Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/275

243 Bethink thee who forewent thee of peoples and heroes and take warning by them, ere thou perish.’

And at the foot of the tablet were graven the following verses:

The Amir marvelled at this and wrote it down; after which he passed on to the sixth tablet and found thereon the following inscription: ‘O son of Adam, think not that immunity will endure [for ever,] seeing that death is irrevocably decreed unto thy head. Where be thy fathers and thy brethren, where thy friends and dear ones? They have all gone to the dust of the tombs and presented themselves before the Glorious, the Forgiving One, as if they had never eaten nor drunken, and they are a pledge for that which they have earned. So look to thyself, ere thy tomb come upon thee.’

And at the foot of the tablet were graven these verses:

At this Mousa marvelled and wrote it down, saying, ‘There is no god but God! Indeed, how goodly were these folk!’ Then he went up to the seventh tablet and