Note 180 — Chapter VI

A proud and wicked king of Yaman, called Shaddad, according to the Muhammedan legend, declared blasphemously: “There is no necessity for Paradise for me: I myself will make a Paradise of which no man can have beheld the like.” He sent his officers to find out a suitable spot for a garden, and they discovered such a place on the borders of Syria, where Shaddad, at an immense cost, caused a palace to be erected of gold and silver bricks in alternate courses, and adorned with the most precious stones. In the garden were placed trees of gold and silver, the fruit of which was amethysts, rubies, and other gems (see also ante, p. 166, note on Treasure-trees); and the ground was strewed with musk, ambergris, and saffron. They called this place the Rose Garden of Iram. When Shaddad was about to enter it, accompanied by a vast multitude of troops and attendants, he was met by the Angel of Death, who forthwith seized his impure soul, and then the lightnings of heaven destroyed all living creatures that were there, and the Rose Garden of Iram became hidden from the sight of men.—In the present romance the abode of the parents of Bakáwalí is called the Garden of Iram, to indicate its magnificence.