THE CITY OF MANY COLUMNED IRAM AND
ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH.[FN#165]
It is related that Abdullah bin Abi Kilábah 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
Sabá,[FN#166] behold, he came upon 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
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah
bin Abi Kilabah continued, "I dismounted 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 height) inlaid with all manner
of jewels and jacinths, white and red, yellow and green.
Beholding this I marvelled with great marvel and thought the case
mighty wondrous; then entering the citadel in a flutter of fear
and dazed with surprise and affright, I found it long and wide,
about equalling Al-Medinah[FN#167] in point of size; and therein
were lofty palaces laid out in pavilions all built of gold and
silver and inlaid with many-coloured 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 hazel nuts, 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 in
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'áwiyah, son of Abu Sufyán, who was then Caliph in
Al-Hijaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in San'á of Al-Yaman to
send for the teller 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 despatched 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 savour; but the pearls were grown yellow and had
lost pearly colour."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah
son of Abu Kilabah continued, "But the pearls were grown yellow
and had lost pearly colour. Now Mu'awiyah wondered at this and,
sending for Ka'ab al-Ahbar[FN#168] 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 balls 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,'[FN#169] 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[FN#170] had two sons, Shadíd and
Shaddád 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 galleries and
trees and fruits and so forth, his soul moved him to build the
like thereof in this world, after the fashion aforesaid. Now
under his hand were an hundred thousand Kings, each ruling over
an hundred thousand chiefs, commanding each an 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.'"--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lieges
answered, "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 20 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 labourers and handicraftsmen, who
dispersed over the world and explored all the wastes and words
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 laboured 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 Harim 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.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shaddad bin
Ad fared forth, he and 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
Heavens of His power, which destroyed them all with its vehement
clamour, and neither Shaddad nor any of his company set eyes on
the city.[FN#171] Moreover, Allah blotted out the road which led
to the city, and it stands in its stead unchanged until the
Resurrection Day and the Hour of Judgement." So Mu'awiyah
wondered greatly at Ka'ab al-Ahbar's story and said to him, "Hath
any mortal ever made his way to that city?" He replied, "Yes; one
of the companions of Mohammed (on whom be blessing and peace!)
reached it, doubtless and forsure after the same fashion as this
man here seated." "And (quoth Al-Sha'abi[FN#172]) it is related,
on the authority of learned men of Himyar in Al-Yaman that
Shaddad, when destroyed with all his host by the sound, was
succeeded in his Kingship by his son Shaddad the Less, whom he
left vice-regent in Hazramaut[FN#173] and Saba, when he and his
marched upon Many-columned Iram. Now as soon as he heard of his
father's death on the road, he caused his body to be brought back
from the desert to Hazramaut and bade them hew him out a tomb in
a cave, where he laid the body on a throne of gold and threw over
the corpse threescore and ten robes of cloth of gold, purfled
with precious stones. Lastly at his sire's head he set up a
tablet of gold whereon were graven these verses,
'Take warning O proud, * And in length o' life vain!
I'm Shaddád son of Ad, * Of the forts castellain;
Lord of pillars and power,* Lord of tried might and main,
Whom all earth-sons obeyed* For my mischief and bane
And who held East and West* In mine awfullest reign.
He preached me salvation * Whom God did assain,[FN#174]
But we crossed him and asked * 'Can no refuge be ta'en?'
When a Cry on us cried * From th' horizon plain,
And we fell on the field * Like the harvested grain,
And the Fixt Day await * We, in earth's bosom lain!'"
Al-Sa'alibi also relateth, "It chanced that two men once entered
this cave and found steps at its upper end; so they descended and
came to an underground chamber, an hundred cubits long by forty
wide and an hundred high. In the midst stood a throne of gold,
whereon lay a man of huge bulk, filling the whole length and
breadth of the throne. He was covered with jewels and raiment
gold-and-silver wrought, and at his head was a tablet of gold
bearing an inscription. So they took the tablet and carried it
off, together with as many bars of gold and silver and so forth
as they could bear away." And men also relate the tale of
