of them 
 to describe its whole manner of life ; he listened 
 to their complaints, and abolished many of their 
 abuses. But he conversed longest with the birds, 
 
202 'J'llE EXTENT OF riOLO:siO.\'ri DOMINION. 
 
 both on account of their dehcious language, 
 which he knew as well as his own, as also for 
 the beautiful proverbs that are current among 
 them. The song of the peacock, translated into 
 human language, means, " As thou judgest, so 
 shalt thou be judged." The song of the night- 
 ingale signifies, " Contentment is the greatest 
 happiness." The turtle-dove sings, " It were 
 better for many a creature had it never been 
 born." The hoopoo, " He that shows no mercy- 
 shall not obtain mercy." The bird syrdak, 
 " Turn to Allah, O ye sinners." The swallow, 
 " Do good, for you shall be rewarded hereafter." 
 The pelican, " Blessed be Allah in heaven and 
 earth !" The dove, " All things pass away ; Al- 
 lah alone is eternal." The kata, " Whosoever 
 can keep silence goes through life most secure- 
 ly." The engle, " Let our life be ever so long, 
 yet it must end in death." The raven, " The 
 farther from mankind, the pleasanter." The 
 cock, " Ye thoughtless men, remember your 
 Creator." 
 
 Solomon chose the cock and the hoopoo for 
 his constant attendants. The one, on account 
 of his monitory sentence, and the other, inas- 
 much as his eyes, piercing as they do through 
 the earth as if it were crystal, enabled him during 
 the travels of the king to point out the places 
 where fountains of water were hid, so that watei 
 
THE EXTENT OF SOLOMOn's DOMINION. 203 
 
 never failed Solomon, either to quench his thirst, 
 or to perform the prescribed ablutions before 
 prayer. But, after having stroked the heads of 
 the doves, he commanded them to appoint unto 
 their young the temple which he was about to 
 erect as their habitation. (This pigeon pair had, 
 in the course of a few years, increased so much, 
 through Solomon's blessed touch, that all who 
 visited the temple walked from the remotest 
 quarter of the city under the shadow of their 
 wings.) 
 
 When Solomon was again alone, there ap- 
 peared an angel, whose upper part looked like 
 earth, and whose lower like water. He bowed 
 down toward the earth, and said, " I am created 
 by Allah to manifest his will both to the dry land 
 and to the sea ; but he has placed me at thy dis- 
 posal, and thou mayest command, through me, 
 over earth and sea : at thy will the highest mount- 
 ains shall disappear, and others rise out of the 
 ground ; rivers and seas shall dry up, and fruit- 
 ful countries be turned into seas or oceans." He 
 then presented to him before he vanished a jewel, 
 with the inscription, " Heaven and earth are the 
 servants of Allah." 
 
 Finally, another angel brought to him a fourth 
 jewel, which bore the inscription, " There is no 
 God but one, and Mohammed is his messenger." 
 "By means of this stone,"" said the angel, "thou 
 
204 THE EXTENT UF SOLOMON's DOMINION. 
 
 obtainest the dominion over the kingdom of spir- 
 its, which is much greater than that of man and 
 beasts, and fills up the whole space between the 
 earth and heaven. Part of these spirits," con- 
 tinued the angel, '• believe in the only God, and 
 pray to him ; but others are unbelieving. Some 
 adore the fire ; others the sun ; others, again, the 
 different stars ; and many even the water. The 
 first continually hover round the pious, to pre- 
 serve them from evil and sin ; but the latter seek 
 in every possible manner to torment and to se- 
 duce them, which they do the more easily, since 
 they render themselves invisible, or assume any 
 form they please." Solomon desired to see the 
 genii in their original form. The angel rushed 
 like a column of fire through the air, and soon 
 returned w^th a host of demons and genii, whose 
 appalling appearance filled Solomon, spite of his 
 dominion over them, with an inward shudder. 
 He had no idea that there were such misshapen 
 and frightful beings in the world. He saw hu- 
 man heads on the necks of horses, with asses* 
 feet ; the wings of eagles on the dromedary's 
 back ; and the horns of the gazelle on the head 
 of the peacock. Astonished at this singular 
 union, he prayed the angel to explain it to him, 
 since Djan, from whom all the genii were de- 
 scended, had only a simple form. " This is the 
 consequence," replied the angel, " of their wicked 
 
MAGIC RING. 205 
 
 lives and their shameless intercourse with men, 
 beasts, and birds ; for their desires know no 
 bounds, and the more they multiply the more 
 they degenerate." 
 
 When Solomon returned home, he command- 
 ed the four jewels which the angels had given him 
 to be set in a signet ring, in order that he might 
 be able at any moment to rule over spirits and 
 animals, and over wind and water. His first 
 care was to subdue the demons and genii. He 
 caused them all to come before him save the 
 mighty Sachr, who kept himself concealed in an 
 unknown island of the ocean, and Ibhs, the mas- 
 ter of all evil spirits, to whom God had promised 
 the most perfect independence till the day of 
 judgment. When they were assembled, he 
 stamped his signet ring on each of their necks, 
 to mark them as his slaves. He obliged the 
 male genii to erect various public buildings ; 
 among others, also a temple after the plan of that 
 at Mecca, which he had once seen during his 
 travels to Arabia. The female genii he obliged 
 to cook, to bake, to wash, to weave, to spin, to 
 carry water, and to perform other domestic la- 
 bors. The stuffs they produced Solomon dis- 
 tributed among the poor, and the food which they 
 prepared was placed on tables of two leagues 
 square, for the daily consumption amounted to 
 thirtv thousand oxen and as many sheep, with a 
 S 
 
206 THE FEEDING OF ALL CREATURES. 
 
 great number of fowls and fish, of which he 
 could obtain as many as he chose by virtue of 
 his ring, notwithstanding his remoteness from 
 the ocean. The genii and demons sat at iron 
 tables, the poor at tables of wood, the chiefs of 
 the people and of the army at tables of silver, 
 but the learned and eminently pious at golden 
 ones, and the latter were waited on by Solomon 
 himself. 
 
 One day, when all the spirits, men, beasts, and 
 birds, had risen, satisfied, from their various ta- 
 bles, Solomon prayed to Allah that he might 
 permit him to entertain all the creatures of the 
 earth. 
 
 " Thou demandest an impossibility," replied 
 Allah ; " but make a beginning to-morrow with 
 the inhabitants of the sea." 
 
 Solomon thereupon commanded the genii to 
 load with corn one hundred thousand camels 
 and as many mules, and to lead them to the 
 sea-shore. He himself followed, and cried, 
 " Come hither, ye inhabitants of the sea, that I 
 may satisfy your hunger." Then came all 
 kinds of fish to the surface of the sea. Solomon 
 flung corn unto them till they were satisfied, 
 and dived down again. On a sudden, a whale 
 protruded his head, resembling a mighty mount- 
 ain. Solomon made his flying spirits to pour 
 one sack of corn after the other into its jaws ; 
 
THE FEEDING OF ALL CREATURES. 207 
 
 but it continued its demand for more, until not a 
 single grain was left. Then it bellowed aloud, 
 " Feed me, Solomon, for I never suffered so 
 much from hunger as to-day." 
 
 Solomon inquired of it " whether there were 
 more fish of the kind in the sea." 
 
 " There are of my species alone," replied the 
 whale, " seventy thousand kinds, the least of 
 which is so large that thou wouldst appear in its 
 body like a grain of sand in the wilderness." 
 
 Solomon threw himself on the ground, and 
 began to weep, and besought the Lord to par- 
 don his senseless demand. 
 
 " My kingdom," cried Allah to him, " is still 
 greater than thine : arise, and behold but one 
 of those creatures whose rule I can not confide 
 to man." 
 
 Then the sea began to rage and to storm, as 
 if all the eight winds had set it in motion at 
 once ; and there rose up a sea monster so huge 
 that it could easily have swallowed seventy 
 thousand like the first, which Solomon was not 
 able to satisfy, and cried with a voice like the 
 most terrible thunder, " Praised be Allah, who 
 alone has the power to save me from starva- 
 tion!" 
 
 When Solomon was returning again to Jeru- 
 salem, he heard such a noise, proceeding from 
 the constant hammering of the genii, who were 
 
208 SACHR. 
 
 occupied with the building of the temple, that 
 the inhabitants of Jerusalem were no longer 
 able to converse with each other. He therefore 
 commanded the spirits to suspend their labors, 
 and inquired whether none of them was ac- 
 quainted with a means by which the various 
 metals might be wrought without producing 
 such a clamor. Then there stepped out one 
 from among them, and said, " This is known 
 only to the mighty Sachr ; but he has hitherto 
 succeeded in escaping from thy dominion." 
 
 " Is, then, this Sachr utterly inaccessible ?" 
 inquired Solomon. 
 
 " Sachr," replied the genius, " is stronger than 
 all of us put together, and is as much our supe- 
 rior in swiftness as in power. Still, I know that 
 he drinks from a fountain in the province of 
 Hidjr once in every month. Perhaps thou 
 mayest succeed, O wise king ! to subdue him 
 there to thy scepter." 
 
 Solomon commanded forthwith a division of 
 his swift-flying genii to empty the fountain, and 
 to fill it with intoxicating liquor. Some of them 
 he then ordered to linger in its vicinity until 
 they should see Sachr approaching, and then 
 instantly to return and bring him word. A few 
 weeks afterward, when Solomon was standing 
 on the terrace of his palace, he beheld a genius 
 flying from the direction of Hidjr swifter than 
 
THE MOTHER BIRD. 209 
 
 the wind. The king inquired of him if he 
 brought news respecting Sachr. 
 
 " Sachr is lying overcome with wine at the 
 brink of the fountain " replied the genius, " and 
 we have bound him with chains as massive as 
 the pillars of thy temple ; but he will burst them 
 asunder as the hair of a virgin when he has 
 slept off his wine." 
 
 Solomon then mounted hastily the winged 
 genius, and in less than an hour was borne to 
 the fountain. It was high time, for Sachr had 
 already opened his eyes again ; but his hands 
 and feet were still chained, so that Solomon set 
 the signet on his neck without any hinderance. 
 Sachr uttered such a cry of woe that the whole 
 earth quaked ; but Solomon said to him, " Fear 
 not, mighty genius! f will restore thee to lib- 
 erty as soon as thou shalt indicate the means 
 whereby I may work the hardest metals without 
 noise." 
 
 " I myself know of no such," replied Sachr ; 
 " but the raven will best be able to advise thee. 
 Take only the eggs from a raven's nest, and 
 cover them with a crystal bowl, and thou shalt 
 see how the mother-bird shall cut it through." 
 
 Solomon followed Sachr's advice. A raven 
 
 came and flew about the bowl ; but, finding that 
 
 she could not get access to the eggs, she flew 
 
 avvav, and a few hours afterward reappeared 
 
 14 S 2 
 
210 THE SAMUK sJTONE. 
 
 "with a stone in her beak, called Samur, which 
 had no sooner touched the bowl than it fell in 
 two halves. 
 
 " Whence hast thou this stone ?" inquired 
 Solomon of the raven. 
 
 " From a mountain in the distant west," re- 
 plied the raven. 
 
 Solomon then commanded some of the genii 
 to follow the raven to the mountain, and to pro- 
 cure more of these stones ; but Sachr he set 
 free again, according to his promise. When 
 the chains were taken from him, he shouted 
 with exultation ; but his joy sounded in Solo- 
 mon's ear like the laughter of scorn. As soon 
 as the spirits returned with the Samur stones, 
 he caused himself to be carried back to Jerusa- 
 lem by one of them, and divided the stones 
 among the genii, who could now continue their 
 labors without making the slightest noise. 
 
