[314] After the space of forty days, which was the time the image had been worshipped in his house, the devil [or jinnee] flew away, and threw the signet into the sea: the signet was immediately swallowed by a fish, which being taken and given to Solomon, he found the ring in its belly, and, having by this means recovered the kingdom, took Ṣakhr, and, tying a great stone to his neck, threw him into the Lake of Tiberias.—S. (B., A.F.)
[315] See note 30 to the Introduction of my translation of the ‘Thousand and One Nights.’
[316] The Arab historians tell us that Solomon, having finished the Temple of Jerusalem, went in pilgrimage to Mekkeh, where having stayed as long as he pleased, he proceeded towards El-Yemen; and leaving Mekkeh in the morning he arrived by noon at Ṣan´a, and being extremely delighted with the country rested there; but wanting water to make the ablution, he looked among the birds for the lapwing which found it for him.—S. (B.)
[317] Some add that Bilḳees, to try whether Solomon was a prophet or not, drest the boys like girls and the girls like boys, and sent him in a casket a pearl not drilled and an onyx drilled with a crooked hole; and that Solomon distinguished the boys from the girls by the different manner of their taking water, and ordered one worm to bore the pearl, and another to pass a thread through the onyx.—S. (B.)
[318] Others, however, suppose it was El-Khiḍr, or else Gabriel, or some other angel; and some imagine it to have been Solomon himself.—S. (B.)
[319] This fountain they say was in El-Yemen.—S. (B.)
[320] Some say these spirits made him two lions, which were placed at the foot of his throne; and two eagles, which were set above it; and that when he mounted it, the lions stretched out their paws; and when he sat down, the eagles shaded him with their wings.—S. (B.)
[321] The commentators to explain this passage tell us that David, having laid the foundations of the Temple of Jerusalem, which was to be in lieu of the tabernacle of Moses, when he died, left it to be finished by his son Solomon, who employed the genii in the work; that Solomon, before the edifice was quite completed, perceiving his end drew nigh, begged of God that his death might be concealed from the genii till they had entirely finished it; that God therefore so ordered it that Solomon died as he stood at his prayers, leaning on his staff, which supported the body in that posture a full year; and the genii, supposing him to be alive, continued their work during that term, at the expiration whereof, the temple being perfectly completed, a worm, which had gotten into the staff, ate it through, and the corpse fell to the ground and discovered the king’s death.—S. (B., Jelál.)
[322] It is said that the fish, after it had swallowed Jonah, swam after the ship with its head above water, that the prophet might breathe; who continued to praise God till the fish came to land and vomited him out.—S.
[323] Sale states that some imagine Jonah’s plant to have been a fig; and others, the móz (or banana), which bears very large leaves and excellent fruit.