_Solomon_ said _to the lapwing_, We will see whether thou hast spoken truth or whether thou art of the liars. _Then the lapwing guided them to the water, and it was drawn forth_ [by the devils]; _and they quenched their thirst and performed the ablution and prayed. Then Solomon wrote a letter, the form whereof was this:—From the servant of God, Solomon the son of David, to Bilḳees the queen of Seba. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Peace be on whomsoever followeth the right direction. After_ [this salutation, I say], _Act ye not proudly towards me; but come unto me submitting.—He then sealed it with musk, and stamped it with his signet, and said unto the lapwing_, Go with this my letter and throw it down unto them (_namely Bilḳees and her people_): then turn away from them, _but stay near them_, and see what _reply_ they will return. _So the lapwing took it, and came unto her, and around her were her forces; and he threw it down into her lap; and when she saw it, she trembled with fear. Then she considered what was in it, and_ she said _unto the nobles of her people_, O nobles, an honourable (_sealed_) letter hath been thrown down unto me. It is from Solomon; and it is _this_:—In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Act ye not proudly towards me: but come unto me submitting.—She said, O nobles, advise me in mine affair. I will not decide upon a thing unless ye bear me witness.—They replied, We are endowed with strength and endowed with great valour; but the command [belongeth] to thee; therefore see what thou wilt command _us to do, and we will obey thee_. She said, Verily kings, when they enter a city, waste it, and render the mighty of its inhabitants abject; and thus will they do _who have sent the letter_. But I will send unto them with a gift, and I will see with what the messengers will return, _whether the gift will be accepted, or whether it will be rejected. If he be_ [merely] _a king, he will accept it; and if he be a prophet, he will not accept it.—And she sent male and female servants, a thousand in equal numbers_ [five hundred of each sex], _and five hundred bricks of gold, and a crown set with jewels, and musk and ambergris and other things, by a messenger with a letter.[317] And the lapwing hastened unto Solomon, to tell him the news; on hearing which, he commanded that bricks of gold and silver should be cast, and that a horse-course should be extended to the length of nine leagues from the place where he was, and that they should build around it a wall with battlements, of gold and silver, and that the handsomest of the beasts of the land and of the sea should be brought with the sons of the jinn on the right side of the horse-course and on its left._