Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-12-12
THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.
Legend Of II Wandering Royal Scholar
and Maker of riddles.
From the Journal of American Folk
Lore)

ShcDh, thanks 10 It's romantic character,
has had noteworthy career. 1t was
embellished by post Biblical Jewish writ
ers with a vast amount of fanciful de-
tail. From Jews in north Arabia it
passed to the Arabs. and is used by Mo-
manned in the Koran; in south Arabia
likewise Arabs received 1t from Jews
and carried It across the Red Sea into
Abyssinia and learned historiographcrs
| traced the lineage OF the royal family
! OF Aoyss'nia TO the famous queen She
became and Is still a name for all that
| Is magnificent and intelllgently curious.
According to the narrative q Kings K,
IL Chronicles, Xxx, the queen, having
hcard of Soomon's wisdom, comes to
Jerusalem In great state with spices,
gold and precious stones. to test him;
she plies him with hard questions con-
corning everything that interests her,
and receives satisfactory answers-thcre
was no problem that solomon was not
able to solve. Further he shows hcr
his palace and his household arrange
ments, including the fine bearing and
splendid dress Of his attendants. with
the result that she is lost In admiration
OF his riches and his wisdom. Happy"
she cNclaims, "are those who serve you
/
-FOUR God who has bestowed on you such
excellence and happiness" Then after
the usual exchange of presents she goes
back to her own land and We near no
more OF hcr in the Old Testament
This story cannot be taken as hrstor-
teal. Tho "Sheba" meant, as is evident
from the presents brought by the queen.
Is the famous region in southwest Arabia
known bo . he
Arabic name (yaman) by confusion with
similar word Uamin) was understood
to mean fortunate" and the consequent
Roman designation. Arabia Felix, has
| become part Of our geographical no.
mcnclaturc Though tho early history OF
this region Is not known to us, It il not
improbable that a kingdom Of Shcba
(the native name is Saba) existed as
early as tho times of Solomon (middle
Of the tenth century Il. o.. But 1t Is
not probable that the Israeltes we're
acquainted with the Sabean land in Sol
omon's time. The other mentions of
Sheba In the Old Testament all belong
In the period after the capture Of Jeru-
salem by the Chadeans ass q. c.. when
the Jews came into possession of BABY
lonian geographical learning. The story
/ IN Kings Is a part OF the idealizlng leg
endary matter that gathered about Solo
mons name Doubtless ne had a repu-
tation in his day for some sort Of Wis
DOM as David in his day was esteemed
as poet but David became in the
tradition the ideal religious poet and
| Solomon the ideal sage. He is said 70
have composed 1000 proverbs and 1000
songs, and to have spoken Of all plants
and animals-of which literary activity
no trace has come to us Tho eXuberance
! OF the legend appears In the statement
| q Kings w, "a, In the English version
that visitors from all peoples and all
kings Of the earth came to him to hear
his wisdom-a form of statement that
betrays the late date when the Jews
came Into contact with great number
of nations. The visit OF the Queen Of
Sheba is a particular Illustration Of the
general statement; Sheba is chosen as
| far off and famous land She Is herself
a sage or a student troubled BY difficult
ties, and she seeks great man to solve
her problem, just as long aftcrward wan
dering scholars in the absence OF books
sought learned men everywhere as
teachers; but this reflective attitude is
not IN accord with what we may sur
mise 10 have been the state Of culture
in Sheba and in Israel in the tenth CEN
fury R. c.
| The story Is not the less interesting for
being legendary. If. as seems proba BILE
II arose in the sixth or NTH century p.
{" when Sheba became prominent in the
Old Testament, We may infer that at
that time Solomon was thought OF main
ly as splendid and practically wise
king. and had not attained the reputa-
ton assigned him by tho authors and
editors Of Proverbs, the Song Of Songs
and Ecclesiastes. 1t is noteworthy, also,
that the custom OF asking hard ques-
tons" existed al that time. Cnfortunate-
ly the story does not tell what these
questions were and this lack the fancy
o. later writer's undertook to supply
Among the literary productions of the
post-Biblical Jews are certain para
phrases OF Biblical books CTargums) and
commentaries (Mldrash) Astounding in
anecdotes, queer conccits and all sorts
Of gossip Much OF this material may
have been the product Of familiar talks
by teachers 10 their pupils which some
times ran into storytelling not unlike
that OF the Moslem raw!s. to which we
owe n good deal Of the matter of the
| Thousand and One Nights" These
books have preserved great mass OF
popular Jewish beliefs and fancics, par
allel TO certain opinions and beliefs
found In the early Christian writer's. and
such beliefs come under the head Of
folk lore, according to the wider deAni-
ton sometime. given that term
The book OF Esther. though It makes
no reference to religion, was favorte
among the Jews because It describes a