THE CITY OF MANY-COLUMNED IRAM AND ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH

IT is related" target="_blank" title="a.叙述的；有联系的">related that Abdullah bin Abi Kilabah went forth in quest of a
she-camel which had strayed from him, and as he was wandering in the

deserts of Al-Yaman and the district of Saba, behold, he came a
great city girt by a vast castle around which were palaces and

pavilions that rose high into middle air. He made for the place
thinking to find there folk of whom he might ask concerning his

she-camel. But when he reached it, he found it desolate, without a
living soul in it. So (quoth he) I alighted and, hobbling my

dromedary, and composing my mind, entered into the city.
Now when I came to the castle, I found it had two vast gates

(never in the world was seen their like for size and height) inlaid
with all manner jewels and jacinths, white and red, yellow and

green. Beholding this, I marveled with great marvel and thought the
case mightywondrous. Then, entering the citadel in a flutter of

fear and dazed with surprise and affright, I found it long and wide,
about equaling Al-Medinah in point of size. And therein were lofty

palaces laid out in pavilions all built of gold and silver and
inlaid with many colored jewels and jacinths and chrysolites and

pearls. And the door leaves in the pavilions were like those of the
castle for beauty, and their floors were strewn with great pearls

and balls, no smaller than hazelnuts, of musk and ambergris and
saffron.

Now when I came within the heart of the city and saw therein no
created beings of the Sons of Adam, I was near swooning and dying

for fear. Moreover, I looked down from the great roofs of the pavilion
chambers and their balconies and saw rivers running under them, and in

the main streets were fruit-laden trees and tall palms, and the manner
of their building was one brick of gold and one of silver. So I said

to myself, "Doubtless this is the Paradise promised for the world to
come." Then I loaded me with the jewels of its gravel and the musk

of its dust as much as I could carry, and returned to my own
country, where I told the folk what I had seen.

After a time the news reached Mu'awiyah, son of Abu Sufyan, who
was then Caliph in Al-Hijaz, so he wrote to his lieutenant in San'a of

Al-Yaman to send for the teffer of the story and question him of the
truth of the case. Accordingly the lieutenant summoned me and

questioned me of my adventure and of all appertaining to it, and I
told him what I had seen, whereupon he dispatched me to Mu'awiyah,

before whom I, repeated the story of the strange sights, but he
would not credit it. So I brought out to him some of the pearls and

balls of musk and ambergris and saffron, in which latter there was
still some sweet savor, but the pearls were grown yellow and had

lost pearly color.
Now Mu'awiyah wondered at this and, sending for Ka'ab al-Ahbar, said

to him, "O Ka'ab, I have sent for thee to ascertain the truth of a
certain matter and hope that thou wilt be able to certify me thereof."

Asked Ka'ab, "What is it, O Commander of the Faithful?" and
Mu'awiyah answered, "Wottest thou of any city founded by man which

is builded of gold and silver, the pillars whereof are of chrysolite
and rubies and its gravel pearls and bans of musk and ambergris and

saffron?" He replied, "Yes, O Commander of the Faithful, this is 'Iram
with pillars decked and dight, the like of which was never made in the

lands,' and the builder was Shaddad son of Ad the Greater." Quoth
the Caliph, 'Tell us something of its history," and Ka'ab said:

"Ad the Greater had two sons, Shadid and Shaddad, who when their
father died ruled conjointly in his stead, and there was no King of

the Kings of the earth but was subject to them. After awhile Shadid
died and his brother Shaddad reigned over the earth alone. Now he

was fond of reading in antique books, and happening upon the
description of the world to come and of Paradise, with its pavilions

and pileries and trees and fruits and so forth, his soul move him to
build the like thereof in this world, after the fashion aforesaid. Now

under his hand were a hundred thousand kings, each ruling over a
hundred thousand chiefs, commanding each a hundred thousand

warriors, so he called these all before him and said to them: 'I
find in ancient books and annals a description of Paradise as it is to

be in the next world, and I desire to build me its like in this world.
Go ye forth therefore to the goodliest tract on earth and the most

spacious, and build me there a city of gold and silver, whose gravel
shall be chrysolite and rubies and pearls, and for support of its

vaults make pillars of jasper. Fill it with palaces, whereon ye
shall set galleries and balconies, and plant its lanes and

thoroughfares with all manner trees bearing yellow-ripe fruits, and
make rivers to run through it in channels of gold and silver.'

"Whereat said one and all, 'How are we able to do this thing thou
hast commanded, and whence shall we get the chrysolites and rubies and

pearls whereof thou speakest?' Quoth he, 'What! Weet ye not that the
kings of the world are subject to me and under my hand and that none

therein dare gainsay my word?' Answered they, 'Yes, we know that.'
Whereupon the King rejoined, 'Fare ye then to the mines of chrysolites

and rubies and pearls and gold and silver and collect their produce
and gather together all of value that is in the world, and spare no

pains and leave naught. And take also for me such of these things as
be in men's hands and let nothing escape you. Be diligent and beware

of disobedience.' And thereupon he wrote letters to all the kings of
the world and bade them gather together whatso of these things was

in their subjects' hands, and get them to the mines of precious stones
and metals, and bring forth all that was therein, even from the

abysses of the seas.
"This they accomplished in the space of twenty years, for the number

of rulers then reigning over the earth was three hundred and sixty
kings. And Shaddad presently assembled from all lands and countries

architects and engineers and men of art and laborers and
handicraftsmen, who dispersed over the world and explored all the

wastes and wolds and tracts and holds. At last they came to an
uninhabited spot, a vast and fair open plain clear of sand hills and

mountains, with founts flushing and rivers rushing, and they said,
'This is the manner of place the King commanded us to seek and ordered

us to find.' So they busied themselves in building the city even as
bade them Shaddad, King of the whole earth in its length and

breadth, leading the fountains in channels and laying the
foundations after the prescribed fashion. Moreover, all the kings of

earth's several reigns sent thither jewels and precious stones and
pearls large and small and carnelian and refined gold and virgin

silver upon camels by land, and in great ships over the waters, and
there came to the builders' hands of all these materials so great a

quantity as may neither be told nor counted nor conceived.
"So they labored at the work three hundred years, and when they

had brought it to end, they went to King Shaddad and acquainted him
therewith. Then said he: 'Depart and make thereon an impregnable

castle, rising and towering high in air, and build around it a
thousand pavilions, each upon a thousand columns of chrysolite and

ruby and vaulted with gold, that in each pavilion a wazir may
dwell.' So they returned forthwith and did this in other twenty years,

after which they again presented themselves before King Shaddad and
informed him of the accomplishment of his will. Then he commanded

his wazirs, who were a thousand in number, and his chief officers
and such of his troops and others as he put trust in, to prepare for

departure and removal to Many-columned Iram, in the suite and at the
stirrup of Shaddad, son of Ad, King of the world, and he bade also

such as he would of his women and his harem and of his handmaids and
eunuchs make them ready for the journey.

"They spent twenty years in preparing for departure, at the end of
which time Shaddad set out with his host, rejoicing in the

attainment of his desire till there remained but one day's journey
between him and Iram of the Pillars. Then Allah sent down on him and

on the stubborn unbelievers with him a mighty rushing sound from the