The Story of the City of Brass - Part II

Then the Emeer Moosa ordered one of his young men to
mount a camel, and ride round the city, in the hope that he might
discover a trace of a gate. So one of his young men mounted,
and proceeded around it for two days with their nights, prose-
cuting his journey with diligence, and not resting; and when the
third day arrived, he came in sight of his companions, and he was
astounded at that which he beheld of the extent of the city, and its
height. Then he said: "O Emeer, the easiest place in it is this
place at which ye have alighted." And thereupon the Emeer
Moosa took Talib and the Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad, and they
ascended a mountain opposite the city, and overlooking it; and
when they had ascended that mountain, they saw a city than
which eyes had not beheld any greater. Its pavilions were lofty,
and its domes were shining ; its rivers were running, its trees were
fruitful, and its gardens bore ripe produce. It was a city with
impenetrable gates, empty, still, without a voice but the owl
hooting in its quarters, and the raven croaking in its thoroughfare-
streets, and bewailing those who had been in it.

And the Emeer Moosa fainted with sorrow; his tears ran
down upon his cheeks, and he said : " By Allah, indifference to the
world is the most appropriate and the most sure course!"

And when they came back to the troops, they passed the day
devising means of entering the city; and the Emeer Moosa said
to those of his chief officers who were around him: "How shall
we contrive to enter the city, that we may see its wonders ? Per-
haps we shall find in it something by which we may ingratiate
ourselves with the Prince of the Faithful." Talib replied: "Let
us make a ladder, and mount upon it, and perhaps we shall gain
access to the gate from within." And the emeer said: "This is
what occurred to my mind, and excellent is the advice." Then
he called to the carpenters and blacksmiths, and ordered them
to make straight some pieces of wood, and to construct a ladder
covered with plates of iron. And they did so, and made it
strong. They employed themselves in constructing it a whole
month, and many men were occupied in making it. And they
set it up and fixed it against the wall, and it proved to be equal
to the wall in height, as though it had been made for it before
that day. So the Emeer Moosa wondered at it, and said: "God
bless you! It seemeth, from the excellence of your work, as
though ye had adapted it by measurement to the wall." He then
said to the people: "Which of you will ascend this ladder, and
mount upon the wall, and walk along it, and contrive means of
descending into the city, that he may see how the case is, and then
inform us of the mode of opening the gate .^" And one of them
answered: "I will ascend it, O Emeer, and descend and open
the gate." The emeer therefore replied: "Mount. God bless
thee!" Accordingly, the man ascended the ladder until he
reached the top of it; when he stood, and fixed his eyes toward
the city, clapped his hands, and cried out with his loudest voice,
saying: " Thou art beautiful ! " Then he cast himself down into
the city, and was destroyed. So the Emeer Moosa said: "If
we do thus with all our companions, there will not remain of them
one; and we shall be unable to accomplish our affair, and the
affair of the Prince of the Faithful. Depart ye; for we have no
concern with this city." But one of them said : "Perhaps another
than this may be more steady than he." And a second ascended,
and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth; and they ceased not to
ascend by that ladder to the top of the wall, one after another,
until twelve men of them had gone, acting as acted the first.
Therefore the Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad said: "There is none for
this affair but myself, and the experienced is not like the inex-
perienced." But the Emeer Moosa said to him: "Thou shalt
not do that, nor will I allow thee to ascend to the top of this
wall; for shouldst thou die, thou wouldst be the cause of the
death of us all, and there would not remain of us one; since thou
art the guide of the party." The sheikh, however, replied:

And when they had ascended that mountain they saw a city
than which eyes had not beheld any greater.

"Perhaps the object will be accomplished by my means, through
the will of God, whose name be exalted!" And thereupon all
the people agreed to his ascending.

Then Abd-Es-Samad arose, and, having said: "In the name
of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!" — he ascended the
ladder, repeating the praises of God, and reciting the Verses of
Safety, until he reached the top of the w all ; when he clapped his
hands, and fixed his eyes. The people therefore all called out to
him, and said: "O Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad, do not cast thyself
down! If Abd-Es-Samad fall, we all perish!" Then Abd-Es-
Samad sat a long time repeating the praises of God, and reciting
the Verses of Safety ; after which he rose with energy, and called
out with his loudest voice: "O Emeer, no harm shall befall you;
for God hath averted from me the effect of the artifice of the
Devil." So the emeer said to him: "What hast thou seen, O
Sheikh.^" He answered: "When I reached the top of the wall
I beheld ten damsels, like moons, who made a sign with their
hands, as though they would say : ' Come to us ! ' And it seemed to
me that beneath me was a sea of water; whereupon I desired to
cast myself down, as our companions did: but I beheld them
dead ; so I withheld myself from them, and recited some words of
the book of God, whereupon He averted from me the influence
of those damsels, and they departed ; therefore I cast not myself
down. There is no doubt that this is an enchantment which the
people of this city contrived in order to repel from it every one
who should wish to obtain access to it."

