O my lord, verily I know thy dignity; and, behold, Suleyman desireth to break thee. O my lord, verily I seek thy defence: command then; for I am obedient to thy command.

(Then that 'Efrit, the half of whom was in the pillar, said to the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad, while those around him listened,) And thereupon I entered the body of the idol, by reason of my ignorance, and the paucity of my sense, and my solicitude respecting the affair of Suleyman, and recited this couplet:

As for me, I am not in fear of him; for I am acquainted with every thing.

If he wish to wage war with me, I will go forth, and I will snatch his soul from him.

So when the King heard my reply to him, his heart was strengthened, and he determined to wage war with Suleyman the Prophet of God (on whom be peace!) and to fight against him. Accordingly, when the messenger of Suleyman came, he inflicted upon him a painful beating, and returned him a shameful reply; and he sent to threaten Suleyman, saying to him, by the messenger, Thy mind hath suggested to thee desires. Dost thou threaten me with false words?

• On the day of judgment.

Either come thou to me, or I will go to thee.

Then the messenger returned to Suleyman, and acquainted him with all that had occurred and happened to him. And when the Prophet of God, Suleyman, heard that, [it was as though] his resurrection took place;7 his resolution was roused, and he prepared his forces, consisting of Jinn and men, and wild beasts, and birds and reptiles. He commanded his Wezir Ed-Dimiryat, the King of the Jinn, to collect the Marids of the Jinn from every place: so he collected for him, of the Devils, six hundred millions. He also commanded Asaf the son of Barkhiya [his Wezir of men] to collect his soldiers of mankind; and their number was one million or more. He made ready the accoutrements and weapons, and mounted, with his forces of the Jinn and of mankind, upon the carpet, with the birds flying over his head, and the wild beasts beneath the carpet marching, until he alighted upon his enemy's coast, and surrounded his island, having filled the land with the forces. He then sent to our King, saying to him, Behold, I have arrived: therefore repel from thee that which hath come down, or else submit thyself to my authority, and acknowledge my mission, and break thine idol, and worship the One, the Adored God, and marry to me thy daughter according to law, and say thou, and those who are with thee, I testify that there is no deity but God, and I testify that Suleyman is the Prophet of God. If thou say that, peace and safety shall be thy lot. But if thou refuse, thy defending thyself from me in this island shall not prevent thee: for God (whose name be blessed and exalted!) hath commanded the wind to obey me, and I will order it to convey me unto thee on the carpet, and will make thee an example to restrain others.-So the messenger came to him, and communicated to him the message of the Prophet of God, Suleyman, on whom be peace! But the King said to him, There is no way for the accomplishment of this thing that he requireth of me: therefore inform him that I am coming forth unto him. Accordingly the messenger returned to Suleyman, and gave him the reply. The King then sent to the people of his country, and collected for himself, of the Jinn that were under his authority, a million; and to these he added others, of the Mar ids and Devils that were in the islands of the seas and on the tops of the mountains; after which he made ready his forces, and opened the armouries, and distributed to them the weapons. And as the Prophet of God, Suleyman (on whom be peace!), he disposed his troops, commanding the wild beasts to form themselves into two divisions, on the right of the people and on their left, and commanding the birds to be upon the islands. He ordered them also, when the assault should be made, to tear out the eyes of their antagonists with their beaks, and to beat their faces with their wings; and he ordered the wild beasts to tear in pieces their horses; and they replied, We hear and obey God and thee, O Prophet of God! Then Suleyman, the Prophet of God, set for himself a couch of alabaster adorned with jewels, and plated with plates of red gold, and he placed his Wezir Asaf the son of Barkhiya on the right side, and his Wezir Ed-Dimiryat on the left side, and the Kings of mankind on his right, and the Kings of the Jinn on his left, and the wild beasts and the vipers and serpents before him.

*• e.t bis passion rose.

After this, they came upon us all together, and we contended with him in a wide tract for a period of two days; and calamity befell us on the third day, and the decree of God (whose name be exalted!) was executed among us. The first who charged upon Suleyman were I and my troops; and I said to my companions, Keep in your places in the battlefield while I go forth to them and challenge Ed-Dimiryat. And, lo, he came forth, like a great mountain, his fires flaming, and his smoke ascending; and he approached, and smote me with a flaming fire; and his arrow prevailed over my fire. He cried out at me with a prodigious cry, so that I imagined the heaven had fallen and closed over me, and the mountains shook at his voice. Then he commanded his companions, and they charged upon us all together: we also charged upon them, and we cried out, one to another: the fires rose and the smoke ascended, the hearts of the combatants were almost cleft asunder, and the battle raged. The birds fought in the air; and the wild beasts in the dust; and I contended with Ed-Dimiryat until he wearied me and I wearied him; after which I became weak, and my companions and troops were enervated, and my tribes were routed. The Prophet of God, Suleyman, cried out, Take ye this great tyrant, the ill-omened, the infamous! And the men charged upon the men, and the Jinn upon the Jinn; defeat befell our King, and we became unto Suleyman a spoil His troops charged upon our forces, with the wild beasts on their right and left, and the birds were over our heads, tearing out the eyes of the people, sometimes with their talons and sometimes with their beaks, and sometimes they beat with their wings upon the faces of the combatants, while the wild beasts bit the horses and tore in pieces the men, until the greater portion of the party lay upon the face of the earth like the trunks of palm-trees. As to me, I flew from before Ed-Dimiryat; but he followed me a journey of three months, until he overtook me. I had fallen down through fatigue, and he rushed upon me, and made me a prisoner. So I said to him, By Him who hath exalted thee and abased me, pity me, and take me before Suleyman, on whom be peace! But when I came before Suleyman, he met me in a most evil manner: he caused this pillar to be brought, and hollowed it, and put me in it, and sealed me with his signet; after which, he chained me, and Ed-Dimiryat conveyed me to this place, where he set me down as thou seest me; and this pillar is my prison until the day of resurrection. He charged a great king to guard me in this prison, and I am in this condition tortured as thou seest me.