Now when it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Emir Musa passed on to the third tablet, whereon was written, “O son of Adam, the things of this world thou lovest and prizest and the hest of thy Lord thou spurnest and despisest. All the days of thy life pass by and thou art content thus to aby. Make ready thy viaticum against the day appointed for thee to see and prepare to answer the Lord of every creature that be!” And at the foot were written these verses:—
Where is the wight who peopled in the past ✿ Hind-land and Sind; and there the tyrant played?
Who Zanj[[130]] and Habash bound beneath his yoke, ✿ And Nubia curbed and low its puissance laid.
Look not for news of what is in his grave. ✿ Ah, he is far who can thy vision aid!
The stroke of death fell on him sharp and sure; ✿ Nor saved him palace, nor the lands he swayed.
At this Musa wept with sore weeping and, going on to the fourth tablet, he read inscribed thereon, “O son of Adam, how long shall thy Lord bear with thee and thou every day sunken in the sea of thy folly? Hath it then been stablished unto thee that some day thou shalt not die? O son of Adam, let not the deceits of thy days and nights and times and hours delude thee with their delights; but remember that death lieth ready for thee ambushing, fain on thy shoulders to spring, nor doth a day pass but he mourneth with thee in the morning and nighteth with thee by night. Beware, then, of his onslaught and make provision there-against. As was with me, so it is with thee; thou wastest thy whole life and squanderest the joys in which thy days are rife. Hearken, therefore, to my words and put thy trust in the Lord of Lords; for in the world there is no stability; it is but as a spider’s web to thee.” And at the foot of the tablet were written these couplets:—
Where is the man who did those labours ply ✿ And based and built and reared these walls on high?
Where be the castles’ lords? Who therein dwelt ✿ Fared forth and left them in decay to lie.
All are entombed, in pledge against the day ✿ When every sin shall show to every eye.