He then walked along the wall till he came to the two towers
of brass, when he saw that they had gates of gold, without any
sign of the means of opening them. Therefore the sheikh,
looking attentively, saw in the middle of one of the gates a figure
of a horseman of brass, having one hand extended, as though he
were pointing with it, and on it was an inscription, which the
sheikh read, and, lo, it contained these words:

Turn the pin that is in the middle of the front of the horseman's body twelve
times, and then the gate will open.

So he turned the pin twelve times ; whereupon the gate opened
immediately, with a noise like thunder; and the sheikh entered.
He was a learned man, acquainted with all languages and
characters. And he walked on until he entered a long passage,
whence he descended some steps, and he found a place with
handsome wooden benches, on which were people dead, and
over their heads were elegant shields, and keen swords, and
strung bows, and notched arrows. And behind the next gate
were a bar of iron, and barricades of wood, and locks of delicate
fabric, and strong apparatus. Upon this, the sheikh said within
himself: "Perhaps the keys are with these people." Then he
looked, and, lo, there was a sheikh who appeared to be the oldest
of them, and he was upon a high wooden bench among the dead
men. So Abd-Es-Samad said: "May not the keys of the city
be with this sheikh ! Perhaps he was the gate-keeper of the city,
and these were under his authority." He therefore drew near
to him, and lifted up his garments, and, lo, the keys were hung
to his waist. At the sight of them, Abd-Es-Samad rejoiced
exceedingly; and he took the keys, opened the locks, and pulled
the gate and the barricades and other apparatus, which opened
and the gate also opened, with a noise like thunder. Upon this
the sheikh exclaimed: "God is most great!" and the people
made the same exclamation with him, rejoicing at the event.
The Emeer Moosa also rejoiced at the safety of Abd-Es-Samad,
and at the opening of the gate of the city; the people thanked
him for that which he had done, and all the troops hastened to
enter the gate. But the Emeer Moosa cried out to them, saying
to them: "O people, if all of us enter, we shall not be secure from
accident. Half shall enter, and half shall remain behind."

The Emeer Moosa then entered the gate, and with him half
of the people, who bore their weapons of war. And the party
saw their companions lying dead: so they buried them. They
saw also the gate-keepers and servants and chamberlains and
lieutenants lying upon beds of silk, all of them dead. And they
entered the market of the city, and beheld that the shops were
open, and the scales hung up, and the utensils of brass ranged
in order, and the stores were full of all kinds of goods. And they
saw the merchants dead in their shops: their skins were dried,
and they had become examples to him who would be admonished.
And they left this place, and passed on to the silk-market, in
which were silks and brocades interwoven with red gold and
white silver upon various colours, and the owners were dead,
lying upon skins, and appearing almost as though they would
speak. Leaving these, they went on to the market of jewels
and pearls and jacinths; and they left it, and passed on to the
market of the money-changers, whom they found dead, with
varieties of silks beneath them, and their shops were filled with
gold and silver. These they left, and they proceeded to the
markets of the perfumers; and, lo, their shops were filled with
varieties of perfumes, and bags of musk, and ambergris, and
aloes- wood, and camphor; and the owners w^ere all dead, not
having with them any food. And when they went forth from the
market of the perfumers, they found near unto it a palace, deco-
rated, and strongly constructed; and they entered it, and found
banners unfurled, and drawn swords, and strung bows and
shields hung up by chains of gold and silver, and helmets gilded
with red gold. And in the passages of that palace were benches
of ivory, ornamented with plates of brilliant gold, and with silk,
on which were men whose skins had dried upon the bones; the
ignorant would imagine them to be sleeping; but, from the want
of food, they had died, and tasted mortality.

