is not one of them. It is not the story of the Lapwing who
found the Water; or the Hoopoe who shaded Suleiman-bin-Daoud from the
heat. It is not the story of the Glass Pavement, or the Ruby with the
Crooked Hole, or the Gold Bars of Balkis. It is the story of the
Butterfly that Stamped.

Now attend all over again and listen!

Suleiman-bin-Daoud was wise. He understood what the beasts said, what
the birds said, what the fishes said, and what the insects said. He
understood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bowed in
towards each other and groaned; and he understood what the trees said
when they rustled in the middle of the morning. He understood
everything, from the bishop on the bench to the hyssop on the wall, and
Balkis, his Head Queen, the Most Beautiful Queen Balkis, was nearly as
wise as he was.

Suleiman-bin-Daoud was strong. Upon the third finger of the right
hand he wore a ring. When he turned it once, Afrits and Djinns came
out of the earth to do whatever he told them. When he turned it
twice, Fairies came down from the sky to do whatever he told them;
and when he turned it three times, the very great angel Azrael of
the Sword came dressed as a water-carrier, and told him the news of
the three worlds,--Above--Below--and Here.

And yet Suleiman-bin-Daoud was not proud. He very seldom showed off,
and when he did he was sorry for it. Once he tried to feed all the
animals in all the world in one day, but when the food was ready an
Animal came out of the deep sea and ate it up in three mouthfuls.
Suleiman-bin-Daoud was very surprised and said, 'O Animal, who are you?'
And the Animal said, 'O King, live for ever! I am the smallest of thirty
thousand brothers, and our home is at the bottom of the sea. We heard
that you were going to feed all the animals in all the world, and my
brothers sent me to ask when dinner would be ready.' Suleiman-bin-Daoud
was more surprised than ever and said, 'O Animal, you have eaten all the
dinner that I made ready for all the animals in the world.' And the
Animal said, 'O King, live for ever, but do you really call that a
dinner? Where I come from we each eat twice as much as that between
meals.' Then Suleiman-bin-Daoud fell flat on his face and said, 'O
Animal! I gave that dinner to show what a great and rich king I was, and
not because I really wanted to be kind to the animals. Now I am ashamed,
and it serves me right.' Suleiman-bin-Daoud was a really truly wise man