Week 5, Reading Diary A, Folk-lore of the Holy Land, Reading Diary

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This story is part of the Holy Land Folklore unit. Story source:Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish by J. E. Hanauer (1907).

Moslem Cosmogony (cont.)

Then, in order that the angel might have something to stand on, Allah created a great rock of green emerald which He commanded to roll in beneath his feet and support them.

Thus, as I have explained, the world rests upon the shoulders of an angel, and the angel upon a great emerald rock, and the rock upon the horns or shoulders of a bull, and the bull upon the back of a great whale, and the whale or dragon swims in a great sea which is upborne by air, which is surrounded by darkness. The heavenly bodies shine at certain seasons through the darkness, but what there is beyond the darkness Allah knows!

First of all, I spent last week being blown away by the boxes of magical things, and the Emerald Tablets of Thoth as well from Egyptian myth. It was a surprise to me right away in this unit to find another reference to such things. Granted, the emerald rock that Allah makes is a little different, or is it? I enjoyed this units readings, though I am now looking at the Patriarch Abraham a bit differently.