Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/94

72 “Know,” answered the King, “that God created the fire in seven stages, one above the other, at a distance of a thousand years’ journey between each two stages. The first stage he named Jehennem and appointed for the punishment of the transgressors of the true-believers, who die unrepentant, and the second he named Lezza and appointed for unbelievers. The name of the third is Jehim and is appointed for Gog and Magog. The fourth is called Saair and is appointed for the host of Iblis. The fifth is called Seker and is prepared for those who neglect prayer. The sixth is called Hutemeh and is appointed for Jews and Christians. The seventh is named Hawiyeh and is prepared for hypocrites. The most endurable of them all is Jehennem, being the topmost; yet in it are a thousand mountains of fire, in each mountain seventy thousand valleys of fire, in each valley seventy thousand cities of fire, in each city seventy thousand citadels of fire, in each citadel seventy thousand houses of fire, in each house seventy thousand couches of fire and in each couch seventy thousand kinds of torment. As for the other hells, none knoweth the number of kinds of torment that be therein save God the Most High.”

When Beloukiya heard this, he fell down in a swoon and when he came to himself, he wept and said, “O King, what will our case be?” “Fear not,” answered Sekher; “whoso loveth Mohammed and believeth in his religion, the fire shall not burn him, for he is made free therefrom for his sake, whom God bless and preserve! As for us, God created us of the fire; for the first that he made in Jehennem were two creatures, whom He called Melit and Khelit. Now Melit was made in the likeness of a pied wolf, with a tail after the likeness of a woman, and Khelit in that of a lion, with a tail like a tortoise, twenty years’ journey in length. God commanded their tails to couple and do the deed of kind, and of them were