When the Emir heard this, he cried out and the tears ran down his cheeks and he exclaimed, “By Allah, from the world abstaining is the wisest course and the sole assaining!” And he called for pen-case and paper and wrote down what was graven on the first tablet. Then he drew near the second tablet and found these words graven thereon, “O son of Adam, what hath seduced thee from the service of the Ancient of Days and made thee forget that one day thou must defray the debt of death? Wottest thou not that it is a transient dwelling wherein for none there is abiding; and yet thou taketh thought unto the world and cleavest fast thereto? Where be the kings who Irak peopled and the four quarters of the globe possessed? Where be they who abode in Ispahan and the land of Khorasan? The voice of the Summoner of Death summoned them and they answered him, and the Herald of Destruction hailed them and they replied, Here are we! Verily, that which they builded and fortified profited them naught; neither did what they had gathered and provided avail for their defence.” And at the foot of the tablet were graven the following verses, Where be the men who built and fortified * High places never man their like espied? In fear of Fate they levied troops and hosts, * Availing naught when came the time and tide, Where be the Kisrás homed in strongest walls? * As though they ne’er had been from home they tried! The Emir Musa wept and exclaimed, “By Allah, we are indeed created for a grave matter!” Then he copied the inscription and passed on to the third tablet,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-third Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Emir Musa passed on to the third tablet, whereon was written, “O son of Adam, the things of this world thou lovest and prizest and the hest of thy Lord thou spurnest and despisest. All the days of thy life pass by and thou art content thus to aby. Make ready thy viaticum against the day appointed for thee to see and prepare to answer the Lord of every creature that be!” And at the foot were written these verses, “Where is the wight who peopled in the past * Hind land and Sind; and there the tyrant played? Who Zanj[FN#130] and Habash bound beneath his yoke, * And Nubia curbed and low its puissance laid. Look not for news of what is in his grave. * Ah, he is far who can thy vision aid! The stroke of death fell on him sharp and sure; * Nor saved him palace, nor the lands he swayed.”