The Butterfly that Stamped (2 of 5)

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THE BUTTERFLY THAT STAMPED (CONT'D)

Of course if he had chosen to turn his ring on his finger and
call up the Djinns and the Afrits they would have magicked all
those nine hundred and ninety-nine quarrelsome wives into white
mules of the desert or greyhounds or pomegranate seeds; but
Suleiman-bin-Daoud thought that that would be showing off. So,
when they quarrelled too much, he only walked by himself in one
part of the beautiful Palace gardens and wished he had never been
born.

One day, when they had quarrelled for three weeks--all nine
hundred and ninety-nine wives together--Suleiman-bin-Daoud went
out for peace and quiet as usual; and among the orange trees he
met Balkis the Most Beautiful, very sorrowful because Suleiman-
bin-Daoud was so worried. And she said to him, 'O my Lord and
Light of my Eyes, turn the ring upon your finger and show these
Queens of Egypt and Mesopotamia and Persia and China that you are
the great and terrible King.' But Suleiman-bin-Daoud shook his
head and said, 'O my Lady and Delight of my Life, remember the
Animal that came out of the sea and made me ashamed before all
the animals in all the world because I showed off. Now, if I
showed off before these Queens of Persia and Egypt and Abyssinia
and China, merely because they worry me, I might be made even
more ashamed than I have been.'

And Balkis the Most Beautiful said, 'O my Lord and Treasure of my
Soul, what will you do?'

And Suleiman-bin-Daoud said, 'O my Lady and Content of my Heart,
I shall continue to endure my fate at the hands of these nine
hundred and ninety-nine Queens who vex me with their continual
quarrelling.'

So he went on between the lilies and the loquats and the roses
and the cannas and the heavy-scented ginger-plants that grew in
the garden, till he came to the great camphor-tree that was
called the Camphor Tree of Suleiman-bin-Daoud. But Balkis hid
among the tall irises and the spotted bamboos and the red lillies
behind the camphor-tree, so as to be near her own true love,
Suleiman-bin-Daoud.

Presently two Butterflies flew under the tree, quarrelling.

Suleiman-bin-Daoud heard one say to the other, 'I wonder at your
presumption in talking like this to me. Don't you know that if I
stamped with my foot all Suleiman-bin-Daoud's Palace and this
garden here would immediately vanish in a clap of thunder.'

Then Suleiman-bin-Daoud forgot his nine hundred and ninety-nine
bothersome wives, and laughed, till the camphor-tree shook, at
the Butterfly's boast. And he held out his finger and said,
'Little man, come here.'

The Butterfly was dreadfully frightened, but he managed to fly up
to the hand of Suleiman-bin-Daoud, and clung there, fanning
himself. Suleiman-bin-Daoud bent his head and whispered very
softly, 'Little man, you know that all your stamping wouldn't
bend one blade of grass. What made you tell that awful fib to
your wife?--for doubtless she is your wife.'

The Butterfly looked at Suleiman-bin-Daoud and saw the most wise
King's eye twinkle like stars on a frosty night, and he picked up
his courage with both wings, and he put his head on one side and
said, 'O King, live for ever. She is my wife; and you know what
wives are like.

Suleiman-bin-Daoud smiled in his beard and said, 'Yes, I know,
little brother.

'One must keep them in order somehow, said the Butterfly, and she
has been quarrelling with me all the morning. I said that to
quiet her.'

And Suleiman-bin-Daoud said, 'May it quiet her. Go back to your
wife, little brother, and let me hear what you say.'

Back flew the Butterfly to his wife, who was all of a twitter
behind a leaf, and she said, 'He heard you! Suleiman-bin-Daoud
himself heard you!'

'Heard me!' said the Butterfly. 'Of course he did. I meant him to
hear me.'

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