And he examined the birds,[316] _that he might see the lapwing, that saw the water beneath the earth, and directed to it by pecking the earth, whereupon the devils used to draw it forth when Solomon wanted it_ [to perform the ablution] _for prayer; but he saw it not_: and he said, Wherefore do I not see the lapwing? Is it [one] of the absent?—_And when he was certain of the case he said_, I will assuredly punish it with a severe punishment, _by plucking out its feathers and its tail and casting it in the sun so that it shall not be able to guard against excessive thirst_; or I will slaughter it; or it shall bring me a manifest convincing proof _showing its excuse_.—And it tarried not long _before it presented itself unto Solomon submissively, and raised its head and relaxed its tail and its wings: so he forgave it; and he asked it what it had met with during its absence_; and it said, I have become acquainted with that wherewith thou hast not become acquainted, and I have come unto thee from Seba (_a tribe of El-Yemen_) with a sure piece of news. I found a woman reigning over them, _named Bilḳees_, and she hath been gifted with everything _that princes require_, and hath a magnificent throne. _(Its length was eighty cubits; and its breadth, forty cubits; and its height, thirty cubits: it was composed of gold and silver set with fine pearls and with rubies and chrysolites, and its legs were of rubies and chrysolites and emeralds: upon it_ [were closed] _seven doors: to each chamber_ [through which one passed to it was] _a closed door_.) I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of God, and the devil hath made their works to seem comely unto them, so that he hath hindered them from the _right_ way, wherefore they are not rightly directed to the worship of God, who produceth what is hidden (_namely the rain and vegetables_) in the heavens and the earth, and knoweth what they [that is, mankind and others] conceal _in their hearts_, and what they reveal _with their tongues_. God: there is no deity but He, the Lord of the magnificent throne, _between which and the throne of Bilḳees is a vast difference_.