ame day
and the next night until they had traversed a wide tract of country. And
as they were proceeding, one day, they came to a pillar of black stone,
wherein was a person sunk to his arm-pits, and he had two huge wings,
and four arms; two of them like those of the sons of Adam, and two like
the fore-legs of lions, with claws. He had hair upon his head like the
tails of horses, and two eyes like two burning coals, and he had a third
eye, in his forehead, like the eye of the lynx, from which there
appeared sparks of fire. He was black and tall; and he was crying out:
"Extolled be the perfection of my Lord, who hath appointed me this
severe affliction and painful torture until the day of resurrection!"
When the party beheld him, their reason fled from them, and they were
stupefied at the sight of his form, and retreated in flight; and the
Emeer Moosa said to the Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad: "What is this?" He
answered: "I know not what he is." And the emeer said: "Draw near to
him, and investigate his case: perhaps he will discover it, and perhaps
thou wilt learn his history." So the Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad drew near to
him, and said to him: "O thou person, what is thy name, and what is thy
nature, and what hath placed thee here in this manner?" And the person
answered him: "As to me, I am an efreet of the genies, and my name is
Dahish, and I am restrained here by the majesty of God." Then the Emeer
Moosa said: "O Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad, ask him what is the cause of his
confinement in this pillar." He therefore asked respecting that, and the
efreet answered him: "Verily my story is wonderful; and it is this:

"There belonged to one of the sons of Iblees an idol of red carnelian,
of which I was made guardian; and there used to worship it one of the
Kings of the Sea, of great glory, leading, among his troops of the
genies, a million warriors who smote with swords before him, and who
answered his prayer in cases of difficulty. These genies who obeyed him
were under my command and authority, following my words when I ordered
them: all of them were in rebellion against Solomon, the son of David;
and I used to enter the body of the idol, and command them and forbid
them. Now the daughter of that king was a frequent adorer of the idol,
assiduous in the worship of it, and she was the handsomest of the people
of her age, endowed with beauty and loveliness, and elegance and
perfection; and I described her to Solomon, on whom be peace! So he sent