 Solomon then constructed a palace for him- 
 self, with a profusion of gold, silver, and precious 
 stones, the like of which no king had ever pos- 
 sessed before him. Many of its halls had crys- 
 tal floors and ceilings, and he erected a throne 
 of sandal-wood, covered with gold, and em- 
 bossed with the most costly jewels. While the 
 building of his palace was in progress, he made 
 a journey to the ancient city of Damascus, whose 
 environs are reckoned among the four earthly 
 Daradises. 
 
THE ANTS. 211 
 
 The genius on whom he rode pursued the 
 straightest course, and flew over the valley of 
 ants, which is surrounded by such lofty cliffs, 
 and deep, impassable ravines, that no man had 
 been able to enter it before. 
 
 Solomon was much astonished to see beneath 
 him a host of ants, which were as large as 
 wolves, and which, owing to their gray eyes and 
 feet, appeared at a distance like a cloud. 
 
 But, on the other hand, the queen of the ants, 
 which had never seen a human being, was in no 
 small trouble on perceiving the king, and cried 
 to her subjects, " Retire quickly to your cav- 
 erns !" 
 
 But Allah said to her, "Assemble all thy 
 vassals, and do homage to Solomon, who is king 
 of the whole creation." 
 
 Solomon, to whom the winds had wafted these 
 words, then at a distance of six leagues, de- 
 scended to the queen, and in a short time the 
 whole valley was covered with ants as far as 
 his eye could reach. Solomon then asked the 
 queen, who was standing at their head, " Why 
 fearest thou me, since thy hosts are so numerous 
 that they could lay waste the whole earth ?" 
 
 "I fear none but Allah," replied the queen; 
 " for if my subjects which thou now beholdest 
 were threatened with danger, seventy times 
 their number would appear at a single nod from 
 
212 TIJE aUEEN OF THE ANTS. 
 
 " Why, then, didst thou command thy ants to 
 retire while I was passing above thee ?" 
 
 " Because I feared lest they might look after 
 thee, and thus forget their Creator for a mo- 
 ment." 
 
 " Is there any favor that I may show thee ere 
 I depart ?" inquired Solomon. 
 
 "I know of none: but rather let me advise 
 thee so to live that thou mayest not be ashamed 
 of thy name, which signifies ' The Immaculate;' 
 beware also of ever giving away thy ring with- 
 out first saying, ' In the name of Allah the All- 
 merciful.' " 
 
 Solomon once more exclaimed, " Lord, thy 
 kingdom is greater than mine !" and took leave 
 of the queen of ants. 
 
 On his return he commanded the genius to f\y 
 in another direction, so as not to disturb the 
 devotions of the queen and her subjects. 
 
 On arriving at the frontiers of Palestine, he 
 heard how some one prayed : 
 
 "My God, who hast chosen Abraham to be 
 thy friend, redeem me soon from this woeful ex- 
 istt-nce !" 
 
 Solomon descended to him, and beheld an 
 aged man bowed down with years, and trem- 
 bhng in all his limbs. 
 
 *' Who art thou ?" 
 
 "I am an Israelite of the tribe of Judah." 
 
THE SIlOOTIXi; STAR. 213 
 
 " How old art thou ?" 
 
 " Allah alone knows. I counted up to my 
 three hundredth year, and since that time full 
 fifty or sixty more must have passed away." 
 
 " How camest thou to so great an age, which, 
 since Abraham's time, no human being has at- 
 tained ?" 
 
 " I once saw a shooting star in the night of 
 Al-Kadr, and expressed the senseless wish that 
 I might meet with the mightiest prophet before 
 I died." 
 
 " Thou hast now reached the goal of thy ex- 
 pectations : prepare thyself to die, for I am the 
 king and prophet Solomon, to whom Allah has 
 granted a power such as no mortal before me 
 ever possessed." Scarcely had he finished these 
 words, when the Angel of Death descended in 
 human form, and took the soul of the aged man. 
 
 " Thou must have been quite close to me, 
 since thou camest so promptly," said Solomon to 
 the angel. 
 
 " How great is thy mistake ! Be it known to 
 thee, O king ! that I stand on the shoulders of an 
 angel whose head reaches ten thousand years 
 beyond the seventh heaven, whose feet are five 
 hundred years below the earth, and who, with- 
 al, is so powerful, that if Allah permitted it, he 
 could swallow the earth, and alJ that it contains, 
 without the slightest effort. 
 
214 THE DEAD. 
 
 " He it is who points out to me when, where, 
 and how I must take a soul. His gaze is fixed 
 on the tree Sidrat Almuntaha, which bears as 
 many leaves inscribed with names as there are 
 men living on the earth. 
 
 " At each birth a new leaf, bearing the name 
 of the newly born, bursts forth ; and when any 
 one has reached the end of his life, his leaf with- 
 ers and falls off, and at the same instant I am 
 with him to receive his soul." 
 
 " How dost thou proceed in this matter, and 
 whither takest thou the souls at death ?" 
 
 " As often as a believer dies, Gabriel attends 
 me, and wraps his soul in a green silken sheet, 
 and then breathes it into a green bird, which 
 feeds in Paradise until the day of the resurrec- 
 tion. But the soul of the sinner 1 take alone, and 
 having wrapped it in a coarse, pitch-covered 
 woolen cloth, carry it to the gates of hell, where 
 it wanders among abominable vapors until the 
 last day." 
 
 Solomon thanked the angel for his informa- 
 tion, and besought him, when he should one day 
 come to take his soul, to conceal his death from 
 all men and spirits. 
 
 He then washed the body of the deceased, 
 buried him, and having prayed for his soul, beg- 
 ged for a mitigation of his bodily pains at the 
 
THR CARPET. 215 
 
 trial he was to undergo before the angels Ankir 
 and Munkir.* 
 
 This journey had fatigued Solomon so much, 
 that he ordered the genii, on his return to Jeru- 
 salem, to weave strong silken carpets, which 
 might contain him and his followers, together 
 with all the requisite utensils and equipages for 
 traveling. Whenever he desired thereafter to 
 make a journey, he caused one of these carpets, 
 of a larger or smaller size, according to the num- 
 ber of his attendants, to be spread out before the 
 city, and as soon as all that he required was 
 placed upon it, he gave a signal to the eight 
 winds to raise it up. He then seated himself on 
 his throne, and guided them into whatever direc- 
 tion he pleased, even as a man guides his horses 
 with bit and reins. 
 
 One night Abraham' appeared to him in a 
 dream, and said, " Allah has distinguished thee 
 above all other men by thy wisdom and powder. 
 He has subjected to thy rule the genii, who are 
 erecting a temple at thy command, the like of 
 which the earth has never borne before; and 
 thou ridest on the winds as I once rode on Borak, 
 
 * These two angels make inquiry of the dead concerning his 
 God and his faith, and torment him if he be not able to answer 
 properly. 
 
 Similar things are said in the " Chibut hakebar" (knocking at 
 the tomb) of the Rabbis.— Compare Maracciiis, Prodrom., (f iii., 
 p 90 
 
216 Solomon's pilgrimage. 
 
 who shall dwell in Paradise until the birth of 
 Mohammed. Show thyself grateful, therefore, 
 unto the o.nl y God, and, taking advantage of the, 
 ease with which thou canst travel from place to 
 place, visit the cities of Jathrib,* where the 
 greatest of prophets shall one day find shelter 
 and protection, and of Mecca, the place of his 
 birth, where now the holy temple stands which 
 I and my son Ismael (peace be on him !) rebuilt 
 after the flood." 
 
 The next morning, Solomon proclaimed that 
 he would undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca, and 
 that each and every Israelite would be per- 
 mitted to accompany him. There immediately 
 applied so many pilgrims, that Solomon was 
 obliged to have a new carpet woven by the spir- 
 its, two leagues in length and two in breadth. 
 
 The empty space which remained he filled 
 with camels, oxen, and smaller cattle, which he 
 designed to sacrifice at Mecca, and to divide 
 among the poor. 
 
 For himself he had a throne erected, which 
 was so studded with brilliant jewels that no one 
 could raise his eyes to him. The men of dis- 
 tinguished piety occupied golden seats near the 
 throne : the learned were seated on silver, and 
 part of the common people on wood. The ge- 
 nii and demons were commanded to fly before 
 
 * The ancient name of Medina, where Mohammed died. 
 
MEDINA AND MECCA, 217 
 
 him, for he trusted them so little that he desired 
 to have them constantly in his presence, and 
 therefore always drank out of crystal cups so as 
 never to lose sight of them, even when he was 
 compelled to satisfy his thirst. But the birds he 
 directed to fly above the carpet in close array, 
 to protect the travelers from the sun. 
 
 When the arrangements were complete, and 
 men, spirits, birds, and beasts were assembled, 
 he commanded the eight winds to raise up the 
 carpet, with all that it contained, and to carry it 
 to Medina. In the vicinity of that city, he made 
 a signal to the birds to lower their wings, where- 
 upon the winds gradually abated until the carpet 
 rested on the earth. 
 
 But no one was permitted to leave the carpet, 
 for Medina was then inhabited by worshipers 
 of idols, with whom the king would not suffer 
 his subjects to come in contact. 
 
 Solomon w^ent unattended to the spot where, in 
 later times, Mohammed erected his first mosque 
 — it was then a burial-ground — performed his 
 midday devotions, and then returned to the car- 
 pet. The birds, at his nod, spread their wings, 
 the winds bore up the carpet, and swept on with 
 it to Mecca. This city was then governed by 
 the Djorhamides, who had migrated there from 
 the Southern Arabia, and were at that time wor- 
 shipers of the only God, keeping the Kaaba as 
 T 
 
218 ^ THE HOOPOO. 
 
 pure from idolatry as it was in the days of Abra- 
 ham and of Ismael. Solomon therefore entered 
 it, with all his attendants, performed the cere- 
 monies obligatory on pilgrims, and when he had^ 
 slain the victims which he brought with him from 
 Jerusalem, he pronounced in the Kaaba a long 
 discourse, in which he predicted the future birth 
 of Mohammed, and exhorted all his hearers to 
 enforce faith in him upon their children and de- 
 scendants. 
 
 After a stay of three days, King Solomon re- 
 solved to return again to Jerusalem. But when 
 the birds had unfolded their wings, and the car- 
 pet was already in motion, he suddenly discov- 
 ered a ray of light striking upon it, whence he 
 concluded that one of his birds had left its post. 
 
 He therefore summoned the eagle, and direct- 
 ed him to call over the names of all the birds, 
 and to report which was absent. The eagle 
 obeyed, and soon came back with the answer 
 that the hoopoo was wanting. 
 
 The king grew enraged ; the more so, because 
 he needed the hoopoo during the journey, since 
 no other bird possessed its powers to descry the 
 hidden fountains of the desert. 
 
 " Soar aloft," he cried harshly to the eagle ; 
 " search for the hoopoo, and bring it hither, that 
 I may pluck off its feathers, and expose it naked 
 to the scorching sun, until the worms shall have 
 consumed it." 
 
THE HOOPOO. 219 
 
 The eagle soared heavenward until the earth 
 beneath him appeared like an inverted bow^l. 
 He then halted, and looked in every direction 
 to discover the truant subject. As soon as he 
 spied it coming from the south, he plunged down, 
 and would have seized it in his talons, but the 
 hoopoo adjured him by Solomon to forbear. 
 
 " Barest thou to invoke the king's protection ?" 
 replied the eagle. " Well may thy mother weep 
 for thee. The king is enraged, for he has dis- 
 covered thy absence, and sworn to punish it ter- 
 ribly." 
 
 " Lead me to him," rejoined the other. " I 
 know that he will excuse my absence when he 
 hears where I have been, and what I have to 
 report of my ex-cursion." 
 
