Solomon, it must be remembered, bore rule not only over men, but also
over the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, demons, spirits,
and the spectres of the night. He knew the language of all of them and
they understood his language. (38)
When Solomon was of good cheer by reason of wine, he summoned the
beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the creeping reptiles, the
shades, the spectres, and the ghosts, to perform their dances before
the kings, his neighbors, whom he invited to witness his power and
greatness. The king's scribes called the animals and the spirits by
name, one by one, and they all assembled of their own accord, without
fetters or bonds, with no human hand to guide them.
On one occasion the hoopoe (39) was missed from among the birds. He
could not be found anywhere. The king, full of wrath, ordered him to be
produced and chastised for his tardiness. The hoopoe appeared and said:
"O lord, king of the world, incline thine ear and hearken to my words.
Three months have gone by since I began to take counsel with myself and
resolve upon a course of action. I have eaten no food and drunk no
water, in order to fly about in the whole world and see whether there
is a domain anywhere which is not subject to my lord the king. (40) and
I found a city, the city of Kitor, in the East. Dust is more valuable
than gold there, and silver is like the mud of the streets. Its trees
are from the beginning of all time, and they suck up water that flows
from the Garden of Eden. The city is crowded with men. On their heads
they wear garlands wreathed in Paradise. They know not how to fight,
nor how to shoot with bow and arrow. Their ruler is a woman, she is
called the Queen of Sheba. If, now, it please thee, O lord and king, I
shall gird my loins like a hero, and journey to the city of Kitor in
the land of Sheba. Its kings I shall fetter with chains and its rulers
with iron bands, and bring them all before my lord the king."
The hoopoe's speech pleased the king. The clerks of his land were
summoned, and they wrote a letter and bound it to the hoopoe's wing.
The bird rose skyward, uttered his cry, and flew away, followed by all
the other birds.
And they came to Kitor in the land of Sheba. It was morning, and the
queen had gone forth to pay worship to the sun. Suddenly the birds
darkened his light. The queen raised her hand, and rent her garment,
and was sore astonished. Then the hoopoe alighted near her. Seeing that
a letter was tied to his wing, she loosed it and read it. And what was
written in the letter? "From me, King Solomon! Peace be with thee,
peace with the nobles of thy realm! Know that God has appointed me king
over the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the demons, the
spirits, and the spectres. All the kings of the East and the West come
to bring me greetings. If thou wilt come and salute me, I shall show
thee great honor, more than to any of the kings that attend me. But if
thou wilt not pay homage to me, I shall send out kings, legions, and
riders against thee. Thou askest, who are these kings, legions, and
riders of King Solomon? The beasts of the field are my kings, the birds
my riders, the demons, spirit, and shades of the night my legions. The
demons will throttle you in your beds at night, while the beasts will
slay you in the field, and the birds will consume your flesh."
When the Queen of Sheba had read the contents of the letter, she again
rent her garment, and sent word to her elders and her princes: "Know
you not what Solomon has written to me?" They answered: "We know
nothing of King Solomon, and his dominion we regard as naught." But
their words did not reassure the queen. She assembled all the ships of
the sea, and loaded them with the finest kinds of wood, and with pearls
and precious stones. Together with these she sent Solomon six thousand
youths and maidens, born in the same year, in the same month, on the
same day, in the same hour all of equal stature and size, all clothed
in purple garments. They bore a letter to King Solomon as follows:
"From the city of Kitor to the land of Israel is a journey of seven
years. As it is thy wish and behest that I visit thee, I shall hasten
and be in Jerusalem at the end of three years."
When the time of her arrival drew nigh, Solomon sent Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada to meet her. Benaiah was like unto the flush in the eastern
sky at break of day, like unto the evening star that outshines all
other stars, like unto the lily growing by brooks of water. When the
queen caught sight of him, she descended from her chariot to do him
honor. Benaiah asked her why she left her chariot. "Art thou not King
Solomon?" she questioned in turn. Benaiah replied: "Not King Solomon am
I, only one of his servants that stand in his presence." Thereupon the
queen turned to her nobles and said: "If you have not beheld the lion,
at least you have seen his lair, and if you have not beheld King
Solomon, at least you have seen the beauty of him that stands in his
presence."
Benaiah conducted the queen to Solomon, who had gone to sit in a house
of glass to receive her. The queen was deceived by an illusion. She
thought the king was sitting in water, and as she stepped across to him
she raised her garment to keep it dry. On her bared feet the king
noticed hair, and he said to her: "Thy beauty is the beauty of a woman,
but thy hair is masculine; hair is an ornament to a man, but it
disfigures a woman." (41)
Then the queen began and said: (42) "I have heard of thee and thy
wisdom; if now I inquire of thee concerning a matter, wilt thou answer
me?" He replied: "The Lord giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh
knowledge and understanding." She then said to him:
1. "Seven there are that issue and nine that enter; two yield the
draught and one drinks." Said he to her: "Seven are the days of a
woman's defilement, and nine the months of pregnancy; two are the
breasts that yield the draught, and one the child that drinks it."
Whereupon she said to him: "Thou art wise."
2. Then she questioned him further: "A woman said to her son, thy
father is my father, and thy grandfather my husband; thou art my son,
and I am thy sister." "Assuredly," said he, "it was the daughter of Lot
who spake thus to her son."
3. She placed a number of males and females of the same stature and
garb before him and said: "Distinguish between them." Forthwith he made
a sign to the eunuchs, who brought him a quantity of nuts and roasted
ears of corn. The males, who were not bashful, seized them with bare
hands; the females took them, putting forth their gloved hands from
beneath their garments. Whereupon he exclaimed: "Those are the males,
these the females."
4. She brought a number of men to him, some circumcised and others
uncircumcised, and asked him to distinguish between them. He
immediately made a sign to the high priest, who opened the Ark of the
covenant, whereupon those that were circumcised bowed their bodies to
half their height, while their countenances were filled with the
radiance of the Shekinah; the uncircumcised fell prone upon their
faces. "Those," said he, "are circumcised, these uncircumcised." (43)
"Thou art wise, indeed," she exclaimed.
5. She put other questions to him, to all of which he gave replies.
"Who is he who neither was born nor has died?" "It is the Lord of the
world, blessed be He."
6. "What land is that which has but once seen the sun?" "The land upon
which, after the creation, the waters were gathered, and the bed of the
Red Sea on the day when it was divided."
7. "There is an enclosure with ten doors, when one is open, nine are
shut; when nine are open, one is shut?" "That enclosure is the womb;
the ten doors are the ten orifices of man his eyes, ears, nostrils,
mouth, the apertures for the discharge of the excreta and the urine,
and the navel; when the child is in the embryonic state, the navel is
open and the other orifices are closed, but when it issues from the
womb, the navel is closed and the others are opened."
8. "There is something which when living moves not, yet when its head
is cut off it moves?" "It is the ship in the sea." (44)
9. "Which are the three that neither ate, nor did they drink, nor did
they have bread put into them, yet they saved lives from death?" "The
signet, the cord, and the staff are those three."
10. "Three entered a cave and five came forth therefrom?" "Lot and his
two daughters and their two children."
11. "The dead lived, the grave moved, and the dead prayed: what is
that?" "The dead that lived and prayed, Jonah; and the fish, the moving
grave."
12. "Who were the three that ate and drank on the earth, and yet were
not born of male and female?" "The three angels who visited Abraham."
(45)
13. "Four entered a place of death and came forth alive, and two
entered a place of life and came forth dead?" "The four were Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and the two were Nadab and Abihu."