His seat on the fine parapet is in contrast with the place assigned him in Eastern traditions—ruins and desert places,—but otherwise he fairly fulfilled, no doubt, early ideas in selecting his headquarters at Paris. A mussulman legend says that when, after the Fall of Man, Allah was mitigating the sentences he had pronounced, Iblis (who, as the Koran relates, pleaded and obtained the deferment of his consignment to Hell until the resurrection, and unlimited power over sinners who do not accept the word of Allah) asked—
‘Where shall I dwell in the meantime?
‘In ruins, 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?