 The eagle led him to the king, who was sitting 
 on his judgment throne with wrathful counte- 
 nance, and instantly drew the delinquent vio- 
 lently toward him. The hoopoo trembled in 
 every limb, and hung down his plumage in token 
 of submission. But when Solomon would have 
 grasped him still more tightly, he cried, " Re- 
 member, O prophet of Allah ! that thou, too, 
 shalt one day give an account unto the Lord : 
 let me, therefore, not be condemned unheard." 
 
 " How canst thou excuse thy absenting thy- 
 self without my permission ?" 
 
 " I bring information respecting a country 
 
220 THE REPORT. 
 
 and a queen whose names thou hast not even 
 .heard of — the country of Saba, and Queen 
 Balkis." 
 
 " These names are indeed quite strange to 
 me. Who has informed thee of them?" 
 
 " A hoopoo from those regions, whom I met 
 during one of my short excursions. In the 
 course of our conversation I spoke to him of 
 thee, and thy extensive dominions, and he was 
 astonished that thy fame should not yet have 
 reached his home. He entreated me, therefore, 
 to accompany him there, and convince myself 
 that it would be worth thy while to subject the 
 land of Saba unto thy scepter. 
 
 " On our way he related to me the whole his- 
 tory of that country down to its present queen, 
 who rules over so large an army that she re- 
 quires twelve thousand captains to command 
 it." 
 
 Solomon relinquished his hold of the hoopoo, 
 and commanded him to recount all that he had 
 heard of that country and its history, whereupon 
 the bird began as follows : " Most mighty king 
 and prophet I be it known to thee that Saba is 
 the capital of an extensive country in the south 
 of Arabia, and was founded by King Saba, Ibn 
 Jashab, Ibn Sarab, Ibn Kachtan. His name 
 was properly Abd Shems (the servant of the 
 Sun) ; but he had received the surname of Saba 
 
SABA. 
 
 221 
 
 (one who takes captive) by reason of his nu- 
 merous conquests." 
 
 Saba was the largest and most superb city 
 ever constructed by the hand of man, and, at 
 the same time, so strongly fortified that it might 
 have defied the united armies of the world. 
 
 But that which especially distinguished this 
 city of marble palaces were the magnificent 
 gardens in the center of which it stood. 
 
 For King Saba had, in compliance with the 
 counsels of the wise Lockman, constructed vast 
 dikes and numerous canals, both to guard the 
 people from inundation during the rainy season, 
 and also against want of water in time of 
 drought. 
 
 Thus it came to pass, that this country, which 
 is so vast that a good horseman would require 
 a month to traverse it, became rapidly the rich- 
 est and most fertile of the whole earth. It was 
 covered with the finest trees in every direction, 
 so that its travelers knew nothing of the scorch- 
 ing sun. Its air, too, was so pure and refresh- 
 ing, and its sky so transparent, that the inhabi- 
 tants lived to a very great age, in the enjoyment 
 of perfect health. 
 
 The land of Saba was, as it were, a diadem 
 on the brow of the universe. 
 
 This state of felicity endured as long as it 
 pleased Allah. King Saba, its founder, died, 
 T2 
 
222 SABA. 
 
 and was succeeded by other kings, who enjoyed 
 the fruits of Lockman's labors without thinking 
 of preserving them ; but time was busy with 
 their destruction. The torrents, plunging from 
 the adjacent mountains, gradually undermined 
 the dike which had been constructed to restrain 
 and to distribute them into the various canals, 
 so that it fell in at last, and the whole country 
 was, in consequence, laid waste by a fearful 
 flood. The first precursors of an approaching 
 disaster showed themselves in the reign of King 
 Amru. In his time it was that the priestess 
 Dharifa beheld in a dream a vast dark cloud, 
 which, bursting amid terrific thunderings, pour- 
 ed destruction upon the land. She told her 
 dream to the king, and made no secret of her 
 fears respecting the welfare of his empire ; but 
 the king and his courtiers endeavored to silence 
 her, and continued, as before, their heedless, 
 careless courses. 
 
 One day, however, while Amru was in a 
 grove in dalliance with two maidens, the priest- 
 ess stepped before him with disheveled hair 
 and ruffled countenance, and predicted anew 
 the speedy desolation of the country. 
 
 The king dismissed his companions ; and 
 having seated the priestess beside him, inquired 
 of her what new omen foreboded this evil. " On 
 my way hither," replied Dharifa, " I met crim- 
 
^5ABA. 223 
 
 son rats standing erect, and wiping their eyes 
 with their feet ; and a turtle, which lay on its 
 back, struggling in vain to rise : these are cer- 
 tain signs of a flood, which shall reduce this 
 country to the sad condition in which it was in 
 ancient times." 
 
 " What proof givest thou me of the truth of 
 thy statement?" inquired Amru. 
 
 "Go to the dike, and thine own eyes shall 
 convince thee." 
 
 The king went, but speedily came back to the 
 grove with distracted countenance. " I have 
 seen a dreadful sight," he cried. " Three rats 
 as large as porcupines were gnawing the dikes 
 with their teeth, and tearing off pieces of rock 
 which fifty men would not have been able to 
 move." 
 
 Dharifa then gave him still other signs ; and 
 he himself had a dream, in which he saw the 
 tops of the loftiest trees covered with sand — an 
 evident presage of the approaching flood — so 
 that he resolved to fly from his country. 
 
 Yet, in order to dispose of his castles and 
 possessions to advantage, he concealed what he 
 had seen and heard, and invented the following 
 pretext for his emigration. 
 
 One day he gave a grand banquet to his high- 
 est officers of state and the chiefs of his army, 
 but arranged with his son beforehand that he 
 
224 SABA. 
 
 should strike him in the face during a discussicu 
 When this accordingly took place at the public 
 table, the king sprang up, drew his sword, and 
 feigned to slay his son ; but, as he had foreseen, 
 his guests rushed in between them, and hurried 
 away the prince. Amru then swore that he 
 would no longer remain in a country where he 
 had suffered such a disgrace. But, when all 
 his estates were sold, he avowed the true motive 
 of his emigration, and many tribes joined them- 
 selves to him. 
 
 Soon after his departure the predicted calami- 
 ties took place, for the inhabitants of Saba, or 
 Mareb, as this city is sometimes called, listened 
 neither to the warnings of Dharifa nor the ad- 
 monition of a prophet whom Allah had sent 
 them. The strong dike fell in, and the waters, 
 pouring from the mountain, devastated the city 
 and the entire vicinity. " As, however, the men 
 of Saba," continued the hoopoo, in his narrative 
 before King Solomon, " who had fled into the 
 mountain, were improved by their misfortune, 
 and repented, they soon succeeded, with the help 
 of Allah, in constructing new dams, and in re- 
 storing their country to a high degree of power 
 and prosperity, which went on increasing under 
 the succeeding kings, though the old vices too 
 reappeared, and, instead of the Creator of heav- 
 en and earth, they even worshiped the sun." 
 
SABA. 225 
 
 The last king of Saba, named Sharahbil, wa a 
 monster of tyranny. He had a vizier descent 
 ed from the ancient royal house of the Himiar 
 ites, who was so handsome that he found favor 
 in the eyes of the daughters of the genii, and they 
 often phiced themselves in his way in the shape 
 of gazelles, merely to gaze upon him. One of 
 them, W'hose name was Umeira, felt so ardent 
 an attachment for the vizier, that she completely 
 forgot the distinction between men and genii, 
 and one day, while he was following the chase, 
 appeared in the form of a beautiful virgin, and 
 offered him her hand, on condition that he would 
 follow her, and never demand an account of any 
 of her actions. The vizier thought the daughter 
 of the genii so far exalted above all human beau- 
 ty, that he lost his self-command, and consented, 
 without reflection, to all that she proposed. 
 Umeira then journeyed with him to the island 
 where she lived, and married him. Within a 
 year's time she bore a daughter, whom she call- 
 ed Balkis ; but soon after that she left her hus- 
 band, because he (as Moses had done with Al- 
 kidhr) had repeatedly inquired into her motives 
 when unable to comprehend her actions. The 
 vizier then returned with Balkis to his native 
 country, and concealed himself in one of its val- 
 leys at a distance from the capital : there Balkis 
 grew up like the fairest flower of Yemen : but 
 15 
 
226 SABA. 
 
 she was obliged to live in greater retirement the 
 older she became, for her father feared lest 
 Sharahbil might hear of her, and treat her as re- 
 morselessly- as the other maidens of Saba. 
 
 Nevertheless, Heaven had decreed that all his 
 precautions should be abortive ; for the king, in 
 order to learn the condition of his empire, and 
 the secret sentiments of his subjects, once made 
 a journey on foot, disguised like a beggar, 
 throughout the land. When he came to the re- 
 gion where the vizier lived, he heard both him 
 and his daughter much spoken of, because no 
 one knew who he was, nor whence he had come, 
 nor w^hy he lived in such obscurity. The king 
 therefore caused his residence to be pointed out, 
 and he reached it at the moment when the vizier 
 and his daughter were seated at table. His 
 first glance fell on Balkis, who w^as then in her 
 fourteenth year, and beautiful like an houri of 
 Paradise, for, with the grace and loveliness of 
 woman, she combined the transparent com- 
 plexion and the majesty of the genii. But how 
 great was his astonishment, when, fixing his eye 
 on her father, he recognized his former vizier, 
 who had so suddenly disappeared, and whose 
 fate had remained unknown ! 
 
 As soon as the vizier observed that the king 
 had recognized him, he fell down at his feet, im- 
 ploring his favor, and relating all that had be- 
 
SABA. 227 
 
 fallen him during his absence. Sharahbil par- 
 doned him from love to Balkis, but demanded 
 that he should resume his former functions, and 
 at the same time presented him with a palace in 
 the finest situation near his capital. But a few 
 weeks had scarcely elapsed when the vizier 
 one morning returned from the city with a heav- 
 ily clouded brow, and said to Balkis, " My fears 
 are now realized ! The king has asked thy hand, 
 and I could not refuse without endangering my 
 life, although I would rather see thee laid in thy 
 grave than in the arms of this tyrant." 
 
 " Dismiss your fears, my father," replied Bal- 
 kis ; " I shall free me and my whole sex from 
 this abandoned man. Only put on a cheerful 
 brow, that he may not conceive any suspicion, 
 and request of him, as the only favor 1 demand, 
 that our nuptials be solemnized here in privacy." 
 
 The king cheerfully agreed to the wish of his 
 bride, and repaired on the following morning, 
 accompanied by a few servants, to the vizier's 
 palace, where he was entertained with royal 
 magnificence. After the repast, the vizier retired 
 with his guests, and Balkis remained alone with 
 the king ; but on a given signal her female slaves 
 appeared : one of them sang, another played on 
 the harp, a third danced before them, and a 
 fourth presented wine in golden cups. The last 
 was, by Balkis's directions, especially active, so 
 
228 SABA. 
 
 that the king, whom she urged by every art to 
 partake of the strongest wines, soon fell back 
 lifeless on his divan. Balkis now drew forth a 
 dagger from beneath her robe, and plunged it so 
 deeply into the heart of Sharahbil, that his soul 
 rushed instantly to hell. She then called her 
 father, and pointing to the corpse before her, 
 said, " To-morrow morning, let the most influ- 
 ential men of the city, and also some chiefs of 
 the army, be commanded, in the king's name, to 
 send him their daughters. This will produce a 
 revolt, which we shall improve to our advan- 
 tage." 
 
 Balkis was not mistaken in her conjecture; 
 for the men, whose daughters were threatened 
 with infamy, called their kinsmen together, and 
 marched in the evening to the palace of the 
 vizier, threatening to set it on lire unless the 
 king should be delivered up to them. 
 
