“There belonged to one of the sons of Eblis an idol of red carnelian, of which I was made guardian; and there used to worship it one of the kings of the sea, of illustrious dignity, of great glory, leading, among his troops of the genii, a million warriors who smote with swords before him, and who answered his prayer in cases of difficulty.  These genii, who obeyed him, were under my command and authority, following my words when I ordered them:  all of them were in rebellion against Solomon the son of David (on both of whom be peace!), and I used to enter the body of the idol, to command them and to forbid them.”

Solomon sent word to this king of the sea that he must give up the worship of the idol of red carnelian; the king consulted the idol, and this Afrite, speaking through the idol, encouraged the king to refuse.  What,—­he said to him,—­can Solomon do to thee, “when thou art in the midst of this great sea?” And so Solomon came to compel the island-race to worship the true God; he surrounded his island, and filled the land with his troops, assisted by birds and wild beasts, and a dreadful battle followed in the air: 

“After this they came upon us all together, and we contended with him in a wide tract for a period of two days; and calamity befell us on the third day, and the decree of God (whose name be exalted!) was executed among us.  The first who charged upon Solomon were I and my troops:  and I said to my companions, ’Keep in your places in the battle-field while I go forth to them and challenge Dimiriat."’ (Dimiriat was the Sun, the

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bright one.) “And lo, he came forth, like a great mountain, his fires flaming and his smoke ascending; and he approached and smote me with a flaming fire; and his arrow prevailed over my fire.  He cried out at me with a prodigious cry, so that I imagined the heaven had fallen and closed over me, and the mountains shook at his voice.

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DAHISH OVERTAKEN BY DIMIRIAT.

Then he commanded his companions, and they charged upon us all together:  we also charged upon them, and we cried out one to another:  the fires rose and the smoke ascended, the hearts of the combatants were almost cleft asunder, and the battle raged.  The birds fought in the air, and the wild beasts in the dust; and I contended with Dimiriat until he wearied me and I wearied him;

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after which I became weak, and my companions and troops were enervated and my tribes were routed.”

The birds tore out the eyes of the demons, and cut them in pieces until the earth was covered with the fragments, like the trunks of palm-trees.  “As for me, I flew from before Dimiriat, but he followed me a journey of three months until he overtook me.”  And Solomon hollowed out the black pillar, and sealed him in it with his signet, and chained him until the day of resurrection.