"The signs that here their mighty works portray * Warn us that all must tread the self-same way: O thou who standest in this stead to hear * Tidings of folk, whose power hath passed for aye, Enter this palace-gate and ask the news * Of greatness fallen into dust and clay: Death has destroyed them and dispersed their might * And in the dust they lost their rich display; As had they only set their burdens down * To rest awhile, and then had rode away."
When the Emir Musa heard these couplets, he wept till he lost his senses and said, "There is no god but the God, the Living, the Eternal, who ceaseth not!" Then he entered the palace and was confounded at its beauty and the goodliness of its construction. He diverted himself awhile by viewing the pictures and images therein, till he came to a