 Balkis then cut off the king's head, and flung 
 it through the window to the assembled insurg- 
 ents. Instantly there arose the loud exultations 
 of the multitude ; the city was festively illumin- 
 ed, and Balkis, as protectress of her sex, was 
 proclaimed Queen of Saba. " This queen," con- 
 cluded the hoopoo, "has been reigning there 
 since many years in great wisdom and prudence, 
 and justice prevails throughout her now flourish- 
 ing empire. She assists at all the councils of her 
 
THE MItSSlVE. 229 
 
 viziers, concealed from the gaze of men by a fine 
 curtain, seated on a lofty throne of most skillful 
 workmanship, and adorned with jewels ; but, 
 like many of the kings of that country before 
 her, she is a worshiper of the sun." 
 
 " We shall see," said Solomon, when the hoo- 
 poo had concluded the account of his journey, 
 " whether thou hast spoken the truth, or art to 
 be numbered among deceivers." 
 
 He then caused a fountain to be pointed out 
 by the hoopoo, performed his ablutions, and, 
 when he had prayed, \vrote the following lines : 
 " From Solomon, the son of David and servant 
 of Allah, to Balkis, queen of Saba. In the name 
 of Allah the All-merciful and Gracious, blessed 
 are they who follow the guidance of Fate ! follow 
 thou my invitation, and present thyself before me 
 as a believer." This note he sealed with musk, 
 stamped his signet on it, and gave it to the hoo- 
 poo, with the words, " Take this letter to Queen 
 Balkis ; then retire, but not so far as to preclude 
 thee from hearing what she shall advise with her 
 viziers respecting it." 
 
 The hoopoo, with the letter in his bill, darted 
 away like an arrow, and arrived next day at 
 Mared. The queen was surrounded by all her 
 counselors, when he stepped into her hall of 
 state, and dropped the letter into her lap. She 
 started as soon as she beheld Solomon's mighty 
 U 
 
230 UUEEN BALKIS. 
 
 signet, opened the letter hurriedly, and, having 
 first read it to herself, communicated it to her 
 counselors, among whom were also her highest 
 chieftains, and entreated their counsel on this 
 important matter. 
 
 JBut they replied with one voice, "You may 
 rely on our power and courage, and act accord- 
 ing to your good pleasure and wisdom.*' 
 
 " Before, then, 1 engage in war," said Balkis, 
 "which always entails much suffering and mis- 
 fortune upon a country, I will send some presents 
 to King Solomon, and see how he will receive 
 my ambassadors. If he suffers himself to be 
 bribed, he is no more than other kings who have 
 fallen before our power; but if he reject my 
 presents, then is he a true prophet, whose faith 
 w^e must embrace." 
 
 She then dressed five hundred youths like 
 maidens, and as many maidens like young men, 
 and commanded the former to behave in the 
 presence of Solomon like girls, and the latter like 
 boys. She then had a thousand carpets prepar- 
 ed, wrought with gold and silver ; a crown, com- 
 posed of the finest pearls and hyacinths ; and 
 many loads of musk, amber, aloes, and other 
 precious products of South Arabia. To these 
 she added a closed casket containing an unperfo- 
 rated pearl, a diamond intricately pierced, and 
 a goblet of crystal. 
 
RIDDLE3. 231 
 
 " As a true prophet," she wrote to him, " thou 
 wilt no doubt be able to distinguish the youths 
 from the* maidens, to divine the contents of the 
 closed casket, to perforate the pearl, to thread 
 the diamond, and to fill the goblet with water 
 that has neither dropped from the clouds nor 
 gushed forth from the earth." 
 
 All these presents and her letter she sent to 
 him by experienced and intelligent men, to whom 
 she said at their departure, " If Solomon meet 
 you with pride and harshness, be not cast down, 
 for these are indications of human weakness ; 
 but if he receive you with kindness and conde- 
 scension, be on your guard, for you then have to 
 do with a prophet." 
 
 The hoopoo heard all this, for he had kept 
 close to the queen until the ambassadors had de- 
 parted. He then flew in a direct line, without 
 resting, to the tent of Solomon, to whom he re- 
 ported what he had heard. The king then com- 
 manded the genii to produce a carpet which 
 should cover the space of nine parasangs, and 
 to spread it out at the steps of his throne toward 
 the south. To the eastward, where the carpet 
 ceased, he caused a lofty golden wall to be 
 erected, and to the westward, one of silver. On 
 both sides of the carpet he ranged the rarest 
 foreign animals, and all kinds of genii and de- 
 mons. 
 
23'2 .MA(ji\ii]cE.\(ji:. 
 
 The ambassadors were greatly conllised oo 
 arriving in Solomon's encampment, where a 
 splendor and magnificence were displayed such 
 as they had never conceived of before. The first 
 thing they did on beholding the immense carpet, 
 which their eyes were unable to survey, was to 
 fling away their thousand carpets which they 
 had brought as a present for the king. The 
 nearer they came the greater waxed their per- 
 plexity, on account of the many singular birds, 
 and beasts, and spirits through whose ranks they 
 had to pass in approaching Solomon ; but their 
 hearts were relieved as soon as they stood be- 
 fore him, for he greeted them with kindness, and 
 inquired with smiling lips what had brought them 
 to him. 
 
 " We are the bearers of a letter from Queen 
 Balkis," replied the most eloquent of the embassy, 
 while he presented the letter. 
 
 " I know its contents," replied Solomon, " with- 
 out opening it, as well as those of the casket 
 which you have brought with you ; and I shall, 
 by the help of Allah, perforate your pearl, and 
 cause your diamond to be threaded. But I Will 
 first of all fill your goblet with water which has 
 not f^dlen from the clouds nor gushed from the 
 earth, and distinguish the beardless youths from 
 the virgins who accompany you." He then 
 caused one thousand silver bowis and basins to 
 
RIDDLEd riOLVED. 23'S 
 
 be brought, and commanded the male and fe- 
 male slaves to wash themselves. The former 
 immediately put their hands, on which the water 
 was poured, to their faces ; but the latter first 
 emptied it into their right hands as it flowed 
 from the bowl into their left, and then washed 
 their faces with both their hands. Hereupon 
 Solomon readily discovered the sexes of the 
 slaves, to the great astonishment of the ambas- 
 sadors. This being done, he commanded a tall 
 and corpulent slave to mount on a young and 
 fiery horse, and to ride through the camp at the 
 top of his speed, and to return instantly to him. 
 When the slave returned with the steed to Sol- 
 omon, there poured from him whole torrents of 
 perspiration, so that the crystal goblet was im- 
 mediately filled. 
 
 " Here," said Solomon to the ambassadors, 
 " is w^ater which has neither come out of the 
 earth nor from heaven." The pearl he perfo- 
 rated with the stone, for the knowledge of which 
 he was indebted to Sachr and the raven ; but 
 the threading of the diamond, in whose opening 
 there was every possible curve, pi^izzled him, 
 until a demon brought him a worm, which crept 
 through the jewel, leaving a silken thread behind. 
 Solomon inquired of the worm how he might 
 reward him for this great service, by which he 
 had saved his dignity as a prophet. The worm 
 ^ ' V 2 
 
234 PROPAGATIOxN OF THE FAITH. 
 
 requested that a fine fruit-tree should be ap 
 pointed to him as his dwelling. Solomon gave 
 him the mulberry-tree, which from that time af- 
 fords a shelter and nourishment to the silk- worm 
 forever. 
 
 " You have seen now," said Solomon to the 
 ambassadors, " that I have successfully passed 
 all the trials which your queen has imposed on 
 me. Return to her, together with the presents 
 destined for me, of which I do not stand in need, 
 and tell her that if she do not accept my faith 
 and do homage unto me, I shall invade her coun- 
 try with an army which no human power shall 
 be able to resist, and drag her a w^retched cap- 
 tive to my capital." 
 
 The ambassadors left Solomon under the full- 
 est conviction of his might, and mission a proph- 
 et ; and their report respecting all that had pass- 
 ed between them and the king made the same 
 impression on Queen Balkis. 
 
 " Solomon is a mighty prophet," said she to 
 the viziers who surrounded her, and had listened 
 to the narrative of the ambassadors. " The best 
 plan I can adopt is to journey to him with the 
 leaders of my army, in order to ascertain what 
 he demands of us." She then commanded the 
 necessary preparations for the journey to be 
 made ; but, before her departure, she locked up 
 her throne, which she left \a ith the greatest re- 
 
INCANTATION. 235 
 
 luctance, in a hall which it was impossible to 
 reach without first stepping through six other 
 closed halls ; and all the seven halls were in the 
 innermost of the seven closed apartments, of 
 which the palace, guarded by her most faithful 
 servants, consisted. 
 
 When Queen Balkis, attended by her twelve 
 thousand . captains, each of whom commanded 
 several thousand men, had come within a para- 
 sang of Solomon's encampment, he said to his 
 hosts, " Which of you will bring me the throne 
 of Queen Balkis before she come to me as a be- 
 liever, that I may rightfully appropriate this cu- 
 rious piece of art while yet in the possession of 
 an infidel ?" 
 
 Hereupon a misshapen demon (who was as 
 large as a mountain) said, " I will bring it to thee 
 before noon, ere thou dismiss thy council. I am 
 not wanting in power for the achievement, and 
 thou mayest intrust me with the throne without 
 any apprehension." 
 
 But Solomon had not so much time left, for 
 he already perceived at a distance the clouds of 
 dust raised by the army of Saba. 
 
 " Then," said his vizier Assaf, the son of Bu- 
 rahja, who, by reason of his acquaintance with 
 the holy names of Allah, found nothing too diffi- 
 cult, " raise thy eyes toward heaven, and before 
 thou shalt be able to cast them down again to 
 
the earth, the ihrone of the Queen of Saba shall 
 stand here before thee." 
 
 Solomon gazed heavenward, and Assaf called 
 Allah by his holiest name, praying that he might 
 send him the throne of Balkis. Then, in the 
 twinkling of an eye, the throne rolled through 
 the bowels of the earth until it came to the 
 throne of Solomon, and rose up through the 
 opening ground, whereupon Solomon exclaimed, 
 *'How great is the goodness of Allah ! this was 
 assuredly intended as a trial whether I should 
 be grateful to him or not; but whosoever ac- 
 knowledgeth the goodness of Allah, does it to 
 himself, and whoever denieth it, does no less so. 
 Allah has no need of human gratitude !" 
 
 After having admired the throne, he said to 
 one of his servants, " Make some change on it, 
 and let us see whether Balkis will recognize 
 it again." The servants took several parts of 
 the throne to pieces, and replaced them differ- 
 ently ; but when Balkis w-as asked whether her 
 throne was like it, she replied, " It seems as if it 
 were the same." 
 
 This and other replies of the queen convinced 
 Solomon of her superior understanding, for she 
 had undoubtedly recognized her throne ; but 
 her answ^er was so equivocal that it did not 
 sound either reproachful or suspicious. But, be- 
 fore he would enter into more intimate relations 
 
THE CONVERT. 237 
 
 with her, he desired to clear up a certain point 
 respecting her, and to see whether she actually- 
 had cloven feet, as several of his demons would 
 have him to believe, or whether they had only 
 invented the defect from fear lest he might 
 marry her and beget children, who, as descend- 
 ants of the genii, would be even more mighty 
 than himself He therefore caused her to be 
 conducted through a hall whose floor was of 
 crystal, and under which water, tenanted by 
 every variety of fish, was flowing. Balkis, who 
 had never seen a crystal floor, supposed that 
 there w^as water to be passed through, and 
 therefore raised her robe slightly, when the king 
 discovered, to his great joy, a beautifully-shaped 
 female foot. When his eye was satisfied, he 
 called to her, " Come hither ! there is no water 
 here, but only a crystal floor ; and confess thy- 
 self to the fiith in one only God." Balkis ap- 
 proached the throne, which stood at the end of 
 the hall, and in Solomon's presence abjured the 
 worship of the sun. 
 
