The Second Tale of the Moon of Saba

The narrator opens by admitting he concealed a deflating truth: the famed Moon of Saba is not a jewel but a basin. He returns to the legend of Queen Bilqis and al-Dabaran, noting that al-Dabaran yearned for more time with Bilqis and sought to bestow a manifestation of himself.

Waiting for his power to peak, al-Dabaran blessed Bilqis’s ablution basin so that the moon’s silvery reflection filled it, trembling on the water. The basin, carved with hoopoes and jasmine, appeared pearl-like, explaining later stories that mistook it for a gemstone. The narrator suggests this error came from embellishment or mistranslation.

He emphasizes Bilqis’s might and the object’s portability, which made it vulnerable to theft and exploitation by cruel rulers. The tale briefly toys with the notion of al-Dabaran’s soul being trapped in the basin before stepping back, framing the presence as voluntary while foreshadowing darker possibilities.

Finally, the narrator raises the stakes: such power in mortal hands could be catastrophic, and only rare expertise could conceal or undo it. He hints that there once existed a family of guardians capable of disposing of dangerous talismans, then pauses, promising more to come.