1. HOW SOLOMON OBTAINED POWER.
After Solomon had executed the last offices for his father, he rested in a dale betwixt Hebron and Jerusalem, and fell asleep. As he returned to himself, there stood before him eight angels, each with countless wings, diverse in kinds and colours; and the angels bowed themselves before him three times.
“Who are ye?” asked Solomon, with eyes still closed.
“We are the angels ruling over the eight winds of heaven,” was their reply. “God hath sent us to give thee dominion over ourselves and over the winds subject to us. They will storm and bluster, or breathe softly, at thy pleasure. At thy command they will swoop down on earth, and bear thee over the highest mountains.”
The greatest of the angels gave him a jewel inscribed with “God is Power and Greatness,” and said, “When thou hast a command for us, then raise this stone towards heaven, and we shall appear before thee as thy servants.”
When these angels had taken their departure, there appeared four more, of whom each was unlike the other. One was in fashion as a great whale, another as an eagle, the third as a lion, and the fourth as a serpent. And they said, “We are they who rule over all the creatures that move in the earth, and air, and water; and God hath sent us to give thee dominion over all creatures, that they may serve thee and thy friends with all good, and fight against thine enemies with all their force.”
The angel who ruled over the winged fowls extended to Solomon a precious stone, with the inscription, “Let all creatures praise the Lord!” and said, “By virtue of this stone, raised above thy head, canst thou call us to thy assistance, and to fulfil thy desire.”
Solomon immediately ordered the angels to bring before him a pair of every living creature that moves in the water, flies in the air, and walks or glides or creeps on the earth.
The angels vanished, and in an instant they were before Solomon once more, and there were assembled in his sight pairs of every creature, from the elephant to the smallest fly.
Solomon conversed with the angels, and was instructed by them in the habits, virtues, and names of all living creatures; he listened to the complaints of the beasts, birds, and fishes, and by his wisdom he rectified many evil customs amongst them.
He entertained himself longest with the birds, both on account of their beautiful speech, which he understood, and also because of the wise sentences which they uttered.
This is the signification of the cry of the peacock: “With what measure thou judgest others, thou shalt thyself be judged.”
This is the song of the nightingale: “Contentment is the greatest happiness.”
The turtle dove calls, “Better were it for some created things that they had never been created.”
The peewit pipes, “He that hath no mercy, will not find mercy himself.”
The bird syrdar cries, “Turn to the Lord, ye sinners!”
The swallow screams, “Do good, and ye shall receive a reward.”
This is the pelican’s note: “Praise the Lord in heaven and earth.”
The dove chants, “The fashion of this world passeth away, but God remaineth eternal.”
The kata says, “Silence is the best safeguard.”
The cry of the eagle is, “However long life may be, yet its inevitable term is death.”
The croak of the raven is, “The further from man, the happier I.”
The cock crows before the dawn and in the day, “Remember thy Creator, O thoughtless man!”
Solomon chose the cock and the peewit to be his constant companions—the first because of its cry, and the second because it can see through the earth as through glass, and could therefore tell him where fountains of water were to be found.
After he had stroked the dove, he bade her dwell with her young in the temple he was about to build to the honour of the Most High. This pair of doves, in a few years, multiplied to such an extent, that all who sought the temple moved through the quarter of the town it occupied under the shadow of the wings of doves.
When Solomon was again alone, an angel appeared to him, whose upper half was like to earth, and whose lower half was like to water. He bowed himself before the king and said, “I am created by God to do His will on the dry land and in the watery sea. Now, God has sent me to serve thee, and thou canst rule over earth and water. At thy command the highest mountains will be made plain, and the level land will rise into steep heights. Rivers and seas will dry up, and the desert will stream with water at thy command.” Then he gave to him a precious stone, with the legend engraved thereon, “Heaven and earth serve God.”
Finally, an angel presented to him another stone, whereon was cut, “There is no God save God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God.”
“By means of this stone,” said the angel, “thou shalt have dominion over the whole world of spirits, which is far greater than that of men and beasts, and occupies the space between earth and heaven. One portion of the spirits is faithful, and praises the One only God; the other portion is unfaithful: some adore fire, others the sun, others worship the planets, many revere winter. The good spirits surround the true believers among men, and protect them from all evil; the evil spirits seek to injure them and deceive them.”
Solomon asked to see the Jinns in their natural and original shape. The angel shot like a column of flame into heaven, and shortly returned with the Satans and Jinns in great hosts: and Solomon, though he had power over them, shuddered with disgust at their loathsome appearance. He saw men’s heads attached to the necks of horses, whose feet were those of an ass; the wings of an eagle attached to the hump of a dromedary; the horns of a gazelle on the head of a peacock.[[659]]