 Solomon then married Balkis, but reinstated 
 her as Queen of Saba, and spent three days in 
 every month with her. 
 
 On one of his' progresses from Jerusalem to 
 Mareb,he passed through a valley inhabited by 
 apes, which, however, dressed and lived like 
 men, and had more comfortable dwellings than 
 
238* THE APES. 
 
 other apes, and even bore all kinds of weapons. 
 He descended from his flying carpet, and march- 
 ed into the valley with a few of his troops. 
 The apes hurried together to drive him back, 
 but one of their elders stepped forward and 
 said, " Let us rather seek safety in submission, 
 for our foe is a holy prophet." Three apes 
 were immediately chosen as ambassadors to ne- 
 gotiate with Solomon. He received them kind- 
 ly, and inquired to which class of apes they be- 
 longed, and how it came to pass that they were 
 so skilled in all human arts. The ambassadors 
 replied, " Be not astonished at us, for we are 
 descended from men, and are the remnant of a 
 Jewish community, which, notwithstanding all 
 admonition, continued to desecrate the Sabbath, 
 until Allah cursed them, and turned them into 
 apes.* Solomon was moved to compassion ; 
 and, to protect them from all farther animosity 
 on the part of man, gave them a parchment, in 
 which he secured to them forever the undis- 
 turbed possession of this valley. 
 
 [At the time of the Calif Omar, there came a 
 division of troops into this valley ; but when 
 they would have raised their tents to occupy it, 
 there came an aged ape, with a scroll of parch- 
 ment in his hands, and presented it to the leader 
 of the soldiers. Yet, as no one was able to read 
 
 * Mohammed mentions this in the Koran as a fact. 
 
NUBARA. 239 
 
 it, they sent it to Omar at Medina, to whom it 
 was explained by a Jew, who had been convert- 
 ed to Islam. He sent it back forthwith, and 
 commanded the troops to evacuate the valley.] 
 
 Meanwhile, Balkis soon found a dangerous 
 rival in Djarada, the daughter of King Nubara, 
 who governed one of the finest islands in the 
 Indian Ocean. This king was a fearful tyrant, 
 and forced all his subjects to worship him as a 
 god. 
 
 As soon as Solomon heard of it, he marched 
 against him with as many troops as his largest 
 carpet could contain, conquered the island, and 
 slew the king with his own hand. When he 
 was on the point of leaving the palace of Nuba- 
 ra, there stepped before him a virgin who far 
 surpassed in beauty and grace the whole harem 
 of Solomon, not even the Queen of Saba except- 
 ed. He commanded her to be led to his carpet, 
 and, threatening her with death, forced her to 
 accept his faith and his hand. 
 
 But Djarada saw in Solomon only the mur- 
 derer of her father, and replied to his caresses 
 with sighs and tears. 
 
 Solomon hoped that time would heal her 
 wounds, and reconcile her to her fate ; but 
 when, at the expiration of a whole year, her 
 heart still remained closed against love and joy, 
 he overwhelmed her with reproaches, and in- 
 quired how he might assuage her grief. 
 
240 IDOLATRY. ASSAF. 
 
 " As it is not in thy power " replied Djarada, 
 " to recall my father to life, send a few genii to 
 my home: let them bring his statue, and place 
 it in my chamber : perhaps the very sight of his 
 image w^ill procure me some consolation." 
 
 Solomon was weak enough to comply with 
 her request, and to defile his palace with the im- 
 age of a man who had deified himself, and to 
 whom even Djarada secretly paid divine honors. 
 This idol worship had lasted forty days, when 
 Assaf was informed of it. He therefore mount- 
 ed the rostrum, and, before the whole assembled 
 people, pronounced a discourse, in which he de- 
 scribed the pure and God-devoted life of all the 
 prophets, from Adam until David. In passing 
 to Solomon, he praised the wisdom and piety 
 of the first years of his reign, but regretted that 
 his later courses showed less of the true fear of 
 God. 
 
 As soon as Solomon had learned the contents 
 of this discourse, he summoned Assaf, and in- 
 quired of him whereby he had deserved to be 
 thus censured before the whole people. 
 
 Assaf replied, " Thou hast permitted thy pas- 
 sion to blind thee, and sufTered idolatry in thy 
 palace." 
 
 Solomon hastened to the apartments of Dja- 
 rada, whom he found prostrate in prayer before 
 the image of her father, and exclaiming. 
 
SACHR. 241 
 
 " We belong unto Allah, and shall one day 
 return to Him !" he shivered the idol to pieces, 
 and punished the princess. He then put on new- 
 robes, which none but pure virgins had touched, 
 strewed ashes on his head, went into the desert, 
 and implored Allah for forgiveness. 
 
 Allah pardoned his sin ; but he was to atone 
 for it during forty days. On returning home in 
 the evening, having given his signet into the 
 keeping of one of his wives until he should re- 
 turn from an unclean place, Sachr assumed his 
 form, and obtained from her the ring. Soon 
 after, Solomon himself claimed it ; but he was 
 laughed at and derided, for the light of prophecy 
 had departed from him, so that no one recog- 
 nized him as king, and he was driven from his 
 palace as a deceiver and impostor. He now 
 wandered up and down the country, and wher- 
 ever he gave his name he was mocked as a 
 madman, and shamefully entreated. In this 
 manner he lived nine-and-thirty days, sometimes 
 begging, sometimes living on herbs. On the 
 fortieth day he entered into the service of a fish- 
 erman, who promised him as his daily Wages 
 two fishes, one of which he hoped to exchange 
 for bread. But on that day the power of Sachr 
 came to an end ; for this wicked spirit had, not- 
 withstanding his external resemblance to Solo- 
 mon, and his possession of the signet ring, by 
 16 X 
 
842 PKOVIUENC'E. 
 
 which he had obtained power over spirits, men, 
 and animals, excited suspicion by his ungodly 
 deportment, and his senseless and unlawful or- 
 dinances. 
 
 The elders of Israel came daily to Assaf, pre- 
 ferring new charges against the king ; but Assaf 
 constantly found the doors of the palace closed 
 against him. 
 
 But when, finally, on the fortieth day, even 
 the wives of Solomon came and complained 
 that the king no longer observed any of the pre- 
 scribed rules of purification, Assaf, accompanied 
 by some doctors of the law, who were reading 
 aloud in the Thora, forced his way, spite of the 
 gate-keepers and sentinels, who would have hin- 
 dered him, into the hall of state, where Sachr 
 sojourned. No sooner did he hear the word of 
 God, w^iich had been revealed to Moses,* than 
 he shrunk back into his native form, and flew in 
 haste to the shore of the sea, where the signet 
 ring dropped from him. 
 
 By the providence of the Lord of the universe, 
 
 * There is an allusion here to the peculiar ideas which both 
 Mohammedans and Jews attach to the recitation of scriptural or 
 imagined sacred words and sentences. 
 
 They believe their bare reading or repetition valuable : 
 
 1. As being meritorious before God, independent of any reac- 
 tion which it may produce on their heart and understanding. 
 
 2. Because every letter is supposed to possess a (cabalistic) 
 charm acting with resistless power upon spirits, and even upon 
 the Lord himself.— £. T. 
 
the ring was caught up and swallowed by a 
 fish, which was soon afterward driven into the 
 net of the fisherman whom Solomon served. 
 Solomon received this fish as the wages of his 
 labor, and when he ate it in the evening he 
 found his ring. 
 
 He then commanded the winds to take him 
 back to Jerusalem, where he assembled around 
 him all the chiefs of men, birds, beasts, and spir- 
 its, and related to them all that had befallen him 
 during the last forty days, and how Allah had, 
 in a miraculous manner, restored the ring which 
 Sachr had wilily usurped. 
 
 He then caused Sachr to be pursued, and 
 forced him into a copper flask, which he sealed 
 with his signet, and flung between two rocks 
 into the Sea of Tiberias, where he must remain 
 until the day of the resurrection- 
 
 The government of Solomon, which after this 
 occurrence lasted ten years, was not clouded 
 again by misfortune. Djarada, the cause of his 
 calamity, he never desired to see again, although 
 she was now truly converted. But Queen Bal- 
 kis he visited regularly every month until the 
 day of her death. 
 
 When she died, he caused her remains to be 
 taken to the city of Tadmor, which she had 
 founded, and buried her there. But her grave 
 remained unknown until the reign of Calif Wa- 
 
244 THE TOMB OF aUEEN BALKIS. 
 
 lid, when, in consequence of long-continued rains, 
 the walls of Tadmor fell in, and a stone coffin 
 .was discovered sixty cubits long and forty wide, 
 bearing this inscription : 
 
 " Here is the grave of the pious Balkis, the 
 Queen of Saba and consort of the Prophet Solo- 
 mon, the son of David. She was converted to 
 the true faith in the thirteenth year of Solomon's 
 accession to the throne, married him in the 14th, 
 and died on Monday, the second day of Rabi- 
 Awwal, in the three-and-twentieth year of his 
 reign." 
 
 The son of the calif caused the lid of the coffin 
 to be raised up, and discovered a female form, 
 which was as fresh and well preserved as if it 
 had but just been buried. He immediately made 
 a report of it to his father, inquiring what should 
 be done with the coffin. 
 
 Walid commanded that it should be left in the 
 place where it was found, and be so built up 
 with marble stones that it should never be dese- 
 crated again by human hands. 
 
 This command was obeyed ; and, notwith- 
 standing the many devastations and changes 
 which the city of Tadmor and her walls have 
 suffered, no traces have been found of the tomb 
 of Queen Balkis. 
 
 A few months after the death of the Queen 
 
TIIR AXGEL OF UEATH. 245 
 
 of Saba, the Angel of Death appeared unto Solo- 
 mon with six faces : one to the right, and one to 
 the left; one in front, and one behind ; one above 
 his head, and one below it. The king, who had 
 never seen him in this form, was startled, and 
 inquired what this sixfold visage signified. 
 
 " With the face to the right," replied the An- 
 ge) of Death, " I fetch the souls from the east ; 
 with that to the left, the souls from the west; 
 with that above, the souls of the inhabitants of 
 heaven ; with that below, the demons from the 
 depths of the earth ; with that behind, the souls 
 of the people of Madjudj and Jadjudj (Gog and 
 Magog) ; but w^ith that in front, those of the 
 Faithful, to whom also thy soul belongs." 
 
 " Must; then, even the angels die?" 
 
 " All that lives becomes the prey of death as 
 soon as Israfil shall have blown the trumpet the 
 second time. Then I shall put to death even 
 Gabriel and Michael, and immediately after that 
 must myself die, at the command of Allah. 
 Then God alone remains, and exclaims, ' Whose 
 is the world V but there shall not a living crea- 
 ture be left to answer him ! And forty years 
 must elapse, when Israfil shall be recalled to life, 
 that he may blow his trumpet a third time, to 
 wake all the dead." 
 
 " And who among men shall rise first from the 
 grave ?" 
 
 X2 
 
246 THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 " Mohammed, the prophet, who shall in later 
 times spring from the descendants of Ismael. 
 
