After awhile, the news reached Muawiyeh ben Abou Sufyan, who was
then Khalif in the Hejaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in Senaa
of Yemen to send for the teller of the story and question him of
the truth of the case. Accordingly the lieutenant sent for me and
questioned me, and I told him what I had seen; whereupon he
despatched me to Muawiyeh, to whom I repeated my story; but he
would not credit it. So I brought out to him some of the pearls
and balls of musk and ambergris and saffron, in which latter
there was still some sweet smell; but the pearls were grown
yellow and discoloured. The Khalif wondered at this and sending
for Kaab el Ahbar,[FN#138], said to him, "O Kaab el Ahbar, I have
sent for thee to learn the truth of a certain matter and hope
that thou wilt be able to certify me thereanent." "What is it, O
Commander of the Faithful?" asked Kaab, and Muawiyeh said,
"Wottest thou of a city builded of gold and silver, the pillars
whereof are of rubies and chrysolites and its gravel pearls and
balls of musk and ambergris and saffron?" "Yes, O Commander of
the Faithful," answered Kaab. "It is Irem of the Columns, the
like of which was never made in the lands,'[FN#139] and it was
Sheddad son of Aad the Great that built it.
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