Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/72

48 is framed in marble of a darker colour. Connected with the picture is the following story. The great Suleymаn el Hakim was sitting one day near a window of his palace, listening to the love- talk of two pigeons upon the house-top. Said the male bird loftily: “Who is Suleyman the king? And what are all his buildings to be so proud of? Why, I, if I put my mind to it, could kick them down in a minute!”

Hearing this, Suleyman leant out of the window and called the boaster, asking how he could tell such a lie. “Your Majesty,” was the cringing reply, “ will forgive me when I explain that I was talking to a female. You know one cannot help boasting in such circumstances.” The monarch laughed and bade the rogue begone, warning him never to speak in that tone again. The pigeon, after a profound reverence, flew to rejoin his mate.

The female at once asked why the king had called him. “Oh,” came the answer, “he had over- heard what I was saying to you, and asked me not to do it.” So enraged was Suleyman at the irrepressible vanity of the speaker that he turned both birds into stone, as a warning to men not to boast, and to women not to encourage them.

Suleyman was well acquainted with the language of plants. Whenever he came across a new plant he asked its name, uses, the soil and cultivation by which it flourished, and also its properties; and the