The Butterfly That Stamped · page 21 2101He just laughed with joy, and Balkis, on the other side of the tree, smiled because her own true love was so joyful.102Presently the Butterfly, very hot and puffy, came whirling back under the shadow of the camphor-tree and said to Suleiman, ‘She wants me to stamp!103She wants to see what will happen, O Suleiman-bin-Daoud!104You know I can’t do it, and now she’ll never believe a word I say.105She’ll laugh at me to the end of my days!’106‘No, little brother,’ said Suleiman-bin-Daoud, ‘she will never laugh at you again,’ and he turned the ring on his finger--just for the little Butterfly’s sake, not for the sake of showing off,--and, lo and behold, four huge Djinns came out of the earth!107‘Slaves,’ said Suleiman-bin-Daoud, ‘when this gentleman on my finger’ (that was where the impudent Butterfly was sitting) ‘stamps his left front forefoot you will make my Palace and these gardens disappear in a clap of thunder.108When he stamps again you will bring them back carefully.’109‘Now, little brother,’ he said, ‘go back to your wife and stamp all you’ve a mind to.’110Away flew the Butterfly to his wife, who was crying, ‘I dare you to do it!111I dare you to do it!112Stamp!113Stamp now!114Stamp!’115Balkis saw the four vast Djinns stoop down to the four corners of the gardens with the Palace in the middle, and she clapped her hands softly and said, ‘At last Suleiman-bin-Daoud will do for the sake of a Butterfly what he ought to have done long ago for his own sake, and the quarrelsome Queens will be frightened!’116The the butterfly stamped.117The Djinns jerked the Palace and the gardens a thousand miles into the air: there was a most awful thunder-clap, and everything grew inky-black.118The Butterfly’s Wife fluttered about in the dark, crying, ‘Oh, I’ll be good!119I’m so sorry I spoke.120Only bring the gardens back, my dear darling husband, and I’ll never contradict again.’121The Butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and Suleiman-bin-Daoud laughed so much that it was several minutes before he found breath enough to whisper to the Butterfly, ‘Stamp again, little brother.122Give me back my Palace, most great magician.’123‘Yes, give him back his Palace,’ said the Butterfly’s Wife, still flying about in the dark like a moth.124‘Give him back his Palace, and don’t let’s have any more horrid.magic.’125‘Well, my dear,’ said the Butterfly as bravely as he could, ‘you see what your nagging has led to.126Of course it doesn’t make any difference to me--I’m used to this kind of thing--but as a favour to you and to Suleiman-bin-Daoud I don’t mind putting things right.’127So he stamped once more, and that instant the Djinns let down the Palace and the gardens, without even a bump.128The sun shone on the dark-green orange leaves; the fountains played among the pink Egyptian lilies; the birds went on singing, and the Butterfly’s Wife lay on her side under the camphor-tree waggling her wings and panting, ‘Oh, I’ll be good!129I’ll be good!’130Suleiman-bin-Daolld could hardly speak for laughing.131He leaned back all weak and hiccoughy, and shook his finger at the Butterfly and said, ‘O great wizard, what is the sense of returning to me my Palace if at the same time you slay me with mirth!’132Then came a terrible noise, for all the nine hundred and ninety-nine Queens ran out of the Palace shrieking and shouting and calling for their babies.133They hurried down the great marble steps below the fountain, one hundred abreast, and the Most Wise Balkis went statelily forward to meet them and said, ‘What is your trouble, O Queens?’134They stood on the marble steps one hundred abreast and shouted, ‘What is our trouble?135We were living peacefully in our golden palace, as is our custom, when upon a sudden the Palace disappeared, and we were left sitting in a thick and noisome darkness; and it thundered, and Djinns and Afrits moved about in the darkness!136That is our trouble, O Head Queen, and we are most extremely troubled on account of that trouble, for it was a troublesome trouble, unlike any trouble we have known.’137Then Balkis the Most Beautiful Queen--Suleiman-bin-Daoud’s Very Best Beloved--Queen that was of Sheba and Sable and the Rivers of the Gold of the South--from the Desert of Zinn to the Towers of Zimbabwe--Balkis, almost as wise as the Most Wise