and to the ruler after him, and he supplied him with a large sum of money. I, in turn, wrote to the official directly under my authority and sent him a gift, asking him to write to those beyond him. I equipped him with a present for every king on the route, and he did the same with every ruler that lay between him and the Wall. When he finally reached the Wall’s far side, he wrote to the governor of that province, who came to him. The governor then sent his falconer along with a trained eagle and presented him with a piece of fine silk.
When we arrived, there were two mountains with a sealed barrier stretching between them and rising to the tops of the mountains. In front of the Wall was a trench, darker than night because of its depth. I observed the whole structure carefully, examined it closely, and then turned to depart. The falconer said to me, “Wait a moment, that I may repay you. No king succeeds another without seeking nearness to Allah by offering the finest thing he possesses of this world and casting it into this abyss.”
He cut off a piece of meat he had with him and hurled it into the air. The eagle swooped down upon it, and he said, “If it reaches it before it falls to the ground, then it is nothing.” The eagle returned with the meat in its talons, and behold, a ruby was stuck to it. He handed it to me—here it is.” Shahrīyār took it and saw that it was red; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān took it and then returned it. Shahrīyār said, “This is better than that”—meaning the gate—“and, by Allah, you are dearer to me as sovereigns than the family of Chosroes. Had I been under their dominion and they learned of this stone, they would have taken it from me. By Allah, nothing will overcome you so long as you keep your covenant, or your supreme ruler keeps his.”
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān then turned to the messenger and asked, “What is the state of the Wall, and what does it resemble?” He replied, “It looks like the cloak Maṭar is wearing.” Maṭar said, “The man has spoken the truth, by Allah! He travelled far, saw it, and has described exactly the appearance of the iron and the copper.”
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān asked Shahrīyār, “How much would such stones be worth?” He replied, “One hundred thousand in these lands of mine, and three million in those distant lands.”
Salam the Interpreter narrated: “When al-Wāthiq bi-Llāh saw as though the Wall that…"