Around the king's house the little winds of springtime hovered, the
little moon of May was in the air. Came the rustle of the grasses, and
the minor of the frogs, and the barking of cub foxes. All the
constellations hung in a cloud and the sickled moon was in the
west--stars and moon and purple night sky, like some rude mosaic. And
from the king's room came the pale gold of candles and the murmur of
voices in exaltation. And beneath the king's casement Nathan writhed
in fear and anger and pain.
"O Balkis," came Solomon's voice, "you are wonderful. You are like a
company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
"Your cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, your neck with chains of
gold."
"O Solomon," her voice half whispered, half chanted, "a bundle of myrrh
are you unto me. My well beloved! He shall lie all night betwixt my
breasts.
"My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of
Engadi."
"Balkis, you are fair, my beloved; behold, you are fair, you have
dove's eyes ... fair, yea, pleasant...."
"As the apple-trees among the trees of the wood, Solomon, so are you
among the sons of man. I sat down under your shadow with great
delight, and your fruit was sweet to my taste. O dear Solomon, your
eyes are closing. You are drowsy. Sleep, heart. O ye daughters of
Jerusalem, I charge you by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that
ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please."
"I am not sleepy, Balkis; I am only thinking. O beloved, if we could
only go away from here. Go away together--rise up, my love, my fair
one, and come away.
"For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is
come; and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
"The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the
tender grape give a good smell. Arise my love, my fair one and come
away."
"O Solomon, if you only would," came Balkis's voice, pleading.
"Listen, my beloved. In Africa I have a great kingdom, and it could be
greater did I want it so. It is on a high mountain and its
fortifications are the lightnings on the hills. And from the hills my
men can sweep down on all Africa. And there is reverence for me from
the giant Ethiops and from the pygmies of the warm forests. Come with
me, Solomon, come with me to a cooler, fairer kingdom. In the lowlands
there are vineyards, and the vines flourish, and the tender grapes
appear, and the pomegranates put forth; there will I give thee my loves.
"And the mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of
pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my
beloved.
"O Solomon, come to Africa. Come to Africa with Sheba."
"O Balkis, what of my people, my poor people?"
"They can come, too, Solomon. There is welcome for them. They crossed
the Red Sea once; they can cross it again."
"But my temple, Balkis?"
"O Solomon, listen. I will set the Abyssinian millions against the
Pharaoh of Egypt, and they will make Egypt a waste land, as they did
once before. And they will bring back the Egyptians in bondage, and
the Egyptians will build you a temple, Solomon, a temple worthy of you,
for the Egyptians are cunning builders. They will exceed their
pyramids. For you I will conquer Egypt, Solomon.
"O Balkis, you are beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem. But you
are terrible, Balkis, terrible as an army with banners."
"That is nothing, Solomon. That is the smallest gage of love. O
Solomon, I have found something in my heart. I have found love. Many
waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods drown love; if a man
would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be
contemned.
"Come with me, Solomon. Make haste, my beloved. Be like to a roe or a
young hart on the mountains of spices. Come to Africa."
He arose and paced the floor. Without, Nathan could hear the troubled
footsteps.
"I am afraid, Balkis. I am afraid."
"Of what, dearest one?"
"Afraid, just, Balkis. Afraid of Nathan, afraid of the new strange
land. Afraid for the temple. Afraid of God."
"Afraid? Do not be afraid, Solomon. Awake, O north wind," she
chanted, "and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices
thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his
pleasant fruits."
Solomon stood by the window in distress, eager, afraid.
"Hiram, King of Tyre, will be angry."
"The King of Tyre," Sheba laughed, "will not be angry with me. Hiram
is shrewd. He is a trader, not a fighting man."
"Are you sure, Sheba?"
"Yes, certain."
"Then I will--then I will--"
The voice of Nathan rose under him in an angry whisper:
"There was a young man void of understanding, ... and there met him a
woman subtle of heart.
"And she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto
him:
"'I have peace offerings with me....
"'I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works,
with fine linen of Egypt.
"'I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon....'
"With her fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of
her lips she forced him.
"He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as
a fool to the correction of the stocks.
"Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare,
and knoweth not it is for his life...."
"O Balkis, do you hear anything? Do you hear anything without the
window? Do you hear a hissing as of a serpent aroused?"
"I hear nothing, Solomon. I hear nothing but the little murmur of the
trees. Come from the window. Come over here and kiss me with the
kisses of your mouth, for your love is better than wine. Put your left
hand under my head, Solomon, and let your right embrace me--"
"Don't you hear anything, Balkis? Are you sure?"
"There is nothing, Solomon, O white and ruddy, O chiefest among ten
thousand."
"No, there is nothing. I thought for a moment--"
Again the voice of Nathan came like the strokes of a sword:
"... O King, attend to the words of my mouth.
"Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
"For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been
slain by her.
"Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death."
"Oh!" went a long shudder from the king.
"What is it, Solomon? Does anything affright you?"
"No, no, Balkis."
"Then come over to me, Solomon. Come where I can see your face. Your
countenance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. Come."
"Remember your father, David," came the voice beneath the window, "son
of Jesse, turned from wisdom. Remember how his chiefest joy, Absalom
his son, died. Remember how he stood against God, the prophet of the
Lord, and the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even
to the time appointed, three days' time; and there died of the people
from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
"And the angel of the Lord stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to
destroy it.... Remember!"
"Oh!"
"What is it, dearest? What is wrong? Have I done anything to offend
you, to hurt you?"
"Remember Samson, judge of Israel, and how he loved a woman in the
valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah, and he told her all his heart.
"And remember his end, how the Lord was departed from him, and the
Philistines took him and put out his eyes--"
"O-o-o-o-h!"
"--and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass--"
"A-a-a-a-h!"
"Solomon, dearest Solomon, why do you cry?"
"--and he did grind in the prison house ... and make them sport...."
With a loud cry the young king burst from the room and fled down the
corridors, his, feet pattering like the feet of foxes on the run, his
heart crying out in sudden terror. "Where are you going, Solomon?
Where are you gone?" came the voice of the young queen. "O head of
most fine gold, O eyes of doves, O cheeks as a bed of spices, whither
are you gone? O lips like lilies, O hands as gold rings, why do you
leave me?" So all night long she cried, and wandered aimlessly. "You
called me your sister, your spouse, your love, your dove, your
undefiled," she wept piteously, "and now you are gone." She went
through the garden, while Nathan crouched in the undergrowth. "You
were like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with
all the powders of the merchant, and now you are gone." She wandered
through the dark streets. "O locks that are curly and black as a
raven, where are you now?" And the dawn broke and the shadows fled
away, and still she cried: "O Solomon, where are you, Solomon? Make
haste, my beloved!" But he never came. "Saw ye him whom my soul
loveth?" she asked the watchman. But they drove her away. "O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, tell him, that I am sick
of love..." But he never came.