And the Emeer Moosa went on into the interior of the palace.
There he beheld a great hall, and four large and lofty chambers,
each one fronting another, wide, decorated with gold and silver
and with various colours. In the midst of the hall was a great
fountain of alabaster, over which was a canopy of brocade; and
in those chambers were fountains lined with marble; and
channels of water flowed along the floors of those chambers,
the four streams meeting in a great tank lined with marbles of
various colours. The Emeer Moosa then said to the Sheikh
Abd-Es-Samad : "Enter these chambers with us." So they
entered the first chamber ; and they found it filled with gold and
with white silver, and pearls and jewels, and jacinths and
precious minerals. They found in it also chests full of red and
yellow and white brocades. And they went thence to the second
chamber, and opened a closet in it, and, lo, it was filled with
arms and weapons of war, consisting of gilded helmets, and coats
of mail, and swords, and lances, and maces, and other instruments
of war and battle. Then they passed thence to the third cham-
ber, in which they found closets having upon their doors closed
locks, and over them were curtains worked with various kinds
of embroidery. They opened one of these closets, and found it
filled with weapons decorated with varieties of gold and silver
and jewels. And they went thence to the fourth chamber, where
also they found closets, one of which they opened, and they found
it full of utensils for food and drink, consisting of various vessels
of gold and silver, and saucers of crystal, and cups set with
brilliant pearls and cups of carnelian, and other things. So
they began to take what suited them of those things, and each of
the soldiers carried off what he could. And when they determined
to go forth from those chambers, they saw there a door inlaid
with ivory and ebony, and adorned with plates of brilliant gold.
Over it was hung a curtain of silk worked with various kinds of
embroidery, and upon it were locks of white silver, to be opened
by artifice, without a key. The Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad therefore
advanced to those locks, and he opened them by his knowledge
and excellent skill. And the party entered a passage paved
with marble, upon the sides of which were curtains whereon were
figured various wild beasts and birds, all these being worked with
red gold and white silver, and their eyes were of pearls and
jacinths: whosoever beheld them was confounded.

They then passed on, and found a saloon constructed of
polished marble adorned with jewels. The beholder imagined
that upon its floor was running water, and if any one walked
upon it he would slip. The Emeer Moosa therefore ordered the
Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad to throw upon it something that they
might be enabled to walk on it; and he did this, and contrived
so that they passed on. And they found in it a great dome con-
structed of stones gilded with red gold. The party had not
beheld, in all that they had seen, anything more beautiful than
it. And in the midst of that dome was a great dome-crowned
structure of alabaster, around which were lattice windows,
decorated, and adorned with oblong emeralds, such as none of
the kings could procure. In it was a pavilion of brocade, raised
upon columns of red gold, and within this were birds, the feet
of which were of emeralds; beneath each bird was a net of
brilliant pearls, spread over a fountain; and by the brink of the
fountain was placed a couch adorned with pearls and jewels and
jacinths, whereon was a damsel resembling the shining sun.

Eyes had not beheld one more beautiful. Upon her was a
garment of brilliant pearls, on her head was a crown of red gold,
with a fillet of jewels, on her neck was a necklace of jewels in
the middle of which were refulgent gems, and upon her forehead
were two jewels the light of which was like that of the sun;
and she seemed as though she were looking at the people, and
observing them to the right and left. When the Emeer Moosa
beheld this damsel, he w^ondered extremely at her loveliness, and
was confounded by her beauty and the redness of her cheeks
and the blackness of her hair. Any beholder would imagine
that she was alive, and not dead. And they said to her: "Peace
be on thee, O damsel!" But Talib said to the emeer: "May
God amend thy state! Know that this damsel is dead. There
is no life in her. How then can she return the salutation.^"
And he added: "O Emeer, she is skilfully embalmed ; and her
eyes have been taken out after her death, and quicksilver hath
been put beneath them, after which they have been restored to
their places; so they gleam; and whenever the air putteth them
in motion, the beholder imagineth that she twinkleth her eyes,
though she is dead."

And as to the couch upon w hich was the damsel, it had steps,
and upon the steps were two slaves, one of them white and the
other black; and in the hand of one of them was a weapon of
steel, and in the hand of the other a jewelled sword that blinded
the eyes; and before the two slaves was a tablet of gold, whereon
was read an inscription, which was this:

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to God, the
Creator of Man; and He is the Lord of lords, and the Cause of causes. O thou, if
thou know me not, I will acquaint thee with my name and my descent. I am Tedmur,
the daughter of the King of the Amalekites. I possessed what none of the kings
possessed, and ruled with justice, and acted impartially toward my subjects: I gave
and bestowed, and I lived a long time in the enjoyment of happiness and <m easy
life, and possessing emancipated female and male slaves. Thus I did until the sum-
moner of death came to my abode, and disasters occurred before me. And the case
was this: Seven years in succession came upon us, during which no water descended
on us from heaven, nor did any grass grow for us on the face of the earth. So we ate
what food we had in our dwellings, and after that we fell upon the beasts and ate them,
and there remained nothing. Upon this, therefore, I caused the wealth to be brought,
and meted it with a measure, and sent it by trusty men, who went about with it through
all the districts, not leaving unvisited a single large city, to seek for some food. But
they found it not; and they returned to us with the wealth, after a long absence. So
thereupon we exposed to view our riches and our treasures, locked the gates of the
fortresses in our city, and submitted ourselves to the decree of our Lord, committing
our case to our Master; and thus we all died, as thou beholdest, and left what we had
built and what we had treasured. This is our story: Whoso arriveth at our city,
and entereth it, let him take of the wealth what he can, but not touch anything that is on
my body; for it is the covering of my person. Therefore let him fear God, and not
seize aught of it; for he would destroy himself. Peace be on you! I beg God, more-
over, to save you from the evil of trials and sickness

