15. "What was that which was not born, yet life was given to it?" "The
golden calf."
16. "What is that which is produced from the ground, yet man produces
it, while its food is the fruit of the ground?" "A wick."
17. "A woman was wedded to two, and bore two sons, yet these four had
one father?" "Tamar."
18. "A house full of dead; no dead one came among them, nor did a
living come forth from them?" "It is the story of Samson and the
Philistines."
19. The queen next ordered the sawn trunk of a cedar tree to be
brought, and she asked Solomon to point out at which end the root had
been and at which the branches. He bade her cast it into the water,
when one end sank and the other floated upon the surface of the water.
That part which sank was the root, and that which remained uppermost
was the branch end. Then she said to him: "Thou exceedest in wisdom and
goodness the fame which I heard, blessed be thy God!" (46)
The last three riddles which the Queen of Sheba put to Solomon were the
following:
20. "What is this? A wooden well with iron buckets, which draw stones
and pour out water." The king replied: "A rouge-tube."
21. "What is this? It comes as dust from the earth, its food is dust,
it is poured out like water, and lights the house." "Naphtha."
22. "What is this? It walks ahead of all; it cries out loud and
bitterly; its head is like the reed; it is the glory of the noble, the
disgrace of the poor; the glory of the dead, the disgrace of the
living; the delight of birds, the distress of fishes." He answered:
"Flax." (47)