Then came a terrible noise , for all the nine hundred and ninety-nine Queens ran out of the Palace shrieking and shouting and calling for their babies . They hurried down the great marble steps below the fountain , one hundred abreast , and the Most Wise Balkis went statelily forward to meet them and said , ` What is your trouble , O Queens ? ' They stood on the marble steps one hundred abreast and shouted , ` What is our trouble ? We were living peacefully in our golden palace , as is our custom , when upon a sudden the Palace disappeared , and we were left sitting in a thick and noisome darkness ; and it thundered , and Djinns and Afrits moved about in the darkness ! That is our trouble , O Head Queen , and we are most extremely troubled on account of that trouble , for it was a troublesome trouble , unlike any trouble we have known . ' Then Balkis the Most Beautiful Queen -- Suleiman-bin-Daoud 's Very Best Beloved -- Queen that was of Sheba and Sable and the Rivers of the Gold of the South -- from the Desert of Zinn to the Towers of Zimbabwe -- Balkis , almost as wise as the Most Wise Suleiman-bin-Daoud himself , said , ` It is nothing , O Queens ! A Butterfly has made complaint against his wife because she quarrelled with him , and it has pleased our Lord Suleiman-bin-Daoud to teach her a lesson in low-speaking and humbleness , for that is counted a virtue among the wives of the butterflies . ' Then up and spoke an Egyptian Queen -- the daughter of a Pharoah -- and she said , ` Our Palace can not be plucked up by the roots like a leek for the sake of a little insect . No ! Suleiman-bin-Daoud must be dead , and what we heard and saw was the earth thundering and darkening at the news . ' Then Balkis beckoned that bold Queen without looking at her , and said to her and to the others , ` Come and see . ' They came down the marble steps , one hundred abreast , and beneath his camphor-tree , still weak with laughing , they saw the Most Wise King Suleiman-bin-Daoud rocking back and forth with a Butterfly on either hand , and they heard him say , ' O wife of my brother in the air , remember after this , to please your husband in all things , lest he be provoked to stamp his foot yet again ; for he has said that he is used to this magic , and he is most eminently a great magician -- one who steals away the very Palace of Suleirnan-bin-Daoud himself . Go in peace , little folk ! ' And he kissed them on the wings , and they flew away . Then all the Queens except Balkis -- the Most Beautiful and Splendid Balkis , who stood apart smiling -- fell flat on their faces , for they said , ` If these things are done when a Butterfly is displeased with his wife , what shall be done to us who have vexed our King with our loud-speaking and open quarrelling through many days ? ' Then they put their veils over their heads , and they put their hands over their mouths , and they tiptoed back to the Palace most mousy-quiet . Then Balkis -- The Most Beautiful and Excellent Balkis -- went forward through the red lilies into the shade of the camphor-tree and laid her hand upon Suleiman-bin-Daoud 's shoulder and said , ' O my Lord and Treasure of my Soul , rejoice , for we have taught the Queens of Egypt and Ethiopia and Abyssinia and Persia and India and China with a great and a memorable teaching . ' And Suleiman-bin-Daoud , still looking after the Butterflies where they played in the sunlight , said , ' O my Lady and Jewel of my Felicity , when did this happen ? For I have been jesting with a Butterfly ever since I came into the garden . ' And he told Balkis what he had done .
XXXXX -- The tender and Most Lovely Balkis -- said , ' O my Lord and Regent of my Existence , I hid behind the camphor-tree and saw it all .
Balkis Djinns Egypt King Persia Pharoah South Suleirnan-bin-Daoud Zinn days