The Temple of the Jinn

Resting in the Persian hills, is a mosque built under enchantment. The gold visible between its pillars, beckons the wayfarer’s advancement. There was none who could stand against its sorcery; Not a sultan, nor Saracen. Against the cunning of the smoke demon, all paled in comparison. The gold at its center was at one’s fingertips, And though it could be reached by the arrow’s flight, the cursed moat swallowed the plunderers, with the treasure in plain sight. First came the resilient warrior, with his scimitar in hand. Then came the strapping young lad in his stature. And yet none could openly thwart, the Jinn in his bardic nomenclature. Next came three ambassadors to the North, from the kingdom of the crescent moon. The one envoy looked at the other two and said: Let us try to cross the jinxed lagoon. The first man tried his luck, and attempted to swim across on horseback. But when the hooves touched the water, the horse sank with the water remaining slack. The second man employed an elephant, to cross the river cursed. But down into the swirling froth, the evil moat quenched its thirst. The third traveller went home. To why he didn’t try his luck, the sultan demanded an answer, To which the traveller replied: I don’t give the time or day to an enchanter. Inspired by a legend of an enchanted mosque in the Iranian mountians