ves together--Suleiman-bin-Daoud went out for peace
and quiet as usual; and among the orange trees he met Balkis the Most
Beautiful, very sorrowful because Suleiman-bin-Daoud was so worried.
And she said to him, 'O my Lord and Light of my Eyes, turn the ring upon
your finger and show these Queens of Egypt and Mesopotamia and
Persia and China that you are the great and terrible King.' But
Suleiman-bin-Daoud shook his head and said, 'O my Lady and Delight of my
Life, remember the Animal that came out of the sea and made me ashamed
before all the animals in all the world because I showed off. Now, if
I showed off before these Queens of Persia and Egypt and Abyssinia and
China, merely because they worry me, I might be made even more ashamed
than I have been.'

And Balkis the Most Beautiful said, 'O my Lord and Treasure of my Soul,
what will you do?'

And Suleiman-bin-Daoud said, 'O my Lady and Content of my Heart, I
shall continue to endure my fate at the hands of these nine hundred and
ninety-nine Queens who vex me with their continual quarrelling.'

So he went on between the lilies and the loquats and the roses and the
cannas and the heavy-scented ginger-plants that grew in the garden, till
he came to the great camphor-tree that was called the Camphor Tree of
Suleiman-bin-Daoud. But Balkis hid among the tall irises and the spotted
bamboos and the red lillies behind the camphor-tree, so as to be near
her own true love, Suleiman-bin-Daoud.

Presently two Butterflies flew under the tree, quarrelling.

Suleiman-bin-Daoud heard one say to the other, 'I wonder at your
presumption in talking like this to me. Don't you know that if I stamped
with my foot all Suleiman-bin-Daoud's Palace and this garden here would
immediately vanish in a clap of thunder.'

Then Suleiman-bin-Daoud forgot his nine hundred and ninety-nine
bothersome wives, and laughed, till the camphor-tree shook, at the
Butterfly's boast. And he held out his finger and said, 'Little man,
come here.'

The Butterfly was dreadfully frightened, but he managed to fly up to
the hand of Suleiman-bin-Daoud, and clung there, fanning himself.
Suleiman-bin-Daoud bent his head and whispered very softly, 'Little man,
you know that all your stamping wouldn't bend one blade of grass. What
made you tell that awful fib to your wife?--for doubtless she is your
wife.'

The Butterfly looked at Suleiman-bin-Daoud and saw the most wise King's
eye twinkle like stars on a frosty n