Suleiman-bin-Daoud himself, said, ‘It is nothing, O Queens!138A Butterfly has made complaint against his wife because she quarrelled with him, and it has pleased our Lord Suleiman-bin-Daoud to teach her a lesson in low-speaking and humbleness, for that is counted a virtue among the wives of the butterflies.’139Then up and spoke an Egyptian Queen--the daughter of a Pharoah--and she said, ‘Our Palace cannot be plucked up by the roots like a leek for the sake of a little insect.140No!141Suleiman-bin-Daoud must be dead, and what we heard and saw was the earth thundering and darkening at the news.’142Then Balkis beckoned that bold Queen without looking at her, and said to her and to the others, ‘Come and see.’143They came down the marble steps, one hundred abreast, and beneath his camphor-tree, still weak with laughing, they saw the Most Wise King Suleiman-bin-Daoud rocking back and forth with a Butterfly on either hand, and they heard him say, ‘O wife of my brother in the air, remember after this, to please your husband in all things, lest he be provoked to stamp his foot yet again; for he has said that he is used to this magic, and he is most eminently a great magician--one who steals away the very Palace of Suleirnan-bin-Daoud himself.144Go in peace, little folk!’145And he kissed them on the wings, and they flew away.146Then all the Queens except Balkis--the Most Beautiful and Splendid Balkis, who stood apart smiling--fell flat on their faces, for they said, ‘If these things are done when a Butterfly is displeased with his wife, what shall be done to us who have vexed our King with our loud-speaking and open quarrelling through many days?’147Then they put their veils over their heads, and they put their hands over their mouths, and they tiptoed back to the Palace most mousy-quiet.148Then Balkis--The Most Beautiful and Excellent Balkis--went forward through the red lilies into the shade of the camphor-tree and laid her hand upon Suleiman-bin-Daoud’s shoulder and said, ‘O my Lord and Treasure of my Soul, rejoice, for we have taught the Queens of Egypt and Ethiopia and Abyssinia and Persia and India and China with a great and a memorable teaching.’149And Suleiman-bin-Daoud, still looking after the Butterflies where they played in the sunlight, said, ‘O my Lady and Jewel of my Felicity, when did this happen?150For I have been jesting with a Butterfly ever since I came into the garden.’151And he told Balkis what he had done.152Balkis--The tender and Most Lovely Balkis--said, ‘O my Lord and Regent of my Existence, I hid behind the camphor-tree and saw it all.153It was I who told the Butterfly’s Wife to ask the Butterfly to stamp, because I hoped that for the sake of the jest my Lord would make some great magic and that the Queens would see it and be frightened.’154And she told him what the Queens had said and seen and thought.155Then Suleiman-bin-Daoud rose up from his seat under the camphor-tree, and stretched his arms and rejoiced and said, ‘O my Lady and Sweetener of my Days, know that if I had made a magic against my Queens for the sake of pride or anger, as I made that feast for all the animals, I should certainly have been put to shame.156But by means of your wisdom I made the magic for the sake of a jest and for the sake of a little Butterfly, and--behold--it has also delivered me from the vexations of my vexatious wives!157Tell me, therefore, O my Lady and Heart of my Heart, how did you come to be so wise?’158And Balkis the Queen, beautiful and tall, looked up into Suleiman-bin-Daoud’s eyes and put her head a little on one side, just like the Butterfly, and said, ‘First, O my Lord, because I loved you; and secondly, O my Lord, because I know what women-folk are.’159Then they went up to the Palace and lived happily ever afterwards.160But wasn’t it clever of Balkis?161THERE was never a Queen like Balkis, From here to the wide world’s end; But Balkis talked to a butterfly As you would talk to a friend.162There was never a King like Solomon, Not since the world began; But Solomon talked to a butterfly As a man would talk to a man.163She was Queen of Sabaea-- And he was Asia’s Lord-- But they both of ‘em talked to butterflies When they took their walks abroad!1 2← previousThe Cat That Walked By Himself↑ back to Just so storiesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/13/page/2/