 "Israfil himself and Gabriel, together with 
 other angels, shall come to his grave at Medina, 
 and cry, ' Thou purest and noblest of souls ! re- 
 turn again to thy immaculate body, and revive 
 it again.' Then shall he rise from his grave, 
 and shake the dust from his head. Gabriel 
 greets him, and points to the winged Borak, 
 who stands prepared for him, and to a standard 
 and a crown which Allah sends him from Para- 
 dise. The angel then savs to him, 'Come to 
 thy Lord, and mine, thou elect among all crea- 
 tures ! The gardens of Eden are festively 
 adorned for thee ; the houris await thee with 
 impatience.' He then lifts him upon Borak, 
 places the heavenly standard in his hand, and 
 the crown upon his head, and leads him into 
 Paradise. Thereupon the rest of mankind shall 
 be called to life. They shall ail be brought to 
 Palestine, where the great tribunal shall be held, 
 and where no other intercession than that of Mo- 
 hammed is accepted. That will be a fearful 
 day, when every one shall think only of himself. 
 Adam will cry, ' O Lord, save my soul only ! I 
 care not for Eve, nor for Abel.' Noah will ex- 
 claim, ' O Lord, preserve me from hell, and do 
 with Ham and Shem as thou pleasest !' Abra- 
 ham shall say, ' I pray neither for Ismael nor 
 
fiEVFA' 1!RTD«tES. *247 
 
 Isaac, but for my own safety only.* Ev^en Mo- 
 ses shall forget his brother Aaron, and Christ 
 his mother, so greatly shall they be concerned 
 for themselves. None but Mohammed shall im- 
 plore the mercy of God for all the faithful of his 
 people. They that are risen will then be con- 
 ducted over the bridge Sirat, which is com- 
 posed of seven bridges, each of which is three 
 thousand years long. This bridge is as sharp as 
 a sword, and as fine as a hair. One third of it 
 is an ascent, one third is even, and one third is 
 a descent. He alone who passes all these 
 bridges w ith success can be admitted into Para- 
 dise. The unbelievers fall into hell from the 
 first bridge ; the prayerless, from the second ; 
 the uncharitable, from the third ; whoever has 
 eaten in Ramadhan, from the fourth; whoever 
 has neglected the pilgrimage, from the fifth ; 
 whoever hath not commended the good, from 
 the sixth ; and whoso hath not prevented evil, 
 from the seventh." 
 
 " When shall the resurrection be ?" 
 " That is known only to Allah ; but assuredly 
 not before the advent of Mohammed, the last of 
 all prophets. Previously to it the prophet Isa 
 (Christ), sprung from thy own family, shall 
 preach the true faith, shall be lifted up by Al- 
 lah, and be born again. The nations of Jadjudj 
 and Madjudj shall burst the wall behind which 
 
248 DEATH OF SOLOMON. 
 
 Alexander has confined them. The sun shall 
 rise in the west, and many other signs and won- 
 ders shall precede." 
 
 " Suffer me to live until the completion of my 
 temple, for at my death the genii and demons 
 "will cease their labor." 
 
 " Thy hour-glass has run out, and it is not in 
 my power to prolong thy life another second." 
 
 " Then follow me to my crystal hall !" 
 
 The Angel of Death accompanied Solomon 
 unto the hall, whose walls were entirel}' of crys- 
 tal. There Solomon prayed ; and, leaning upon 
 his staff, requested the angel to take his soul in 
 that position. The angel consented ; and his 
 death was thus concealed from the demons a 
 whole year, till the temple was finished. It was 
 not until the staff, when destroyed by worms, 
 broke down with him, that his death was ob- 
 served by the spirits, who, in order to revenge 
 theniselves, concealed all kinds of magical books 
 under his throne, so that many believers thought 
 Solomon had been a sorcerer. But he was a 
 pure and divine prophet, as it is written in the 
 Koran, " Solomon was no infidel, but the demons 
 were unbelievers, and taught all manner of sor- 
 ceries." When the king was lying on the ground, 
 the angels carried him, together with his signet 
 ring, to a cave, where they shall guard him until 
 the day of the resurrection. 
 
JOHN, MARY, AND CHRIST. 
 
 There once lived in Palestine a man named 
 Amram Ibn Mathan, who had attained to a great 
 age without being blessed with posterity. Short- 
 ly before his death his wife Hanna prayed to 
 the Lord that he might not suffer her to die child- 
 less. Her prayer was heard, and when she was 
 with child she dedicated her offspring to the ser- 
 vice of the Lord ; but, contrary to her expec- 
 tations, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she 
 named Mariam (Mary), and was naturally in 
 doubt if her child would be accepted as a servant 
 in the temple, until an angel cried to her, " Allah 
 has accepted thy vow, although he knew before- 
 hand that thou shouldst not give birth to a son. 
 He has, moreover, sanctified thy daughter, as 
 well as the man-child that shall be born of her, 
 and will preserve him from the touch of Satan, 
 who renders every other child susceptible of 
 sin from its birth (on which account, also, all 
 children cry aloud when they are born)." 
 
 These words comforted Hanna, whose hus- 
 band had died during her pregnancy. As soon 
 as she had recovered from her childbed, she 
 carried her infant daughter to Jerusalem, and 
 presented her to the priests, as a child dedi- 
 cated to Allah. Zachariah, a priest whose wife 
 was related to Hanna, was desirous of taking the 
 
250 ZACHARIAH. 
 
 child home with him ; but the other priests, who 
 were all eager for this privilege (for, on account 
 of his piety, Amram had stood high in repute 
 among them), protested against it, and forced 
 him to cast lots with them for the guardianship 
 of Mary. They proceeded, therefore, twenty- 
 nine in number, to the Jordan, and flung their 
 arrows into the river, on the understanding that 
 he whose arrow should rise again, and remain 
 on the water, should bring her up. By the will 
 of Allah, the lot decided in favor of Zachariah, 
 who then built a small chamber for Mary in the 
 Temple, to which no one had access but him- 
 self; but when he brought her some food, she 
 was already supplied, and though it was in win- 
 ter, the choicest summer fruits were standing be- 
 fore her. To his inquiry whence she had ob- 
 tained it all, she replied, " From Allah, who sat- 
 isfieth every one according to his own pleasure, 
 and giveth no account of his proceedings."* 
 When Zachariah saw this, he prayed to Allah 
 
 * The general defection of the Church had, long before Mo- 
 hammed's time, spread into Arabia, where Christianity had been 
 early and extensively planted. 
 
 Many heresies respecting the Trinity and the Savior, the wor- 
 ship of saints and images, errors on the future state of the soul, 
 &c., had so completely overrun the nominal church of that coun- 
 try, that it is difficult to say whether one particle of truth was 
 left in it. More especially the worship of Mary as the mother of 
 God, whom the Marianites considered as a divinity, and to whom 
 the CoUyridians even offered a stated sacrifice, was in general 
 practice round Mohammed ; and it is as curious as it is sad to 
 observe how this idolatry affected him, — E> T. 
 
UNBELIEF. 251 
 
 to perform a miracle even in his case, and to 
 bless him with a son, notwithstanding his ad- 
 vanced age. Then Gabried called to him, " Al- 
 lah will give thee a son, who shall be called 
 Jahja (John), and bear testimony to the Word 
 of God" (Christ). Zachariah went down to his 
 house filled with joy, and related to his wife 
 what the angel had announced to him ; but as 
 she was already ninety-and-eight years of age, 
 and her husband one hundred and twenty, she 
 laughed at him, so that at length he himself be- 
 gan to doubt the fulfillment of the promise, and 
 asked a sign from Allah. 
 
 " As the punishment of thy unbelief," cried 
 Gabriel unto him, " thou shalt be speechless for 
 three days, and let this serve thee as the sign 
 thou hast required." 
 
 On the following morning, Zachariah, as usual, 
 desired to lead in prayer, but was unable to utter 
 a single sound until the fourth day, when his 
 tongue was loosed, and he besought Allah to 
 pardon him and his wife. 
 
 Then there came a voice from heaven, which 
 said, " Your sin is forgiven, and Allah will give 
 yo-u a son, who shall surpass in purity and holi- 
 ness all the men of his time. Blessed be he in 
 the day of his birth, as well as in those of his 
 death and resurrection." 
 
 Within a year's time Zachariah became the 
 fiUher of a child, which, even at its birth, had a 
 
252 MARY. 
 
 holy and venerable appearance. He now di- 
 vided his time between him and Mary ; and 
 John in the house of his father, and Mary in the 
 Temple, grew up like two fair flowers, to the joy 
 of all believers, daily increasing in wisdom and 
 piety. 
 
 When Mary had grown to womanhood, there 
 appeared to her one day, while she was alone 
 in her cell, Gabriel, in full human form. 
 
 Mary hastily covered herself with her veil, 
 and cried, " Most Merciful ! assist me against 
 this man." 
 
 But Gabriel said, " Fear nothing from me : I 
 am the messenger of thy Lord, who has exalted 
 thee above all the women of earth, and am come 
 to make known to thee his will. Thou shalt 
 bear a son, and call him Isa, the Blessed One. 
 He shall speak earlier than all other children, 
 and be honored both in this world and in the 
 world to come !" 
 
 " How shall I bear a son," replied Mary, af- 
 frighted, " since I have not known a man ?" 
 
 " It is even so," replied Gabriel. " Did not 
 Allah create Adam without either father or 
 mother, merely by his word, • Be thou created V 
 Thy son shall be a sign of His omnipotence, 
 and as His prophet, restore the backsliding sons 
 of Israel to the path of righteousness." 
 
 When Gabriel had thn*? spoken, he raised with 
 
BIRTH OF CHRIST. 253 
 
 his finger Mary's robe from her bosom, and 
 breathed upon her. 
 
 Thereupon she ran into the field, and had 
 scarcely time to support herself on the withered 
 trunk of a date-tree before she was deHvered of 
 a son. Then cried she, " Oh that I had died, and 
 been forgotten long ere this, rather than that the 
 suspicion of having sinned should fall upon me !" 
 
 Gabriel appeared again to her, and said, "Fear 
 nothing, Mary. Behold, the Lord causes a 
 fountain of fresh water to gush forth from the 
 earth at thy feet, and the trunk on which thou 
 leanest is blossoming even now, and fresh dates 
 are covering its withered branches. Eat and 
 drink, and when thou art satisfied, return to thy 
 people ; and if any one shall inquire of thee re- 
 specting thy child, be thou silent, and leave thy 
 defense to Him." 
 
 Mary plucked a few dates, which tasted like 
 frui^ from Paradise, drank from the fountain, 
 whose water was even like milk, and then went, 
 with her child in her arms, unto her family ; but 
 all the people cried out to her, " Mary, what hast 
 thou done ? Thy father was so pious, and thy 
 mother so chaste !" 
 
 Mary, instead of replying, pointed to the child. 
 
 Then said her relations, " Shall this new-born 
 child answer us?" 
 
 But Jesus said, "Do not sin in suspecting my 
 Y 
 
254 MIRACLES*. 
 
 mother. Allah has created me by his word, and 
 has chosen me to be his servant and prophet." 
 
 But, notwithstanding all these wonders, the 
 sons of Israel would not believe in Christ when, 
 at the age of manhood, he proclaimed to them 
 the Gospel which Allah had revealed to him. 
 He was derided and despised because he called 
 himself " the Word and the Spirit of Allah," and 
 was challenged to perform new miracles in the 
 sight of the whole people. 
 
 Christ then created, at the will of Allah, vari- 
 ous kinds of birds out of clay, which he animated 
 with his breath, so that they ate and drank, and 
 flew up and down like natural birds.* He 
 healed in one day by his prayer fifty thousand 
 blind and leprous persons, whose cure the best 
 physicians of those times had been unable to ef- 
 fect. He recovered many dead, who, after he 
 had recalled them to life, married again, and had 
 children, and even raised up Sam, the son of 
 Noah, who, however, died again immediately. 
 But he not only revived men, but even isolated 
 parts and limbs. During his wanderings, he one 
 
 * In the original, it is said, Christ was able to tell the people 
 what food they had taken, and what provisions they had laid up 
 in store. This whole legend shows how painfully deceived Mo- 
 hammed was by those who spoke to him of the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 but if, even with his knowledge, he believed Him to have been a 
 great prophet, would he not have believed in his divinity if he had 
 iead the Go?peIs ■ 
 
THE riKULL. 200 
 
 day found a skull near the Dead Sea, and his 
 disciples asked him to recall it to life. Christ 
 prayed to Allah, and then, turning to the skull, 
 said, " Live, by the will of the Lord, and tell us 
 how thou hast found death, the grave, and the 
 future state !" 
 
