I'm Sheddad son of Aad, a high And mighty monarch in my day;
Lord of the columned citadel, Great was my prowess in the fray.
All the world's peoples feared my might And did my ordinance
obey;
Yes, and I held the East and West And ruled them with an iron
sway.
One[FN#141] came to us with God's command And summoned us to the
right way
"Is there no 'scaping from this thing?" Quoth we and did his word
gainsay.
Then on us fell a thunderblast From out the heaven far away,
And like the sheaves in reaping-time Midmost a field, o'erthrown
we lay.
And now beneath the storied plains Of earth we wait the appointed
Day.
(Quoth Eth Thaalibi also) It chanced that two men once entered
this cavern and found at its upper end a stair; so they descended
and came to an underground chamber, a hundred cubits long by
forth wide and a hundred high. In the midst stood a throne of
gold, whereon lay a man of gigantic stature, filling the whole
length and breadth of the throne. He was covered with jewelry and
raiment gold and silver wrought, and at his head was a tablet of
gold, bearing an inscription. So they took the tablet and bore it
off, together with as many bars of gold and silver and so forth
as they could away with.
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