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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:
Where be the kings of the kings of the earth? Indeed, they are sped, And here, with that which they gathered, they lie in the graveyard’s bed.
Once, when they mounted, thou’dst see, in the train of their glory, troops That filled the lands, when they mounted, and over the countries spread.
How many a monarch they humbled, how many an army destroyed! How much in their day they conquered, and how much blood did they shed!
Upon them, in haste, the commandment o’ the Lord of the heavens came And after a life all untroubled, o’erthrown were they sudden and dead.
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:
Where be the kings of the kings of the Franks and where Is he who, I trow, abode in Tenjeh whilere?
Their works in a book are written, which to the One, The Almighty, one day shall witness against them bear.
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
