And that man examined the building carefully, so that he felt each stone, and he held a staff in his hand and hit each individual stone used in the building.

And when he struck, some of them became as black as pitch, and some rotten, and some with cracks, and some short, and some neither white nor black, and some rough and not fitting in with the other stones, and some with many stains. These were the varieties of the rotten stones which were found in the building.

Therefore he commanded all these to be taken away from the tower, and to be put beside the tower, and other stones to be brought and laid in their place.

And the builders asked him from which mountains he wished stones to be brought and laid in their place, and he commanded them not to be brought from the mountains, but he commanded them to be brought from a certain plain near at hand.

And the plain was quarried, and splendid square stones were found, but some were also round. And all the stones that were found in that plain were brought and carried through the door by the maidens.

And the square stones were hewn and put into the place of those which had been taken out, but the round stones were not put into the building, because they were hard to hew, and it took a long time; but they were put beside the tower, as if they were going to be hewn and put into the building; for they were very splendid.