Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/359

XXXVIII.] many as a thousand kinds, and the smallest is so large that thou wouldst seem in its belly to be but a sand-grain in the desert."

Solomon cast himself upon the earth, and began to weep, and prayed to God to pardon him for his presumption.

"My kingdom," called to him the Most High, "is far greater than thine. Stand up, and behold one creature over which no man has yet obtained the mastery."

Then the sea began to foam and toss, as though churned by the eight winds raging against it, and out of the tumbling brine rose the Leviathan, so great that it could easily have swallowed seven thousand whales such as that which Solomon had attempted to feed; and the Leviathan cried, with a voice like the roar of thunder: "Praised be God, who by His mighty power preserves me from perishing by hunger."

3. THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. When Solomon returned from the sea-shore to Jerusalem, he heard the noise of the hammers, and saws, and axes of the Jinns who were engaged in the building of the temple; and the noise was so great that the inhabitants of Jerusalem could not hear one another speak. Therefore he commanded the Jinns to cease from their work, and he asked them if there was no means whereby the metals and stones could be shaped and cut without making so much noise.

Then one of the spirits stepped forth and said: "The means is known only to the mighty Sachr, who has hitherto escaped your authority."

"Is it impossible to capture this Sachr?" asked Solomon.

"Sachr," replied the Jinn, "is stronger than all the rest of us together, and he excels us in speed as he does in strength. However, I know that once every month he goes to drink of a fountain in the land of Hidjr; by this, O king, thou mayest be able to bring him under thy sceptre."

Solomon, thereupon, commanded a Jinn to fly to Hidjr, and to empty the well of water, and to fill it up with strong wine. He bade other Jinns remain in ambush beside the well and watch the result.