" The holy house erected over the
_kaaba_ was decorated annually with rich tapestries and a deep golden
band, at the cost of the caliphs.]
I saw a little carpet laid down like those we have to kneel upon when
we say our prayers, and a comely young man sat on this carpet, with
great devotion reading the Koran, which lay before him on a desk. At
this sight I was transported with admiration. I wondered how it came
to pass that he should be the only living creature in a town where
all the people were turned into stone, and I do not doubt but there
was something in the circumstance very extraordinary.
The door being only half shut I opened it, went in, and standing
upright before the niche, I exclaimed, "Bismillah![33] Praise be to
God." The young man turned toward me, and, having saluted me, inquired
what had brought me to this desolate city. I told him in a few words
my history, and I prayed him to tell me why he alone was left alive in
the midst of such terrible desolation. At these words he shut the
Koran, put it into a rich case, and laid it in the niche. Then he thus
addressed me:
[Footnote 33: Bismillah. All the chapters of the Koran, except nine,
begin with this word. Its meaning is, "In the name of the merciful
God." It is said to be frequently used in conversation by the
Arabs.--Sale's _Preliminary Dissertation_, p. 153.]
"Know that this city was the metropolis of a mighty kingdom, over
which the sultan, who was my father, reigned.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122