The Emeer Moosa, when he heard these words, again wept
and was admonished by w^hat he w^itnessed. He then said to
his companions: "Bring the sacks, and fill them wdth part of
these riches and these vessels and rarities and jew^els." And
thereupon, Talib, the son of Sahl, said to the Emeer Moosa:
*'0 Emeer, shall we leave this damsel with the things that are
upon her ? They are things that have no equal, nor is the like
of them at any time found, and they are more than the riches
thou hast taken, and will be the best present by which thou
mayest ingratiate thyself w^ith the Prince of the Faithful." But
the emeer replied: "Heardest thou not that w^hich the damsel
hath given as a charge, in the inscription upon this tablet?
Moreover, and especially, she hath given it as a charge offered in
confidence, and we are not of the people of treachery." The
Vizier Talib, however, said: *'And on account of these words
wilt thou leave these riches and these jewels, when she is dead ?
What then should she do w ith these things, which are the orna-
ments of the world, and the decoration of the living.^ With a
garment of cotton might this damsel be covered, and we are more
worthy of the things than she." Then he drew near to the steps^
and ascended them until he reached the spot between the two
slaves, when, lo, one of these two smote him upon his back, and
the other smote him with the sword that was in his hand, and
struck off his head, and he fell down dead. So the Emeer
Moosa said: "May God not regard with mercy thy resting-
place! There was, in these riches, a sufficiency; and covetous-
ness doth dishonour the person in w^hom it existeth!" He there-
upon gave orders for the entry of the troops, who accordingly
entered, and they loaded the camels with part of those riches
and minerals; after which the Emeer Moosa commanded them
to close the gate as it was before.

They then proceeded along the sea-coast until they came in
sight of a high mountain overlooking the sea. In it were many
caves, and, lo, in these was a people of the blacks, clad in hides,
and with burnouses of hides upon their heads, whose language
was not known. And when they saw the troops, they ran away
from them, and fled, w^hile their women and their children stood
at the entrances of the caves. So the Emeer Moosa said:
"O Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad, what are these people.^" And he
answered: "These are the objects of the inquiry of the Prince
of the Faithful." They therefore alighted, and the tents were
pitched, and the riches were put down ; and they had not rested
when the king of the blacks came down from the mountain, and
drew near to the troops. He was acquainted with the Arabic
language; wherefore, when he came to the Emeer Moosa, he
saluted him; and the emeer returned his salutation, and treated
him with honour. Then the king of the blacks said to the
emeer: "Are ye of mankind, or of the genies.?" The emeer
answered: "As to us, we are of mankind; and as to you, there is
no doubt but that ye are of the genies, because of your seclusion
in this mountain that is separated from the world, and because
of the greatness of your make." But the king of the blacks
replied: "Nay, we are a people of the race of Adam, of the sons
of Ham, the son of Noah, on whom be peace! And as to this
sea, it is known by the name of El-Karkar."

The Emeer Moosa then said to him: '* We are the associates
of the King of El-Islam, Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwan ; and
we have come on account of the bottles of brass that are here in
your sea, and wherein are the devils imprisoned from the time
of Solomon, the son of David. He hath commanded us to bring
him some of them, that he may see them, and divert himself
by the view of them." And the king of the blacks replied : '* Most
willingly." Then he feasted him with fish, and ordered the
divers to bring up from the sea some of the bottles of Solomon;
and they brought up for them twelve bottles; wherewith the
Emeer Moosa was delighted, and the Sheikh Abd-Es-Samad
also, and the soldiers, on account of the accomplishment of the
affair of the Prince of the Faithful. The Emeer Moosa thereupon
presented to the king of the blacks many presents, and gave him
large gifts. In like manner, too, the king of the blacks gave to
the Emeer Moosa a present consisting of wonders of the sea.

Then they bade him farewell, and they journeyed back until
they came to the land of Syria, and went in to the Prince of the
Faithful; whereupon the Emeer Moosa acquainted him with all
that he had seen, and all that had occurred to him with respect
to the verses and histories and admonitions, and told him of the
case of Talib the son of Sahl. And the Prince of the Faithful
saidto him: "Would that I had been with you, that I might
have beheld what ye beheld!" He then took the bottles, and
proceeded to open one after another, and the devils came forth
from them, saying: "Repentance, O Prophet of God! We will
not return to the like conduct ever!" And Abd-El-Melik the
son of Marwan wondered at this. After this, the Prince of the
Faithful caused the riches to be brought before him, and divided
them among the people. And he said: "God hath not bestowed
upon any one the like of what He bestowed upon Solomon the
son of David."

This is the end of that which hath come down to us, of the
history of the City of Brass, entire. And God is all-knowing.