Note [édition originale] : And he viewed the birds, &c.] The
Arab historians tell us that
Solomon, having finished the temple
of
Jerusalem, went in pilgrimage to
Mecca, where, having stayed as long as he
pleased, he proceeded toward
Yaman; and leaving
Mecca in the morning, he
arrived by noon at Sanaa, and being extremely delighted with the country,
rested there; but wanting water to make the ablution, he looked among the
birds for the lapwing, called by the
Arabs al Hudhud, whose business it was to
find it; for it is pretended she was sagacious or sharp-sighted enough to
discover water underground, which the devils used to draw, after she had
marked the place by digging with her bill: they add, that this bird was then
taking a tour in the air, whence, seeing one of her companions alighting, she
descended also, and having had a description given her by the other of the
city of
Saba, whence she was just arrived, they both went together to take a
view of the place, and returned soon after
Solomon had made the inquiry which
occasioned what follows
1.
It may be proper to mention her what the eastern writers fable of the
manner of
Solomon’s travelling. They say that he had a carpet of green silk,
on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and
sufficient for all his forces to stand on, the men placing themselves on his
right hand, and the spirits on his left; and that when all were in order, the
wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it, with all that
were upon it, wherever he pleased
2;
the army of birds at the same time flying
over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy, to shade them from the sun.
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1
Iidem.
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2
See chap. 21. p. 271.