Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-01-31
THE QUEEN OF SHER
Legged of a Wandering Royal Scholar and
Maker of Riddles.
From the Journal Of American Folk Lore
From the Journal Of American Folk Lore.

The Biblical story of the Queen OF
Sheba, thanks to its romantic charac-
ter, has had noteworthy career. 1t
was embellished by post-Biblical Jew
ish writer's with vast amount Of fan
ciful detail. From Jews in north Ara
bia 1t passed to the Arabs, and is used
by Mohammed in the Koran; In south
Arabia likewise Arabs received 1t from
Jews and carried 1t across the Red Sea
into Abyssinia, and learned historic
| graphers traced the lineage of the roy
al family Of Abyssinia to the famous
Queen. She became and is still name
for all that is magnificent and intelli-
gently curious.
According to the narrative Il Kings
K: 2 Chronicles, ix), the Queen, hav-
ing heard Of Solomon's wisdom, comes
to Jerusalem in great state, with
spices, gold and precious stones, to test
him; she plies him with hard ques-
tons concerning everything that inter-
ests her, and receives satisfactory an
swers-there was no problem that Sol
ONION was not able to solve. Further
he shows her his palace and his house.
hold arrangements, including the fine
bearing and splendid dress of his at
tendants, with the result that she Is
lost in admiration of his riches and
wisdom. Happy" she exclaims, ARE
those who serve you and hear your
| wisdom, and blessed be your God who
has bestowed on you such excellence
and happinessi" Then after the usual
exchange of presents she goes back to
her own land and we hear no more Of
her in the Old Testament.
This story cannot be taken as his
torical. The "Sheba" meant, as is EVIL
dent from the presents brought by the
Queen, is the famous region in south
west Arabia later known as Yemen.
''the South" the Arabic name (Yaman)
by confusion with a similar word (Ya-
MINI was understood to mean "fortu-
nate" and the consequent Roman des-
ignation, Arabia Felix, has become a
part of our geographical nomenclature
Though the early history of this region
Is not known to us, 1t is not improb-
able that kingdom of Sheba (the ma
tive name Is Saba existed as early as
the times of Solomon middle of the
tenth century B. c.. But 1t is not
probable thae the Israelites were ac-
quainted with the Sabean land in Solo
mons time. The other mentions Of
Sheba in the Old Testament all belong
in the period after the capture of Jeru-
salem by the Chaldeans 1886 B. c.,
when the Jews came into possession of
Babylonian geographical learning. The
story in Kings is part of the idealiz-
ing legendary matter that gathered
about Solomon's name. Doubtless he
had reputation in his day for some
sort of wisdom, as David in his day
was esteemed as a poet; but David be-
came In the tradition the ideal relig-
ious poet and Solomon the ideal sage.
He is said to have composed 5000 pro-
verbs and zoos songs, and to have
spoken of ali plants and animals-of
which literary activity no trace has
come to us. The exuberance Of the.
legend appears in the statement Il
Kings iv: "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 a great num-
Der Of nations. The visit of the Queen
Of Sheba Is a particular illustration of
the general statement; Sheba is chosen
as far OF land and famous land. She
is herself a sage or a student troubled
by difficulties, and she seeks a great
man to solve her problem, just as long
afterward wandering scholars in the
absence of books sought learned men
everywhere as teachers; but this refiec-
tive attitude Is not in accord with what
we may surmise to have been the state
of culture in Sheba and In Israel in
the tenth century b. C.
The story is not the less interesting
for being legendary. II, as seems pro-
bable, 1t arose in the sixth or the fifth
century B. c., when Sheba became pro-
minent In the Old Testament, we may
infer that at that time Solomon was
thought Of mainly as a splendid and
practically wise king, and had not at
tanned the reputation assigned him by
the authors and editors of Proverbs,
the Song Of Songs and Ecclesiastes 1t
is noteworthy, also, that the custom
Of asking hard questions" existed at
that time. Unfortunately the story
does not tell what these questions were
and this lack the fancy of later writ
ers undertook to supply. Among the
literary productions of the Biblical
Jews are certain paraphrases Of Bibli-
cal books (Targums) and commentaries
(Mitirash) Astounding In anecdotes,
queer concefts and all sorts Of gos-
sip. Much of this material may have
been the product of familiar talks by
teachers to their pupils, which some
times ran into story telling not unlike
that of the Moslem rawis, to which we
owe a good deal of the matter of the
Thousand and One Nights" These
books have preserved a great mass of
popular Jewish beliefs and fancies,
parallel 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
definition sometimes given that term.
The book of Esther, though 1t makes
no reference to religion, was a favor
lite among the Jews because 1t de-