Chapter V
THE THRONE OF SOLOMON
Sitt Zeinabar's Tomb
A STORY HAS IT THAT KlNG SOLOMON, HAVING MARRIED THE
Queen of Sheba, could in no wise make her love him. He
was old and she was young. He tried every inducement in
vain, and at last he sent out the birds of the air and charged
them to discover for him the coldest place in the world. Next
morning at dawn all returned except the hoopoe, who re-
mained absent all day. 'As the dusk was falling he too flew
back and bowed before the king, and told him the cause of
his delay. He had found a summit so cold that, when he
alighted, his wings were frozen to the ground, and only the
midday sun had been able to thaw them: and he had hastened
to give the news to the king.
On the top of this mountain, Solomon built Ms bed, and
took Belkeis the queen, and when the cold of night descended,
she could not bear it, but crept into her husband's tent. In
the morning, King Solomon touched the rocky slope, and a
warm spring gushed out for her to bathe in. And it remains
to this day.
This is the story, and the mountain is still called the Throne
of Solomon, Takht~i-Suleiman, and stands south of the
Caspian and north-east of Elburz, the highest Persian summit
west of Demavend, and the third highest summit of Persia.
As I rode down from Salambar to the sea, after visiting the
Assassins' Rock of Alamut, in 1930,1 saw it glistening in the
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