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Thousand Nights & One Night
THE CITY OF
LEBTAIT
There was once a city in the land of
the Franks, called the City of Lebtait. (123) It was a royal city
and in it stood a tower which was always shut. Whenever a King died
and another King of the Franks took the Kingship after him, he set a
new and strong lock on the tower, till there were four-and- twenty
locks upon the gate. After this time, there came to the throne a man
who was not of the old royal house, and he had a mind to open the
locks, that he might see what was within the tower. The grandees of
his kingdom forbade him from this and were instant with him to
desist, offering him all that their hands possessed of riches and
things of price, if he would but forego his desire; but he would not
be baulked and said, 'Needs must I open this tower.' So he did off
the locks and entering, found within figures of Arabs on their
horses and camels, covered with turbans with hanging ends, girt with
swords and bearing long lances in their hands. He found there also a
scroll, with these words written therein: 'Whenas this door is
opened, a people of the Arabs, after the likeness of the figures
here depictured, will conquer this country; wherefore beware, beware
of opening it.' Now this city was in Spain, and that very year Tarik
ibn Ziyad conquered it, in the Khalifate of Welid ben Abdulmelik
(124) of the sons of Umeyyeh, slaying this King after the sorriest
fashion and sacking the city and making prisoners of the women and
boys therein. Moreover, he found there immense treasures; amongst
the rest more than a hundred and seventy crowns of pearls and rubies
and other gems, and a saloon, in which horsemen might tilt with
spears, full of vessels of gold and silver, such as no description
can comprise. Moreover, he found there also the table of food of the
prophet of God, Solomon son of David (on whom be peace), which is
extant even now in a city of the Greeks; it is told that it was of
green emerald, with vessels of gold and platters of chrysolite;
likewise, the Psalms written in the [ancient] Greek character, on
leaves of gold set with jewels, together with a book setting forth
the properties of stones and herbs and minerals, as well as the use
of charms and talismans and the canons of the art of alchemy, and
another that treated of the art of cutting and setting rubies and
other [precious] stones and of the preparation of poisons and
antidotes. There found he also a representation of the configuration
of the earth and the seas and the different towns and countries and
villages of the world and a great hall full of hermetic powder, one
drachm of which would turn a thousand drachms of silver into fine
gold; likewise a marvellous great round mirror of mixed metals, made
for Solomon son of David (on whom be peace), wherein whoso looked
might see the very image and presentment of the seven divisions of
the world, and a chamber full of carbuncles, such as no words can
suffice to set forth, many camel-loads. So he despatched all these
things to Welid ben Abdulmelik, and the Arabs spread all over the
cities of Spain, which is one of the finest of lands. This is the
end of the story of the City of Lebtait.
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