then turn back away from them, and see what they return.'
Said she, ‘ O ye chiefs ! verily, a noble letter has been thrown before me. 30 It is from Solomon, and, verily, it is, “ In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. Do not rise up against me, but come to me resigned !”’ She said, ‘ O ye chiefs! pronounce sentence for me in my affair. I never decide an affair until ye testify for me.’
They said, ‘ We are endowed with strength, and endowed with keen violence ; but the bidding is thine, see then what it is that thou wilt bid.’
She said, ‘ Verily, kings when they enter a city despoil it, and make the mighty ones of its people the meanest; thus it is they do! 35 So, verily, I am going to send to them a gift, and will wait to see with what the messengers return.’
And when he came to Solomon, he said, ‘ Do ye proffer me wealth, when what God has given me is better than what He has given you ? nay, ye in your gifts rejoice! return to them, for we will surely come to them with hosts which they cannot confront; and we will surely drive them out therefrom mean and made small !’
Said he, ‘ O ye chiefs ! which of you will bring me her throne before they come to me resigned ?’
Said a demon of the ginns, ‘ I will bring thee it before thou canst rise up from thy place, for I therein am strong and faithful.’
40 He who had the knowledge of the Book[1] said, ‘ I will bring it to thee before thy glance can
- ↑ The commentators are uncertain as to whether this was ʼÂzaf, Solomon’s prime minister, or whether it was the prophet ʿHidhr, or the angel Gabriel, or, indeed, Solomon himself.