 The skull then assumed the form of a living 
 head, and said, " Know thou, O Prophet of Al- 
 lah ! that about four thousand years ago, after 
 taking a bath, I fell into a fever, which, notwith- 
 standing all the medicines which were given me, 
 continued seven days. On the eighth day I was 
 so entirely exhausted that all my limbs trembled, 
 and my tongue cleaved to-the roof of my mouth. 
 Then there came to me the Angel of Death in a 
 terrible shape. His head touched the sky, while 
 his feet stood in the lowest depths of the earth. 
 He held a sword in his right hand, and a cup in 
 his left, and there were ten other angels with him, 
 whom I took to be his servants. I would have 
 shrieked so loudly at their sight that the inhabi- 
 tants of heaven and of earth must have been pet- 
 rified ; but the angels fell on me, and held my 
 tongue, and some of them pressed my veins, so 
 as to force out my soul. Then said I, ' Exalted 
 spirits, I will give all that I possess for my life.' 
 But one of them struck me in the face, and al 
 most shattered my jaw-bone, saying, ' Enemy of 
 Allah ! He accepts no ransom.' The Angel of 
 Death then placed his sword upon niv throat. 
 
256 THE SKULL. 
 
 and gave me the cup, which I was forced to 
 empty to the dregs, and this was my death. My 
 consciousness now lost, I was washed, wrapped 
 in a shroud, and interred ; but when my grave 
 was covered with earth, my soul returned to my 
 body, and I was sorely afraid in my solitude. 
 But soon there came two angels, with a parch- 
 ment in their hands, and told unto me all the good 
 and all the bad that I had done while living in the 
 body, and I was compelled to write it down with 
 my own hand, and to attest it by my own signa- 
 ture ; whereupon they suspended the scroll on 
 my neck, and vanished. There then appeared 
 two other dark blue angels, each with a column 
 of fire in his hand, one single spark of which, if 
 it had dropped on the earth, would have con- 
 sumed it. They called to me, in a voice like 
 thunder, * Who is thy Lord V Overcome with 
 fright, I lost my senses, and said, shudderingly, 
 * You are my lords ;' but they cried, ' Thou liest, 
 enemy of Allah !' and struck me a blow with the 
 column of fire that sent me down to the seventh 
 earth ; but as soon as I returned again to my 
 grave, they said, ' O Earth ! punish the man who 
 has been rebellious against his Lord.' Instantly 
 the earth crushed me, so that my bones were 
 almost ground to powder ; and she said, ' Enemy 
 of God ! I hated thee while thou didst tread my 
 surface, but, by the glory of Allah, I will avenge 
 me now, while thou art lying ip my bowels.' 
 
TflR SKUIJ- 257 
 
 The angels then opened one of the gateways of 
 hel], and cried, ' Take this smner, who did not 
 beheve in Allah ; boil and burn him.' There- 
 upon I was dragged into the center of hell by a 
 chain which was seventy cubits in length, and 
 as often as the flames consumed my skin I re- 
 ceived a fresh one, but only to suffer anew the 
 torments of burning. At the same time, I was 
 so hungry that I prayed for food ; but I only ob- 
 tained the putrefied fruit of the tree Sakum, 
 which not merely increased my hunger, but even 
 caused the most horrid pain and violent thirst ; 
 and when 1 asked for something to drink, noth- 
 ing but boiling water was given me. At last 
 they urged one end of the chain with such vio- 
 lence into my mouth, that it came out through 
 my back, and chained me hand and foot." 
 
 When Christ heard this, he wept with com- 
 passion, but demanded of the skull to describe 
 hell more minutely. 
 
 " Know, then," continued the skull, " O Proph- 
 et of Allah ! that hell consists of seven floors, 
 one below the other. The uppermost is for 
 hypocrites, the second for Jews, the third for 
 Christians, the fourth for the Magi, the fifth for 
 those who call the prophets liars, the sixth for 
 idolaters, and the seventh for the sinners of the 
 people of the prophet Mohammed, who shall ap- 
 pear in later times. The last-mentioned abode 
 17 Y 2 
 
258 THE SKULL. 
 
 is least terrible, and sinners are saved from it 
 through the intercession of Mohammed ; but in 
 the others the torture and agony are so great, 
 that if thou, O Prophet of Allah ! shouldst but 
 see it, thou wouldst weep with compassion as a 
 woman who has lost her only child. The outer 
 part of hell is of copper, and the inner part of 
 lead. Its floor is punishment, and the wrath of 
 the Almighty its ceiling. The walls are of fire, 
 not clear and luminous, but black fire, and dif- 
 fusing a close, disgusting stench, being fed with 
 men and idols." 
 
 Christ wept long, and then inquired of the 
 skull to which family he belonged during lifetime. 
 
 He replied, " I am a descendant of the Proph- 
 et Elias !" 
 
 " And what desirest thou now ?" 
 
 " That Allah would recall me to life, that 1 
 might serve him with my whole heart, so as one 
 day to be worthy of Paradise !" 
 
 Christ prayed to Allah, " O Lord ! thou know- 
 est this man and me better than we know our 
 selves, and art omnipotent." 
 
 Then Allah said to him, " I had long ago re 
 solved upon that which he desires ; since, in 
 deed, he had many excellences, and was espe- 
 cially benevolent to the poor, he may return to 
 the world through thy intercession ; and if he 
 serve me henceforward faithfully, all his sins 
 shall be forgiven." 
 
THE SKULL. 259 
 
 Christ cried unto the skull, " Be again a per- 
 fect man, through the omnipotence of God !" and 
 while the words were still on his lips, there rose 
 up a man who looked more blooming than in 
 his former life, and cried, " I confess that there 
 is but one God, and that Abraham was his friend ; 
 Moses saw him face to face, Isa is his spirit and 
 word, and Mohammed shall be his last and 
 greatest messenger. I confess, moreover, that 
 the resurrection is as certain as death, and that 
 hell and Paradise do really exist." 
 
 This man lived sixty-and-six years after his re- 
 suscitation, and spent his days in fasting and his 
 nights in prayer ; nor did he alienate a single mo- 
 ment from the service of the Lord until he died. 
 
 But the more wonders Christ performed be- 
 fore the eyes of the people, the greater was their 
 unbelief; for all that they were not able to com- 
 prehend they believed to be sorcery and delu- 
 sion, instead of perceiving therein a proof of his 
 divine mission. Even the twelve apostles whom 
 he had chosen to propagate the new doctrine 
 were not steadfast in the faith, and asked of 
 him one day that he might cause a table, cover- 
 ed with viands, to descend from heaven ! 
 
 "A table shall be given you," said a voice from 
 heaven, "but whosoever shall thereafter contin- 
 ue in unbelief shall suffer severe punishment." 
 
 Thereupon there descended two clouds, with 
 
260 MIRACLES?. 
 
 a golden table, on which there stood a covered 
 dish of silver. 
 
 Many of the Israelites who were present ex- 
 claimed, " Behold the sorcerer ! what new de- 
 lusion has he wrought?" But these scoffers 
 were instantly changed into swine. And on 
 seeing it, Christ prayed, " O Lord ! let this table 
 lead us to salvation and not to ruin !" Then said 
 he to the apostles, " Let him who is the greatest 
 among you rise and uncover this dish." But Si- 
 mon, the oldest apostle, said, " Lord, thou art the 
 most worthy to behold this heavenly food first." 
 Christ then washed his hands, removed the cover, 
 and said, " In the name of Allah !" and behold, 
 there became visible a large baked fish, with 
 neither bones nor scales, which diffused a fra- 
 grance around like the fruits of Paradise. Round 
 the fish there lay five small loaves, and on it salt, 
 pepper, and other spices. " Spirit of Allah," said 
 Simon, "are these viands from this world or 
 from the other ?" But Christ replied, " Are not 
 both worlds, and all that they contain, the work 
 of the Lord ? Receive whatever he has given 
 with grateful hearts, and ask not whence it 
 comes ! But if the appearance of this fish be not 
 sufficiently miraculous to you, you shall behold 
 a still greater sign." Then, turning to the fish, 
 he said, " Live 1 by the will of the Lord !" The 
 fish then began to stir and to move, so that the 
 apostles fied with fear. But Christ called them 
 
MIRACLES. 261 
 
 back, and said, "Why do you flee from that 
 which you have desired ?" He then called to 
 the fish, " Be again what thou wast before !" and 
 immediately it lay there as it had come down 
 from heaven: The disciples then prayed Christ 
 that he might eat of it first ; but he replied, " I 
 have not lusted for it: he that has lusted for it, 
 let him eat of it now." But when the disciples 
 refused to eat of it, because they now saw that 
 their request had been sinful, Christ called many 
 aged men — many deaf, sick, blind, and lame, and 
 invited them to eat of the fish. There now came 
 thirteen hundred, which ate of the fish, and were 
 satisfied ; but whenever one piece was cut off 
 from the fish, another grew again in its place, 
 so that it still lay there entire as if no one had 
 touched it. The guests were not only satisfied, 
 but even healed of all their diseases. The aged 
 became young, the blind saw, the deaf heard, 
 the dumb spake, and the lame regained their vig- 
 orous limbs. When the apostles saw this, they 
 regretted that they had not eaten ; and whoever 
 beheld ihe men that had been cured and invigo- 
 rated thereby, regretted in like manner not to 
 have shared in the repast. When, therefore, at 
 the prayer of Christ, a similar table descended 
 again from heaven, the whole people, rich and 
 poor, young and old, sick and whole, came to be 
 refreshed by these heavenly viands. This lasted 
 during forty days. At the dawn of day, the 
 
262 MIRACLES. 
 
 table, borne on the clouds, descended in the iacu 
 of the sons of Israel, and before sunset it gradu- 
 ally rose up again, until it vanished behind the 
 clouds ; but as, notwithstanding this, many still 
 doubted whether it really came from heaven, 
 Christ prayed no longer for its return, and threat- 
 ened the unbelievers with the punishment of the 
 Lord. Nevertheless, in the hearts of the apos- 
 tles every doubt respecting the mission of their 
 Lord was removed, and they traveled partly in 
 his company, partly alone, through the whole of 
 Palestine, preaching the faith in Allah and his 
 prophet Christ, and, according to the new reve- 
 lation, permitting the eating of many things 
 which had been prohibited to the sons of Israel. 
 But when he would have sent them to teach 
 his Gospel even in distant countries, they ex- 
 cused themselves with their ignorance of foreign 
 tongues. Christ complained of their disobedi- 
 ence before the Lord ; and behold, on the follow- 
 ing day his disciples had forgotten their own 
 language, and every one knew only the language 
 of the people unto which Christ desired to send 
 him, so that they had no longer anv reason to 
 disobey his commands. 
 
 But while the true faith found many followers 
 abroad, the hatred of the sons of Israel, but espe- 
 cially of the priests and the heads of the people, 
 toward Christ, daily waxed in rancor, until at 
 last, when he had attained the age of thirty-and- 
 
LAST HOURS. 263 
 
 three years, they sought to take his hfe ; but 
 Allah overthrew their plans, and raised him to 
 heaven unto himself, while another man, whom 
 Allah had caused to have a perfect resemblance 
 to him, was put to death in his stead. 
 
