boast about them, for in the whole world there are no men more villainous and rascally. They are constantly engaged in the endeavour to supplant their rivals by cunning, craft, abuse, and plausibility. Openly they write friendly letters in a very florid, ornate style, but in their hearts they are ever intent upon their designs of digging up the root and basis of (their competitors). Day and night they are bent upon their schemes of dismissing one man from his office, and of securing a douceur for the appointment of another; and so by fraud and deception they get him dismissed.

"As to the devotees and worshippers whom in your complacency you consider righteous, and whose prayers and intercessions you think to be acceptable in the sight of God; these men have deceived you by (outwardly) exhibiting their devotion and piety. For this public worship of theirs, their cultivation of their beards, their removing the hair round their lips, their wearing of the recluse's garment, their satisfaction with coarse clothes, their laying patch upon patch, their remaining silent and speaking to no one, their instructing men in morals and teaching them the mandates of the law, their making of long prayers so that their foreheads become indented (from prostration on the ground), their eating but little food so that their lips hang (flaccid), their dried-up brains, their emaciated bodies, their faded complexions,-all this, from beginning to end, is fraud and falsity. Their hearts are so full of malice and rancour that they do not recognise the existence of any one (but themselves). They are always censuring God, and saying, Why did He create the devil and Satan? why were whoremongers and adulterers brought into existence? and why does He give them sustenance? Such talk is improper, and their hearts are filled with similar Satanic notions. To your eyes they seem good, but in the sight of God there are none worse. Why do you boast about them? they are a disgrace and shame to you.

"Then as to your doctors and lawyers: they also, for the sake of mammon, make the unlawful to be lawful, and the lawful, unlawful. They put senseless interpretations on the word of God, and for the sake of gain pervert its original meaning; what possibility is there of devotion and piety (in them)? Hell (is prepared) for these very people whom you boast about. And your jurists and lawyers, before they get into office they go morning and evening to the mosques, say their prayers and preach to and admonish the people; but when they become magistrates and law-officers, they take away the property of the poor and of orphans, and convey it with flattery to tyrannical kings. They take bribes and pervert the right, and if any (suitor) is dissatisfied, they silence him with threatening and brow-beating. In fact, these people are terrible rascals; they make the wrong right, and the right wrong, and have not the least fear of God. Tortures and punishments are in reserve for them.

"Your khalifas and kings you have mentioned as being heirs of the Prophet, but their blameworthy qualities are manifest. Abandoning the course of the Prophet, they have slain the children of the prophets. They constantly drink wine. They exact service from the people of God, and consider themselves better than all men. They prefer this world to the next. When any one of them becomes ruler, the first thing he does is to imprison the man who from of old has served his ancestors. The claims of his service are entirely banished from the mind. world, they slay their friends and the characteristics of great men. To boast about those kings and lords is injurious to yourselves, and to assert a claim of lordship over us without evidence or reason, is from end to end trickery and deceit."

In their greed of this brothers. These are not

CHAPTER XXIV.

The White Ant.

WHEN the parrot had finished his speech, the King

WHE

looked towards the congregation of Jins and men, and said "How is it that the white ant, although he has no hands or feet, takes up earth and builds his vaulted habitation over his body? Explain the facts of this to me." A person out of the Hebrew party said—“ The Jins raise the earth for this insect, because these (insects) did for them the great service of eating up the staff of Solomon. He fell down, and then the Jins perceiving he was dead, fled from thence, and obtained release from their troubles and hardships."

The King inquired of the Jin sages whether they knew anything about the matter which this person had spoken of, and they all replied, "How can we say that the Jins take up the earth and water, and give them to this insect? For even if this insect did show the Jins that kindness which this person

1 This requires explanation. Solomon, by his supernatural power, forced the Jins to labour in the construction of the Temple. Advised of his approaching dissolution, and aware that the Jins would, after his death, cease to labour, he prayed that his decease might be concealed from them. A staff was miraculously provided for him, leaning upon which, and praying in his private cell in the Temple, he died. The staff supported him, and the Jins went on working. A white ant, meanwhile, kept devouring the staff; but as the wood was very stout and strong, it endured for a year. When it was eaten through, Solomon's body fell down, and his death was discovered: but the Jins had accomplished their work, and the Temple was finished.-Kurán, Súrat xxxiv. ; Tabarí, chap. xcvii.

has stated, they are still liable to that work and labour, and have not been delivered from it; for Solomon used to make them raise earth and water and build houses, and did not trouble them in any other way."

A Greek sage said to the King, “One reason for this is known to me." The King told him to explain, and he said— "The structure of the white ant is wonderful and marvellous ; its temperament is very cold, the articulations and pores of its whole body are constantly open. The air which enters into its body is condensed by the great degree of cold, and becomes water; this exudes on the surface of its body, and the dirt which falls on its body being formed into mud, coagulates. Having collected this, it builds the house over its body for its protection, so that it may be safe from every danger. Its two lips are very sharp, with which it bites fruit, leaves, and wood, and bores holes into bricks and stones."

The King said to the locust—“ The white ant belongs to the insects, and you are the representative of the insects; explain then what this Greek doctor has said." The locust replied "He has spoken the truth, but he has not given a complete description of the ant; there is something yet left." The King desired him to explain it fully, and he then said— "When God Almighty made all His creatures, and bestowed His blessings upon each one of them, in His wisdom and justice He kept them all equal. To some He gave a body and figure large and heavy, but He made their spirit very mean and despicable. To others He gave forms small and frail, but He made their intelligence acute and wise; thus the excess and deficiency of one side or the other was rectified. For instance, there is the elephant, who, in spite of his huge form, is so mean-spirited that he is obedient to a child, who mounts upon his shoulders and drives him whither he will. And there is the camel, who, although his neck and figure are

very long, is yet such a fool that he follows the lead of whosoever seizes his nose-cord; even a mouse might drive him if it liked. Then there is the scorpion, who is small in size, but still when he stings the elephant, he kills him. In the same way, this insect which they call the white ant, although it is very diminutive in size and very feeble, still it is very strong-willed. In fine, all those insects which are small are acute and wise.

The King asked the reason why all the large-bodied animals were stupid, and the little creatures sharp. Where," said he, "is the divine wisdom in this?" The locust replied -"The Creator, by His omniscience, perceived that animals of large body were capable of (inflicting) pain and trouble, and so if a high spirit had been given to them, they would never have submitted to any one; and if the little creatures had not been acute and wise, they would always have been in trouble and difficulty. Therefore He gave to the former an abject spirit, and to these a sagacious intelligence." The King directed him to explain this more fully, and he replied "The (chief) excellence of every art is this, that the art of the artist and his mode of procedure should not be known to any one. Thus, there is the bee,1 who in her house constructs all kinds of angles and circles without ruler or compasses, and nobody knows how she does it, or from whence she brings the wax and honey. If her body had been large, this art of hers must have been disclosed.

Then, again, there is the silk-worm, whose method of spinning and weaving no one has discovered. It is the same case with the white ant, for the exact way in which she builds her house has never been disclosed, nor is it even known how she lifts the dirt and works. Doctors of philosophy deny that the existence of the world is possible without matter. God Almighty has made the art of the bee a proof (in refutation) 1 Lit. "fly."