Charles Morris
speaker
4,189 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 18 Aug
Charles Morris’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
A wise king was one who had control of the powers of earth and air, who could call the Jenni to his aid by incantations, and perform supernatural deeds.
Hence it was that the suitors fell off from the maiden like leaves from an autumn bough, leaving but two who deemed themselves fitting aspirants to her hand.
To test the wisdom of these two she gave them the following tasks.
One was bidden to construct on the mainland an aqueduct and a water wheel to bring water from the mountains into Cadith.
The other was to produce a talisman which should save the island of Cadith from invasion by Berbers or any other of the fierce tribes of Africa by whom it was frequently threatened.
The one of you, said the princess, who first and best performs his task shall win my hand by his work.
The two suitors were warmly in love with the beautiful maiden, and both ardently entered upon their duties.
The first to get to work was the aqueduct builder, whose task called for hard labor rather than magical aid.
Cadith stands on a long, narrow peninsula, opposite which, on the mainland, the king built a hydraulic machine, to which the water was brought by pipes or canals from springs in a nearby mountain.
This stream of cool, refreshing water poured upon a wheel by which it was driven into an aqueduct crossing the bay into Cadith.
Here comes the fact behind a legend.
Such an aqueduct stood long in evidence, and as late as the eighteenth century traces of it could be seen.
We have an account of it by the Arab writer Al Makari.
It consisted, he says, of a long line of arches, and the way it was done was this.
Whenever they came to high ground or to a mountain, they cut a passage through it.
When the ground was lower, they built a bridge over arches.
If they met with porous soil, they laid a bed of gravel for the passage of the water.
When the building reached the seashore the water was made to pass underground, and in this way it reached Cadith.
So it was built, and wise was the king who built it, even if he did not call upon the Jenni for assistance.
The other king could not perform his labour so simply.
Showing 101–120 of 4,189 · page 6 of 210
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