Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-05-23

Whence hast thou this stone ?' asked |
Solomon of the raven. DIT comes from |
mountain in the far West" replied |
the bird. Solomon commanded a Jim |
to follow the raven to the mountain and |
to bring him more of these stones. |
Then he released Sachr as he had prom |
ised. When the chains were taken off |
him he uttered loud cry of joy, which !
in Solomon's ears bore an ominous
sound as of hooking laughter. When |
the Jim returned with the stone
Schamir, Solomon mounted a Jim and
was borne back to Jerusalem, where he
distributed the stones amongst the
Jinns, and they were able to cut the
rocks for the temple without noise.
! Not less curious is the account of the
test to which the Queen of Sheba put
the wisdom of Solomon. The tradition
says:
She dressed five hundred boys as girls,
and five hundred girls she equipped in
boys clothes. She collected, for pres
ents, thousand carpets of gold and
silver tissue, crown adorned with pearls
and diamonds, and a great quantity of
perfumes. She also placed pearl. a
diamond cut through in zigzags and
crystal goblet in a box and gave it to
her Chief Ambassador. Finally she
wrote a letter to Solomon, telling him
that if he was prophet he would be
able to distinguish boys from girls in the
| train of Ambassadors that he would
be able to guess the contents of the box,
pierce the pearl, thread the diamond
and fill the goblet with water which
came neither from earth nor heaven.
The chief mobiles of Sheba were sent to
bear the letter. The peewit, who had
watched all these proceedings and lis
tened to the message and advice, now
flew to Solomon and told him ALL The
great King Immediately ordered his
Jinns to spread his carpet seven leagues
long, leading from his throne toward
Sheba. He then surrounded himself
with gold and gems. and gathered all
his courtiers and officers together, and
prepared for the audience. When the
Ambassadors of Sheba set their feet on
the carpet-the end of which was
| beyond the range of vision-they were
+ full of astonishment. This astonish-
ment increased, and became terror,
: when they passed between ranks of
demons, and Jinns, and mobiles, and
t princes, and soldiers, extending for
many miles. When the leaders of the
e embassy reached the foot of the throne
s Solomon received them with gracious
}, smile. Then they presented the letter
e of the Queen. Solomon, without open
= ing it, told them its contents, for it hac
been read by the peewit. They Offered
the box, and he said that in it were
pearl, diamond, and goblet. He mex
ordered his servants to bring silye
q ewers before the train of the Ambassa
s doris, that they might wash their hand
Il after their journey. Solomon watche'
d intently, and he picked out the boy
y from the girls at once; for the boy
s. dipped their hands only in the water
Al whilst the girls tucked up their sleeve
20 to their shoulders and washed arms a
re well as hands. Then the box wa
s opened and the pearl produced. Sole
lie mon unclasped his pouch and dreN
of forth Schamir, applied it to the pear
a. and hole was drilled through it imme
diately. Next he took the diamond
! The hole pierced in it wound abou
y and thread inserted in one end woul
- not pass through to the other enc
:, Solomon took a piece of silk, called t
~ him worm, put one end of the threa
- in its mouth and inserted it in the dls
~ mond. The worm crawled down tn
-, 30 winding passage and appeared at tn
t other opening with the silk. In graf
vi tude to the little creature, Solomo
- gave it for its food forever the mulberr
70 tree. Then he took the crystal goble
l4f He summoned to him a huge negl
~ slave, babe him mount wild horse an
w gallop around the plain till it streame
with sweat. Then, with ease, the mo-
le arch filed the chaliCe with water tn;
h came neither from earth nor heaven.