they found near unto it a palace, decorated, and strongly constructed; and they entered it, and found banners unfurled, and drawn swords, and strung bows, and shields hung up by chains of gold and silver, and helmets gilded with red gold. And in the passages of that palace were benches of ivory, ornamented with plates of brilliant gold, and with silk, on which were men whose skins had dried upon the bones: the ignorant would imagine them to be sleeping; but, from the want of food, they had died, and tasted mortality. Upon this, the Emir Musa paused, extolling the perfection of God (whose name be exalted!), and his holiness, and contemplating the beauty of that palace, and its strong construction, and its wonderful fabrication in the most beautiful form and with the firmest architecture; and most of its decoration was in ultramarine. Around it were inscribed these verses:
Consider what thou beholdest, O man; and be on thy guard before thou departest;
And prepare good provision, that thou mayest enjoy it; for every dweller in a house shall depart.
Consider a people who decorated their abodes, and in the dust have become pledged for their actions.
They built; but their buildings availed not: and treasured; but their wealth did not save them when the term had expired.
How often they hoped for what was not decreed them! But they passed to the graves, and hope did not profit them;
And from their high and glorious state they were removed to the narrowness of the sepulchre. Evil is their abode!
Then there came to them a crier, after they were buried, saying, Where are the thrones and the crowns and the apparel?
Where are the faces which were veiled and curtained, and on which, for their beauty, proverbs were composed?
And the grave plainly answered the inquirer for them, As to the cheeks, the rose is gone from them.
Long time they ate and drank; but now, after pleasant eating, they them-selves have been eaten.
And the Emir Musa wept until he became senseless; and after-wards, having given orders to write these verses, he went on into the interior of the palace. There he beheld a great hall, and four large and lofty chambers, each one fronting another, wide, decorated with gold and silver and with various colours. In the midst of the hall
