Magic Carpet Ride

Disney’s Aladdin was not the first to have a magic carpet, as there is a legend says that the Queen of Sheba gifted King Solomon a green and gold flying carpet studded with precious jewels, as a token of her love, but other stories say God bestowed the magic carpet to Solomon.  This huge flying carpet was woven on a giant loom, and its dyes that were made out of a special type of clay held spectacular powers.  Its hovering ability was controlled by a few mechanical devices like gears and pullies and it was able to fly several hundreds of feet above the ground, at twice the speed of the fastest horse.  The carpet flew swiftly, bringing Solomon from Damascus to Media in just a few hours, but Solomon didn’t appreciate this gift, because although he was not afraid of heights, he didn’t like looking down from the edge of the carpet and he also got motion sickness.

His advisors built a brick house for this iconic carpet and they dug up a chunk of land to support this house that remained under the carpet.  Solomon was riding in style now, hosting banquets while he was traveling full of pride with how he was better than everyone else.  Since pride always comes before the fall, God saw that Solomon was being arrogant making him more prone to sin, and He decided that it was time to deliver some punishment.  God shook the carpet in the wind, sending all King Solomon’s men flying into the air, and this brought Solomon back down to Earth, so he could concentrate on building the Temple, instead of hosting flying diner parties.  This was the end of the magic carpet rides and Solomon would have to ride on that lousy camel from now on.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #102.