After Solomon had executed the last offices for his father, he rested in a dale betwixt Hebron and Jerusalem, and fell asleep. As he returned to himself, there stood before him eight angels, each with countless wings, diverse in kinds and colours; and the angels bowed themselves before him three times. “Who are ye?” asked Solomon, with eyes still closed. “We are the angels ruling over the eight winds of heaven,” was their reply. “God hath sent us to give thee dominion over ourselves and over the winds subject to us. They will storm and bluster, or breathe softly, at thy pleasure. At thy command they will swoop down on earth, and bear thee over the highest mountains.” The greatest of the angels gave him a jewel inscribed with “God is Power and Greatness,” and said, “When thou hast a command for us, then raise this stone towards heaven, and we shall appear before thee as thy servants.” When these angels had taken their departure, there appeared four more, of whom each was unlike the other. One was in fashion as a great whale, another as an eagle, the third as a lion, and the fourth as a serpent. And they said, “We are they who rule over all the creatures that move in the earth, and air, and water; and God hath sent us to give thee dominion over all creatures, that they may serve thee and thy friends with all good, and fight against thine enemies with all their force.” The angel who ruled over the winged fowls extended to Solomon a precious stone, with the inscription, “Let all creatures praise the Lord!” and said, “By virtue of this stone, raised above thy head, canst thou call us to thy assistance, and to fulfil thy desire.” Solomon immediately ordered the angels to bring before him a pair of every living creature that moves in the water, flies in the air, and walks or glides or creeps on the earth. The angels vanished, and in an instant they were before Solomon once more, and there were assembled in his sight pairs of every creature, from the elephant to the smallest fly. Solomon conversed with the angels, and was instructed by them in the habits, virtues, and names of all living creatures; he listened to the complaints of the beasts, birds, and fishes, and by his wisdom he rectified many evil customs amongst them. He entertained himself longest with the birds, both on account of their beautiful speech, which he understood, and also because of the wise sentences which they uttered. This is the signification of the cry of the peacock: “With what measure thou judgest others, thou shalt thyself be judged.” This is the song of the nightingale: “Contentment is the greatest happiness.” The turtle dove calls, “Better were it for some created things that they had never been created.” The peewit pipes, “He that hath no mercy, will not find mercy himself.” The bird syrdar cries, “Turn to the Lord, ye sinners!” The swallow screams, “Do good, and ye shall receive a reward.”