 The farther particulars of the last moments of 
 this prophet are variously narrated by the learn- 
 ed, but most of them run as follows : On the 
 evening before the Passover feast, the Jews took 
 Christ captive, together with his apostles, and 
 shut them up in a house, with the intention of 
 putting Christ publicly to death on the following 
 morning. But in the night Allah revealed to 
 him, " Thou shalt receive death from me, but im- 
 mediately afterward be raised up to heaven, and 
 be delivered from the power of the unbelievers." 
 Christ gave up his spirit, and remained dead for 
 the space of three hours. In the fourth hour the 
 angel Gabriel appeared, and raised him unper- 
 ceived by any through a window into heaven. 
 But an unbelieving Jew, who had stolen into the 
 house to watch Christ that he might by no means 
 escape, became so like him that even the apos- 
 tles themselves took him to be their prophet. 
 He it was who, as soon as the day dawned, was 
 chained by the Jews and led through the streets 
 of Jerusalem, every body crying to him, " Hast 
 thou not revived the dead ! Why shouldst thou 
 not be able to break thy fetters ?" Many prick- 
 ed him with rods of thorn, others spit in his face, 
 
204 LAST HOURS. 
 
 until he at last arrived at the place of execution, 
 where he was crucified, for no one would believe 
 that he was not the Christ. 
 
 But when Mary had wellnigh succumbed from 
 grief at the shameful death of her supposed son, 
 Christ appeared to her from heaven, and said, 
 ** Mourn not for me, for Allah has taken me to 
 himself, and we shall be reunited in the day of 
 the resurrection. Comfort my disciples, and tell 
 them that it is well with me in heaven, and that 
 they shall obtain a place beside me if they con- 
 tinue steadfast in the faith. Hereafter, at the 
 approach of the last day, I shall be sent again 
 upon the earth, when I shall slay the false proph- 
 et Dadjal and the wild boar (both of which cause 
 similar distress in the earth), and such a state of 
 peace and unity shall ensue, that the lamb and 
 the hyena shall feed like brothers beside each 
 other. / shall then hum the Gospel, which has 
 been falsified hy ungodly priests, and the crosses 
 which they have loorshiped as gods, and subject 
 the whole earth to the doctrines of Mohammed, 
 who shall be sent in later times." When Christ 
 had thus spoken, he was once more lifted on a 
 cloud to heaven. But Mary lived yet six years 
 in the faith of Allah, and of Christ her son, and 
 of the prophet Mohammed, whom both Christ 
 as well as Moses before him had proclaimed. 
 The peace of Allah be upon them all ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
HARPER'S NEW MISDELLANY 
 
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 POPULAR STERLING LITERATURE. 
 
 " Books that have an aim and meaning in them." 
 
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 of sterling books, elegantly printed in duodecimo, on tine 
 paper, and bound in extra muslin gilt, fitted for permanent 
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 The cheapest Popular Series of Works yet Published. 
 
 Elements of Morality and Polity. 
 
 BY WILLIAM WHEWELL, D.D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF " HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE INDUCTIVE SCIEN 
 
 CES," &C. 
 
 2 vols. 12mo, Muslin, extra gilt, $1 00. 
 
 Dr. Whewell's work ought to be read, because it can not be read without 
 advantage : the age requires such books. — London Athenmum, 
 
 A text-book of simple truths, from which, by induction, a complete sys- 
 tem of morality is constructed, applicable to all the relations and circum- 
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 reader who shall carefully study these volumes — and a more inviting page, 
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 and political science. — Baltimore American. 
 
 A splendid production by one of the most distinguished of the scientific 
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X HARPERS NEW MISCELLANY 
 
 III. 
 
 The Philosophy of Mystery, 
 
 BY WALTER COOPER D E N D Y. 
 
 12mo, Muslin, extra gilt, 50 cents. 
 
 This is a learned and elaborate work, in which the writer goes into the 
 investigation of all the phenomena of mind in the erratic operations and 
 phantasies of ghost seeing and spectral hallucinations, and aims to give the 
 true philosophy of all such delusions. He is a medical man of consider- 
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 number of facts and cases to illustrate his philosophy. The volume will be 
 much sought for, as it is really a desideratum in the world of literature. 
 We know of no work on this subject which lays the same just claim to public 
 attention, or the study of the philosopher. — Christian Advocate and Journal. 
 
 The volume before us is both instructive and amusing, and at this partic- 
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 hands, it will be likely to effect an inconceivable amount of good, if prop- 
 erly studied. It is one of the most remarkable productions of the day, and 
 must create an extraordinary degree of interest in the public mind. — Mer- 
 chant's Magazine. 
 
 It belongs to that class of writings which you can take up and put down 
 at pleasure, and which may be subjected to repeated readings. The work 
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 the mystery, Mr. Dendy couples it with the statements, and the book is 
 thus equally valuable and amusing. — Charleston Transcript. 
 
 Here lies a remarkable work ; beautiful in its style, and wondrous in its 
 matter. The work is strictly philosophical in its tendency, yet more amus- 
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 This is a book for the lovers of marvels and of mysteries. It contains an 
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 This unique and remarkable book has just been placed on our table ; we 
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 most curious volumes ever perused, upon a series of the most singular sub- 
 jects, and, in this new and neat form, it will command a vast number of 
 readers. — Sunday Times, 
 
 " The Philosophy of Mystery" is an exceedingly able work ; far better, 
 we think, than the " Natural Magic" of Brewster, a book of identical pur- 
 pose, carried out in a totally different way. The " Natural Magic" is the 
 more ratiocinative, Mr. Dendy's essay the more poetical, the more imagina- 
 tive, and to us the more interesting-. — National Press. 
 
OF POPULAR STERLING LITERATURE. 3 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Life of Mozart : 
 
 INCLUDING HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 
 BY EDWARD HOLMES, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "a RAMBLE AMONG THE MUSICIANS OF GERMANY," &C. 
 
 12mo, Muslin, extra gilt, 50 cents. 
 
 It is written in a beautiful, narrative style, and can not but be every 
 where acceptable. To all who appreciate the extraordinary genius of Mo- 
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 mantic death, this volume will indeed be a treasure.— Boston Gazette. 
 
 It contains, in addition to much of his interesting correspondence, and 
 otherpapers, a detailed account of his life, adventures, and rise as an artist, 
 and a discriminating sketch of his character, the peculiarities of which are 
 happily illustrated by anecdotes. Many things of him, unknown even to 
 his admirers, are here given to the world, and his biographer, fully appre- 
 ciating the artist, has yet, not like a flatterer, but with true independence, 
 spoken candidly of the faults of the man. — Merchant's Magazine. 
 
 Of this far-famed life of Mozart it >s scarcely necessary for us to say a 
 word ; the foreign reviews have been so unanimous in their encomiums, 
 that we suppose few will be found insensible to the strong inducement of 
 its perusal, especially as the work may be obtained at the trifling cost of 
 half a dollar, and in so beautiful a guise. We have looked into the biog- 
 raphy but slightly, yet find it redolent with interest, and fully sustaining 
 the high estimate placed upon the work by the London Athenaum and 
 Blackwood. If the Harpers continue to fill their new library with sterling 
 works like the present, it will present the most truly valuable series, yet 
 the cheapest, ever attempted in any age or country. — Evening Gazette. 
 
 The only authentic biography of the great composer that is extant in the 
 English language, and the events of his career are replete with useful ad- 
 monitions and warning to the sons of genius, and they whisper to those 
 whose present claims are not allowed that there is a future full of promise. 
 In his life Mozart was neglected and impoverished, and he went to his 
 grave with more than the bitterness of death crowding on his thoughts, 
 but fame has taken possession of his memory, and among those who move 
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 ography possesses an interest for all who feel interested in the great men 
 of the earth. It is not only remarkably well written, but has a complete- 
 ness about it we have never found before in any life oi MoiVkXt. — Louisville 
 Journal. 
 
 There is such a charm in this narrative, that the lovers of good biography 
 can not hear of it too soon. We can not conceive a more fascinating story 
 of genius. To a style which would alone have sufficed to the production 
 of an interesting and striking narrative, Mr. Holmes unites a depth of 
 knowledge and musical appreciation very rare and remarkable. We thank 
 him cordially for a most pleasing addition to our standard biographical lit- 
 erature . — Examiner. 
 
 The book is one of extraordinary interest, not merely to the lovers of 
 music and appreciators of the great composer, but to the general reader, as 
 a vivid picture of the life of a man of genius, who encountered all the dif- 
 ficulties, trials, and suff'erings usually the lot of genius when it comes be- 
 fore a world incapable of appreciating it, and indifl'erent to its welfare. The 
 domestic portions of the book are invaluable ; his relations to his father and 
 his wife are very beautiful. The work is admirably executed, as well in the 
 scientific as anecdotical passages, and is worthv of the widest sale. — Newx. 
 
4 HARPER S NEW MISCELLANY 
 
 V. 
 
 The Practical Astronomer: 
 
 COMPRISING ILLUSTRATIONS OF LIGHT AND COLORS; 
 PRACTICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL KINDS OF TEL- 
 ESCOPES, &C., WITH DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS OF 
 THE EARL OF ROSSE's LARGE TELESCOPES, AND 
 OTHER TOPICS CONNECTED WITH ASTRONOMY, 
 BY THOMAS DICK, LL.D., 
 
 author of the " christian philosopher," " celestial scenery," 
 "the sidereal heavens," &C. 
 
 100 Engravings. 12mo, Muslin, extra gilt, 50 cents. 
 
 The name of the distinguished author of this work is a sufficient pass- 
 port to public favor and a sure guarantee to its sterling value, and those 
 vifho have read Dr. Dick's former works will need no recommendation of 
 this book by us. He is not only an original and profound observer of na- 
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 tellect and expanded views of the character of the great Architect of the 
 universe are so eminently calculated to direct the mind not alone to the 
 grandeur, the magnificence, and sublimity of the laws and principles of 
 the material world, but to look through nature up to " Nature's God." It 
 is truly a valuable work. — Farmer and Mechanic. 
 
 The merits of this work are of the highest order; Dick is one of the 
 profoundest and purest of modern philosophers. — Western Continent. 
 
 Here is the ninth volume presented by this gifted author to the public ; 
 he aim of all of which has been to simplify sciences which before have 
 been too often considered as every way above, and therefore unworthy of 
 the attention of ordinary readers. It is specially addressed to private stu 
 dents and the higher schools, and comprises a large amoUnt of new and 
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 the more humble student can in the best way improve the advantages placed 
 in his way. — Auburn Journal. 
 
 Let not the inquisitive fear that the intricacies qf science or the techni- 
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 hension of every intelligent student. — Industrial Record. 
 
 The copious use of engravings and of pictorial illustrations, together with 
 the plain, popular explanations, render this book a truly practical work. 
 Dr. Dick is not only thoroughly scientific, but he knows well how to render 
 his acquisitions available to the great body of common readers, by his ac- 
 curate method and clear descriptions. — Watchman. 
 
 We have always been an admirer of the writings of this gentleman, aad 
 popularity keeps on his side wherever he is known. He is a profound 
 thinker and a devout Christian. His works all tend to illustrate the simple 
 as well as the sublimest principles of philosophy, and while they instruct, 
 can not fail to enlighten. The present volume comprises illustrations of 
 light and colors, practical descriptions of all kinds of telescopes, the use of 
 the equatorial-transit, circular, and other astronomical instruments, and 
 other topics connected with astronomy. It is illustrated by 100 engrav- 
 ings, and will be found a most valuable book for all classes, but particularly 
 as a work of inslruotiou for youth. — Illustrated Magazine. 
 
BP137.W42C.2 
 
 The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud 
 
 Prmrnon Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00038 3267 
 
 DATE DOE 
 
 H\C